How do we get the Mo-Jo back or to a higher level? 4 ideas to develop curiosity.

1) Explore more. Gaining any knowledge increases curiosity. Practice expanding by asking who, what, where, when and why. Do this in particular with things that prompt little interest for you. Some may take more value in your life. They won’t necessarily all become life pursuits or even hobbies, but what you learn may impact the things that are of focus for you.

From an early age, curiosity begins to decline as we tend to stop looking for new stuff. Learning new things returns a 3-D dimension to our thoughts as we become more connected to everything we experience.

Be curious, ask questions.

The best parents, the best negotiators, the best friends, ask questions. Usually it’s the ‘why?’ question. Coming up with good solutions to problems has a lot to do with knowing ‘why.’ Solutions are rarely about ‘what.’ They are more often about ‘why.’ If asking good questions seems not your thing, I again suggest a book, The Book of Beautiful Questions, by Warren Berger.

2) Start where you are. What is interesting to you? Dig deeper into whatever is of interest to you already. Curiosity will branch out to new topics of similar interest. Have recent political events stimulated you to learn more and perhaps do more than before? Has Covid captured your attention and made you dig deeper for information about viruses or …? Have you had a conversation or seen something on TV that made you Google for more? Take the next step and broaden that interest. And certainly, fact check sources.

3) Pay attention to things and occurrences throughout the day. Be present. We tend to think and do in ‘ruts.’ Break some rut when you see it. Ask “What IF?” I do this differently?

What was interesting or surprising in your day?  Google it. Find out more. Go down the rabbit hole. Of course, fact check. Challenge yourself to to really understand the topic. Maybe you’ll find nothing. Maybe you’ll find a whole new world of interest and discovery and just maybe you’ll find the answer for a completely other area of your life. New passions happen when we allow ourselves to come out of the ‘comfort zone.’ People with passion are usually curious themselves, and those to whom others are attracted.

4) Dig deeper. New interests are sometimes hard to absorb. Be willing to break down the pieces. Taken in smaller bites, things that are more challenging, are actually learned not only more easily, but deeper.

Go beyond Siri. Buy the book, watch the video, take the course. Hire the coach.

Words from curious mind and physicist Richard Feynman: “I don’t know anything, but I do know that everything is interesting if you go deeply enough into it.” True words.

I trust this is helpful for you and/or someone you know. Please do pass it on. Thanks.