What you are curious about will influence what you learn.
Maybe that doesn't strike you as being particularly surprising or profound...
...But do you know how to activate your curiosity in order to learn what is important to you?
...Did you know that what you've been curious about has often not been your choice?
...Are you curious about what you might learn in this blog? Great!
Why so curious?
What makes curiosity so great is that puts you in a mental state that is ideal for learning...
When you wonder why something is the way it is, you become actively interested in the unfamiliar. You have questions, and you're looking for answers; the unfamiliar becomes perfectly acceptable as you look to fill gaps in your understanding and capabilities.
Considering the crippling effects the fear of the unknown can have, this is a very nice start!
Curiosity is also a powerful motivator....
...It pulls you to look, and to read, and to ask, and to search; and if you don't find an answer soon, you might just explode!!!
Yes, curiosity may have eventually killed the cat, but it learned a hell of a lot along the way!
Also, you're not a cat.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein
Here are a few highlights from some research papers on curiosity (I've listed some them at the end of the blog if you'd like to read more):
- Curiosity is just as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school.
- Being curious prepares the brain for learning.
- Participants in studies were better able to recall answers to questions that they were highly curious about.
- Learning is often self-motivated and driven by intrinsic curiosity in a particular topic, rather than by external reward
- When in a curious state, memory is improved, even for secondary information.
- Individuals with high curiosity are often more likely to use personal and social resources when confronted with life stress
- The pleasure of curiosity motivates people seek out personally meaningful interests and desires
All in all, what these researcher papers say is that when it comes to learning, being curiosity is where it's at!
“I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” -
So, how are you using it (and how is it being used) in your life? Here's an important point that simplifies how curiosity works:
Curiosity is created by a question.
How do they do that?
What colour is this?
What else is there to know?
How much does that cost?
What is your name?
Where did you go?
I wonder if this means...?
Does that do this?
How does this relate to...?
Where can i find...?
We all spend our time pondering questions and figuring out answers. It's a big part of how the human mind works. So, if you're looking to live more of the life you want now and in the future, focusing your curiosity on the things you need to learn is how you're going to cut down your learning time massively!
The challenge comes when what you've regularly been curious about in the past doesn't fit with what you need to be curious about in the future.
What questions do you often ask? In other words, what are you regularly curious about?
Here's an example...
Let's assume for a moment that you own a TV.
Let's also assume that you also regularly watch some news, sports, and other entertainment on your TV.
The chances are (unless you have access to premium subscription channels) that you usually see adverts in between your regular scheduled programming.
Simply put, those adverts are there to make you curious about a product or service:
"Save 15% or more on your car insurance"
- Oh, I wonder if I can save that much? (curiosity)
"Chaos & Drama, the new hit show"
- Oh, those story lines look really interesting and full of excitement. I wonder what happens to that person? (curiosity)
"Do you want more power and money and women in your life!? This new coffee flavoured alcohol drink with oyster extract will give you them all! Just look at us all enjoying it in this cool venue. Buy some for your friends too!"
- Oh, maybe this is what I need. Either way, it sounds like it might taste good! (curiosity)
"LOOK! It's a new car with four wheel, plus it has many interesting and cool gadgets. You can sleep in it if you want. Think of all the adventures you'll go on! Yes, it'll be amazing. Come to your local show room and see for yourself just how amazing your life could be with this brand new car!!"
- Oh, is this the car people who go on adventures own? I wonder what adventures I could go on if I owned this car? Would it make my family happy? Maybe I'll go check it out.... (curiosity)
(P.S. These are the terms and conditions we have to put here by law, but you don't need to be curious about them, that's why we've made them really small. There's banking stuff and percentages, but it's all pretty boring, so don't worry about it. Just look again at the amazing adventures the car is going on. That could be you. Forget about whether you actually need to go into debt to have the same experience. You do. Your other car sucks. And so do you if you don't by this new one. Kisses.)
Often the positive effects of our curiosity are applied to a whole lot of things that aren't particularly useful to our lives.
Depending on what you want for your future, continuing to be curious about these things (day after day), will not only lead to answers that aren't of benefit to your life; but they waste so much of your true learning potential.
So, in order to adjust this, you must first check if the questions you are currently asking (or being encouraged to ask) are ones that:
1. You are actually interested in learning the answers to for the benefit of your life
2. Give you the answers and insights that you want/need
Whether it's adverts, or TV shows, or movies, or celebrities, or alcohol brands, or something else that you've spent a lot of curiosity on; becoming someone different (i.e. living a different lifestyle), requires that you stop being curious about some things, and start being curious about other things.
You have to decide what you WANT TO/MUST be curious about if you are to learn a different way of living, and what things are NOT WORTH being curious about any more.
You have that choice, and you've got to make it.
(a quick side note: not having a TV, and not being curious about most TV shows has given me so many hours of freedom to learn and work on things that are important to me. Plus, the life I want to live definitely doesn't include watching lots of advertising!)
What do you need to know? What do you know already?
To use your natural curiously to your advantage, it's important to know what you want to be good at. It doesn't need to be super detailed; after all, you're still learning how to do it (you don't know the details yet)...but you do need to be clear about the idea of how you'd like to be.
A good way to get a feel of what this will be like is to find a role model who you want to imitate.
Here's why...
No matter you're learning, you're going to be learning from another person. You are learning about how they think and see the world, and you're filling the gaps with the insights that you find.
What are the people that are already doing what you want to do thinking about? What are they feeling? What are their behaviours?
Here are some examples...
Confident public speaker - What do they think about before talking? How do they feel when they're in front of people? What do they focus on? How do they practice? Have I ever felt comfortable speaking in public? What would it be like if I did?
A good cook - What do they enjoy about cooking? What do they get excited about? Who did they learn from? What are the key techniques they practiced? Do they prepare food every day? Does it always need to be complicated?
Someone who gardens - What different care do plants need in order to grow well? What about the soil? How often do you need to water them? What plants grow well together? What time of the year should you plant?
Happy relationship - What do they think about each other? How do they manage fear and trust? Does each person give unconditionally? What do they do for each other? How do they keep the flame alight?
"Curiosity may be integral to some of the trajectories toward well-being. Searching for and obtaining engagement with personally meaningful activities can provide a sense of life direction and purpose, antecedents to living a good life" (Martin Seligman).
Vegetarian lifestyle - Let's go into this one a little more to finish this blog off...
You may already know that you need to eat more vegetables, and you really do think it would be very beneficial to your life; but you don't understand how on earth people can actually enjoy eating plants every day....don't they get bored?
Well...with your curiosity to really understand what someone who eats vegetables does every day to maintain their sanity, you might ask:
What are the foods you usually cook with? What vegetables do you enjoy eating regularly? How do you make them taste good? What meals do you regularly cook? Do you really enjoy it or do you just wish you were eating meat all the time?
And because you're genuinely interested in the answers (and finding insights you can use), you really listen and imagine how you can use what they say in your life....
"OK - it seems people who eat vegetables a lot actually do enjoy the taste. When have I enjoyed the taste of vegetables too? Maybe I can try cook them this way myself. That style of cooking with broccoli sounds really interesting. And wow...there are A LOT of vegetables I haven't tried before. Could I commit to trying a few new ones? Yes; it's important enough for me to try. My body is definitely going to be happy with all the extra fiber; I guess I didn't realise how important it was. I could also try ordering the vegetarian meal next time - what was the name of that plant-based restaurant they mentioned? And ahhhh, you've got to marinade the tofu first, that's where all the flavour comes from!! Got it!"
The more details you can notice, the more you'll be able to role model exactly how they think, feel, and behave IN THE AREA OF LIFE YOU ARE INTERESTED IN CHANGING. You don't need to role model every behaviour that person has; it's only the vegetarian lifestyle you're focusing on.
Keep being curious and soon enough you'll start to think, feel, and behave more and more like someone who only eats vegetables day-to-day, until....
CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR FOCUSED CURIOSITY HAS HELPED YOU LEARN TO LIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY!!
PAPERS ON CURIOSITY
- von Strumm, S., Hell, B., & Chamooro-Preuzic, T. (2011). The Hungry Mind: Intellectual Curiosity Is the Third Pillar of Academic Performance. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 6(6), 574-88
- When Curiosity Breeds Intimacy: Taking Advantage of Intimacy Opportunities and Transforming Boring Conversation.December 2011.Journal of Personality 79(6):1369-402. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00697.x
- Curiosity and Exploration: Facilitating Positive Subjective Experiences and Personal Growth Opportunities. July 2004. Journal of Personality Assessment 82(3):291-305. DOI: 10.1207/s15327752jpa8203_05
- Gruber, M., Gelman, B., & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of Curiosity Modulate Hippocampus-Dependent Learning via the Dopaminergic Circuit, Neruon, 84(2), 486-49
- Ryan R.M. & Deci E.L.Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemp. Educ. Psychol. 2000; 25: 54-67
- Kang M.J. Hsu M. Krajbich I.M. Loewenstein G. McClure S.M. Wang J.T.-Y.Camerer C.F. The wick in the candle of learning: epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychol. Sci. 2009; 20: 963-973
