Do you want a rewarding life? Then be curious. The more curious you are, the more possibilities you will open throughout your lifetime. Open your eyes and look around. How many blind assumptions have you made? What do you want to know more about?
“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Here are 10 good reasons why you should unleash your curiosity:
- You Will Clarify Yourself – Curiosity allows you to shed light on your troubles, thoughts, and personal circumstances. It motivates you to uncover the truth about the nuances of your life. When curiosity is properly honed, it serves as a vehicle for establishing personal goals.
- You Will Uncover the Truth – All that seems obvious in life is not necessarily true. A curious person doesn’t just take someone’s word for it; they discover the truth for themselves. The curious dig deep into the details, and when they finish their detective work, they don’t only know “what” or “when”, they know “how” and “why”.
- You Will Release Your Inner Child – Children are curious. They are like an empty canvas, waiting to be filled with knowledge and experiences. They don’t have predetermined expectations fogging their judgment. Children absorb the world around with an open mind driven by sheer curiosity. Curiosity can help open your mind too.
- You Will Experience Something Fresh – New experiences are one of the most exciting acts of living. They simulate your mind and free your creative emotion, thus liberating your thoughts from the tension of a daily routine. Be curious, be daring, be alive! Go discover something fresh.
- You Will Increase Your Productivity – A curious mind dives beneath the surface of common acceptance to unravel the details driving the process. The more you comprehend the details, the better you will understand the process. Thus, the more productive you will be.
- You Will Learn More Often – When your curiosity steers you into the unknown you will return with a greater wealth of knowledge. You will stretch the boundaries of your mind. The more you learn, the more you will want to know. Every new awareness will lead you to another stimulating challenge.
- You Will Become More Efficient – Curious people look at a challenge from multiple angles. They discover alternative ways of accomplishing the same task. The greater the pool of possible solutions, the more likely it is that they will expose a better way to get things done.
- You Will Experience a Spice of Variety – Variety is the spice of life, at least that’s what the curious folks understand. There is nothing more boring than repetition. When you allow your curiosity to send you in new directions you add variety into your life. This could be as simple as eating at a new restaurant or taking a new route to work. Don’t confine yourself, go explore.
- You Will Be More Positive – It is much easier to be negative about something than it is to be positive. If you don’t understand something, or it is unusual to your senses, it’s easy to write it off as being useless or dumb. Only when you truly understand something will you be able to appreciate it. Human beings tend to be more positive toward the things they understand. Curiosity naturally broadens a person’s horizons, and thus their understanding of the things around them.
- You Will Establish New Relationships – Your curiosity will lead you down roads you would otherwise not have traveled. On occasion you will almost certainly want to stop and look around. You never know, you may bump into someone you have a lot in common with.
come clean says
Curiousity isn’t encouraged enough in kids, but if you can learn to be curious in all the things you do, it’s incredible how much more fun life is…
Alex Skorulis says
I have a few problems with this post. I myself am a very curious person, but as much as it is something I would never change about myself, I doubt it really is that great of a trait.
#1 – true. But when you look deep there is no assurance that what you find will be good.
#2 – true again. But once you know the truth you may feel obligated to do something about it. Most truths are pretty ugly.
#5 – being curious does not increase productivity, generally why you think of ways to improve the way things are done you waste time and decrease productivity.
#9 – Personally I feel that being curious and seeing the way things work has made me less positive. Knowing how something works and realising that it is totally wrong but everyone else accepts it makes me a little uncomfortable.
The rest of the points I am fine with. My 2c.
xmido says
nice blog, i am a very curious guy. i spend most of my time finding truth and exposing myths about lots of things. things no one will even beleive because now a days people dont want to think anymore.
HayString says
Everyone knows that ignorance is bliss! Who needs curiosity?
Rubab says
These are excellent tips for the people who have already element of curiosity in their natures. on the other hand these tips provide people reasons to become curious. One thing i would want to add on my part is it is better to be speculative rather than credulously believing in things coming without filtration to change thinking process.
PsychoticApe says
Not to mention that you’ll learn more about the world around you if you are always curious, the adage about curiosity killing the cat is used to prevent people from questioning authority and what appears to be running smoothly, which in fact is not.
Matthew Austin says
This was a great read, but I have to disagree. Being curious doesn’t always open doors. In fact, it has done nothing but closed doors for me. Curiosity for the world around me has left me cold, alone and broken. Now my case may be related to the people and the community I grew up in, and I’m pretty sure it is. But either way, I would have been better off just joining the masses.
Thanks,
Matthew
ellecon says
Ah, another quick fix/ultimate solution to all of life’s problems. People rag on religion, but the Bhagavad Gita,Tao Te Ching,Bible and Koran have more pearls of wisdom to be harvested than does a pithy list by some average Joe. It is more difficult to read several texts and disseminate the information in order to determine the “right” way to live, but so too is it more difficult to eat right and exercise daily to keep fit than it is to take speed or get plastic surgery.
The more you learn, the more curious you will become.
RedBone says
Curiosity in its truest form does not always kill the cat. It can broaden your horizons of understanding in many, many different ways.
Bob Saget says
Those who question more at the end will have a greater understanding of the world and hows and whys of humanity
Grace says
I love this! Well done, found it on Digg and it deserves to be so Dugg.
I think these negative respondents are very young?
I am an older person, over 40! (much over), and my own curiosity has kept me very youthful and vibrant.
It’s when your mind contracts and you lose that curiosity that you begin to really age.
It is not to say that what you uncover or discover in your curious adventures will be without bumps and losses, but it’s so worth it.
It takes great parenting or a lot of deprogramming to find and hold onto that wonderful inner child we all have. I sure work on maintaining mine! I will visit here again. Thanks.
Marc says
@Alex Skorulis: I think you and I are on the same page. Obviously all of these points leave room for subjective interpretation. You are looking into some of the points from a totally different angle than I am. For instance, my point on curiosity leading to productivity… this may not universally apply in the short term, but in the long term knowing more about a process/product will make you more productive at using it.
@HayString: Ignorance is only bliss until one of your curious buddies lets you in on the truth. Curiosity eventually eliminates ignorance.
@Matthew Austin: I’m not sure what experiences in your life have molded your negative views on curiosity and new experiences. It sounds to me like some of the people around you are close minded and harsh. If this is the case, you need to continue running it the opposite direction. Someday you will be grateful you did.
@ellecon: Nobody said this is a quick fix to life. If nothing else, I hope this list serves as a reminder to those caught in a cyclical routine of boredom.
@Grace: It’s good to hear that my views are well received by someone holding more experience on this planet than I have. Thanks for the kind words. 😉
Heidi says
You will be better educated.
Your knowledge will mean more to you.
You will be harder to manipulate.
You will learn discernment.
You will become self-motivating.
You will be more fun to be around.
krisk says
Being curious is the only possible solution for continual expansion of your horizons.
Practical curiosity will show your purpose and will in many cases reveal your inner self, your dreams and the totality of your sub-conscious.
Carol Webb says
I long for the time when everyone will ask questions, look about them and realize that this is not all there is. As a race we seem to have reached a place where being manipulated and stripped of our basic human rights is OK. And where does questioning start? It starts with curiosity. Unless we know what is happening, it’s impossible to make choices, and choice is what makes life worth living.
Veronica says
Only when you truly understand something will you be able to appreciate it.
we seem to have reached a place where being manipulated and stripped of our basic human rights is OK.
Unless we know what is happening, it’s impossible to make choices, and choice is what makes life worth living.
Marc says
@Veronica:
Well stated… very well stated! 😉
Shafeeq says
I’ve read many articles for improving curiosity.. And this one was also nice like other ones.. Comments for this article encouraged me as much as the content of the article for becoming curious.. Thanks everyone!
kiran says
These days everything is getting commercialized. If people think it can solve all the problems, they’re wrong. Curiosity and originality is wonderful… you just have to flow with it…
anonymous says
As per my personal experience, curiosity has brought me closer to truth, I know stuff no one knows about, while people just believe what is fed to them, I go the other way, go so DEEP that I forget myself in the process of discovery. Ultimately the doubt is mine, the urge is mine, the truth is mine and so is the pain, isolation, and disbelief and the trouble of knowing it all. The result is so mixed that I don’t feel happy or satisfied but am rather broken and awestruck at people’s tragedy. To know it all is not a happy or satisfying thing, its rather about feeling powerful, strong and broken, low and lonesome at the same time. Its too mixed, and I mean strictly curiosity about people, not products.
Bottom line: curiosity is not pretty. Practice on your own risk, not to feel happy or satisfied. The curious minds would rather not expect either one cause that would never be! World’s a complicated place, not happy or beautiful. The more you know the more complex you become and that’s how it is. The choice is yours.
Rob says
I wonder… if curiosity is so beneficial, why did it kill the cat? Hmmm… the mysteries of life.
Thank you for sharing your article. As a side note, I especially liked the comments from Alex Skorulis and ellecon.