Curiosity hasn’t exactly been advocated as a positive trait to have. Curiosity killed the cat, after all, at least that’s what I’ve always heard.
Most of us are taught at an early age, at least inadvertently, that being curious is dangerous. But being innovative and inquisitive, now those are positive traits.
Is there a difference?
When I was a teenager, and thought I knew everything, my young sister used to annoy me by asking “Why?” It was the four year old question when she was just learning about her world, and yet I told her to stop asking why. I regret that now. Asking why isn’t a bad thing, and I should have been asking that myself.
I recently finished reading A Curious Mind, by Brian Grazer, and I loved it! What a great read on curiosity, leadership and creativity. Not much has changed about the fear of curiosity, and yet it is the reason today we have so many changes in our life. New cell phones in production at every turn. Movies and books and paintings, etc. They are all bred by curiosity, we just don’t always give it the power it deserves.
I work in the law field, which is built from curiosity, and yet we don’t acknowledge that. We are curious how a crime was committed, and yet the main goal becomes proving it was committed. It’s a very scientific field that sometimes robs me of my creativity, and yet it’s one of the most scientifically creative fields out there, to prove how a crime was committed. A huge puzzle.
Authors have to be curious. Curious authors are good authors, and yet they might not admit that term. I never did, until after reading that book.
I’m not what I’d consider a naturally curious person. I’ve always enjoyed learning new things but never considered myself curious. And yet “innovation is built from curiosity”.
So today, my writers tip is to be more curious. Curiosity can be simple. We don’t have to solve all of life’s problems, and we might not ever get to be as curious as Brian Grazer, the co-owner, with Ron Howard, of Imagine Entertainment. But curiosity breeds creativity, innovation, and even leadership. So don’t be afraid to be curious!