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Finding Curiosity

Curiosity by Georgie Pauwels Flickr CC BY 


"What are you curious about?"

I was listening to The Design Movement podcast when host Dr. Brett Jacobson asked his guest how he creates a learning culture at his company. The guest responded that he asks everyone who interviews for a job, "What are you curious about?" If it takes them more than a moment to answer, you've learned what you need to know.

I consider myself someone who loves to learn. Each day, I look forward to going through my Feedly articles to get updated on ideas and events of the past 24 hours. I play my podcasts at 1.5x so I can get through them all. And yet, I struggle with this question.

What am I curious about?

If I had been sitting across from that interviewer, I would have paused. Probably too long. 

Curiosity is different than passion. Perhaps a precursor. Definitely more subtle. You don't have to be passionate about something in order to be curious about it. And yet, I think that's why I struggled with the question. I'm still trying to find my passion. What I want to be when I grow up. I don't have that one thing that I always want to talk to people about, the way some people do about fitness, about maker culture, about travel. 

Curiousity is different. It doesn't have to be the thing you are constantly researching. It doesn't have to be the thing that you think about before you fall asleep. Curiosity is the fleeting thought when you notice something out of the ordinary. The idea that makes you think about a different perspective, even if just for a minute. Curiosity might not be what you follow up on with a Google search. But is it the thing that prompts you to wonder why.

After a little reflection, I realized there is a lot I am curious about, such as people and their stories, ideas and how they are communicated, technology and its impact on my life. These aren't things I actively research or write about regularly. But they are often behind the things that make me wonder.

Curiosity is harder to define than passion. It changes, ebbs and flows. It's likely not something we reflect on often, which is unfortunate. These past few weeks that the question has been echoing around my brain have been a fascinating exercise. It's something I should do on a more regular basis.

What are you curious about?

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