Are You Curious? Seth Is. And So Am I.

Seth Godin has a killer video on his blog this week about curiosity. Finally, after all these years knowing there was something odd about me, it  appears my freakish curiosity puts me in good company. I nearly wept. This explains a lot. Like why I drove across the country and back when I was nineteen. Or why I picked up and moved to Atlanta with no job twelve years ago, just because I was sick and tired of being cold half the year, and other things that most people thought were scary or nutty. And it's true what Seth said... staying put scared me way more than taking risks.

In fact, what's really funny is if you look at this baby picture of me, and you notice the look on my face... it's as if I'm saying, "Did you say cheese? What kind of cheese?"  I guess I was curious, even then.

Comments

[Terry Lessig]

I love Seth's concept of layering; it fits nicely with something I wrote awhile back about the decision tree, how every decision you make leads to a different set of future decisions. Taken a step further, if you relinquish that power of choice to another, or to circumstances, you lose control of your own gift of life. Wisdom, then, is knowing when to defer and when to take charge.

Curiosity may kill the cat, but it also can build a life, layer by layer.

As for the picture, I hear Mini-You saying, "NO...You draw first, Mister!"

[Monica Ricci]

Terry, I loved what you said about curiosity and the cat. I have always been one of the most curious people I know. Left to my own devices, I'll stay up all night researching something on the net that has no bearing on anything in my own life. Just because I'm curious about it.

As a child, I was always a voracious reader. I would read anything I picked up and am still much like that, although I've learned to put boundaries on those tendencies, simply so I don't waste my whole day finding out about random stuff.
~Monica

[uneedaklu]

I love Seth, and this completely resonated with me.

Being a curious person with internet access is such a paradox. It's exhilarating, because it gives me the opportunity to slide down the biggest rabbit hole I'll ever been exposed to, and explore whatever pathways I find there. And typically, I end up somewhere very different than I expected to go in the first place.

But because it IS so easy for me to lose myself to the sheer joy of performing "research," I can spend huge stretches of time doing it that are much better spent on productive pursuits.

All things in moderation, I guess.

[Terry Lessig]

Monica, you're right about us needing boundaries to keep from wasting time researching the unnecessary. Not all clutter is tangible.

But on the other hand, that's how I stumbled in here. And I keep coming back even though there's no food. Go figure!

[Chris Sutton]

Hi Monica,

Isn’t it wonderfully validating when we discover that what may be perceived as a quirk is in fact a positive trait?

I’ve had a similar revelation myself. I’m currently reading ”The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss.

Although I may be “different than most” in my work style and in my tendencies to be curious and creative, I always sensed that I was on the right track.

Now, since I’ve starting reading Tim’s book, I’m not only feeling validated, but I’m feeling downright exhilarated.