How Curiosity Killed the Criticism

(2 minute read time)

We’ve all heard the old saying “Curiosity Killed the Cat”.  It suggests we should avoid being overly or unnecessarily interested.  

However, I am of the opinion that we just aren’t curious enough!  

It’s not our fault really.  Modern life is busy. Couple that with the fact that our brains love efficiency so we immediately connect something we don’t know to something more familiar.  Boom! We have an assumption.

The problem is many times our assumptions are negative and critical.

For example, maybe your team member (the one who’s ALWAYS complaining about something) requests a one-on-one with you.  It’s easy to think “Here we go again”.

Or, perhaps your spouse calls to say they have to work late AGAIN tonight.  Your brain quickly offers something like: “He/she is always putting our family last”.

Or, you consider applying for a promotion but change your mind after you think “I’m not good enough for Senior Leadership, I am just a _____”    

We often believe these critical assumptions without question.  We think we are just making an observation. They are not observations, they’re opinions and they’re holding you back!    

This too is not our fault.  The primitive brain works ruthlessly to try and protect us from danger.

My challenge to you today is to be on the watch for these criticisms and then get super curious about them.  

Cultivating your curiosity opens up tremendous possibilities, it can be a game changer.  We begin to see what could be. We give up the old “It is what it is” mindset. Criticisms become less frequent because we question them.  Opportunities become more frequent because we see them.

Don’t just take my word for it.  Former Alphabet/Google executive Eric Schmidt lists curiosity as one of the top two qualities that predict success.  He lived this out by leading at Google with a mantra of “We run the company by questions, not by answers”.

Are you curious about what the second quality is?        

It’s persistence.   

Need a hand in getting a little more curious about yourself and the world around you? I can definitely help, just click here to schedule a free, 30-minute discovery session.