Follow your curiosity

When a friend of mine asked me to write about the things I do to invest in myself, the first ideas that came to mind were the usual suspects like daily jogs, multivitamins and books.

But as I began to think a little deeper I realized that, truly, the most important thing I do to invest in myself looks on the surface like a lack of responsibility, like a lack of focus.

I’ve never been good at paying attention to things that don’t interest me. In high school I got terrible grades but tied for first place at the Arkansas State Debate Championship. In college, I still had trouble paying attention in class, but worked on an amazing come-from-behind-win gubernatorial campaign and built a cool website with some friends that ended up getting ~25k users.

When I reflect on my years in school I realize my most valuable experiences were gained while I was avoiding the work I was supposed to be doing.

Let there be no doubt: this was definitely a bit irresponsible on my part. I wasn’t accepted into my first choice for college because my GPA was too low. I probably won't ever get to go to Wharton or Harvard for an MBA either.

Even so, I believe that following my curiosity is the single greatest gift I have ever given myself. It's my most sustainable source of happiness. Money gets boring. Attention is fleeting. But chasing down the answer to a new question, trying new experiments — that never gets old.

What do you think about when you're trying to fall asleep? Or in the shower, or on a run? When is the last time you set aside serious time to work on it? If you don't have a good answer, then maybe it's time for a change.

Invest in yourself: Follow your curiosity.

This essay is part of a collaborative blogging experiment to answer the question, “how do you invest in yourself?”

You can read the other great posts on this topic over at QuestionClub.