Fast Company Now - Curiosity

Fast Company Now:

"Curiosity Key to Personal Brilliance 7 Tips

Curiosity helps you clarify problems, ideas, and situations, and it encourages you to explore how they could be different. Actively exploring the environment, asking questions, investigating possibilities, and possessing a sense of wonder are all part of being curious. Questions are key. Once you open up to the nuances of life, it's easy to find things that fascinate you and to begin wondering 'why?' and 'how?'

1. Think Like A Child
2. Look Beyond the Obvious
3. Fire Your Inner Critic
4. Vary Your Daily Routine
5. Identify the Most Impossible Solutions
6. Work Like a Detective
7. Try New Things

1. Think Like A Child
Children are like miniature reporters, constantly asking who, what, when, where, and particularly why. They also have very few preconceived notions, so they are open to taking in new information without being constrained by biases and judgments.

2. Look Beyond the Obvious
The obvious can mask information that may be vital to learning the truth of a situation. The next time you catch yourself thinking, writing, or saying, 'Obviously...' make a note of your assumption. Then invest a few hours in looking beyond what appears to be true. Keep searching until you find at least three pieces of information or sources that conflict with what you classified as 'obvious.'

3. Fire Your Inner Critic
Remember that someone had every great idea in history. Why not you? We can be so critical of ourselves. Fire that inner critic. Give your ideas time to develop. Respect your intuition. Let ideas percolate for a time prior to applying a critical eye.

4. Vary Your Daily Routine
Take different routes to work, or school, or the market. Use your curiosity to see how many ways you can get there from here. Ask directions of a number of people and evaluate how many variations you hear in these directions. Try them all and evaluate the differences.

5. Identify the Most Impossible Solutions
When faced with a challenge, try to identify the most absurd solutions possible. This can be a fun exercise and may unmask a solution. This process tends to expose the boundary lines in your thinking.

6. Work Like a Detective
Good detectives follow all potential leads, often gathering a huge amount of possibly relevant information, much of which turns out to be useless. However, your attention to detail can eventually pan out when you find the one thread that leads you to a solution.

7. Try New Things
Take a class. Try a new mini-hobby. Taste a food that is new to you. See a movie that you normally wouldn't be attracted to. Read a book on a topic that is unfamiliar. The more you put yourself in learning and questioning mode, the more you develop curiosity as a habit.