Curiosity with a Plan
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Being curious always served me well. I was curious about how things worked, curious to explore the woods near where I grew up, curious about space and technology, and curious about how I could become my best self.
Curiosity can get a bit out of hand too. Currently, I’m curious about:
- Becoming a better writer
- DeFi and Ethereum decentralized applications (dApps)
- Digital enablement for entrepreneurs and small businesses
- Residential real estate
- Cloud/DevOps/SRE process optimization for engineers
- Optimizing my health
- Realizing my best self
Sharing my Medium site with a friend recently, he commented, “…still no theme.” I think he included an “LOL” in the text…but I’m not sure. He’s right. I replied that, “…that’s my theme: no theme.”
We’re rewarded by our curiosity in that it enables and empowers us to come up with otherwise elusive or unknown solutions to problems. It gives us a unique perspective on the context and problem set.
People often ask me, “How do you know about [random topic]?” At some time I got curious about that topic and did a little research. Typically, that curiosity helps hone in on things of deep interest with which I can really explore.
Surface level research also allows me to hand off the concepts or ideas I don’t find interesting or that someone else can run with better than I. Then, I can effectively direct someone, “I think the solution path lies somewhere in here…why don’t you explore that avenue.”
In the Information Age, this curiosity can become overwhelming. I constantly find myself checking Google on a particular topic and getting lost down the rabbit hole of knowledge. It’s easy to lose oneself in knowledge pursuit at the sacrifice of achieving true wisdom.
Perhaps it’s sufficient to be aware of this dichotomy?
Curiosity is great fuel for growth and I think, when properly harnessed, can create a compelling theme. Continue to harness your curiosity letting it flourish into broader pursuits.
