Ideas on living a more curious life

(Ian Sanders presenting ‘On Being Curious’ at Inspire Live, Google London 2017)

“What does it mean to live a curious life?”

We hear a lot about curiosity in work and business. But how does it manifest just day to day? The C word has been a big driver in my work life for the last couple of decades. Here are my reflections on how being curious shows up day to day.

I posted this question, ‘what does being curious look like for you?’ on a LinkedIn post, and here are some of the responses I received:

“Curiosity is just a part of who I am … What’s down that path? What would happen if I … ? What is THAT!? How does that work? What do you think?! Woven into the very threads of my existence. An endless desire for ‘input’ like Johnny 5, the robot that comes to life in the film Short Circuit! I believe this is essential human nature … questioning … experimenting … taking adventures into the unknown … every time we meet a new person, try a new recipe, visit a new country, pick up a book, watch a movie. I would love the ‘world’ to be much more curious” Susie 

“I love how you talked about curiosity manifesting itself in practical choices. So it’s not just an intellectual thing that happens inside our heads.” Yvonne 

“I think I often need some kind of trigger or incentive to get more curious. Setting myself up for a challenge that requires me to gather more new insights, explore uncharted territories.” Peter

“I'm becoming more and more curious as I get older....and I believe it has everything to do with presence. Getting outside of our heads, agendas, plans...and truly noticing who and what we're surrounded by. And appreciating all of it :)” John 

“Going into rabbit holes of information to end up at the beginning. Starting projects that have no brief. My friend and I started a 5-minute food podcast about design, where we get lost and need guidance on what we are doing or the next subject.” Narcis 

“Curiosity is such an inspiring word, it reminds me of childhood. Curiosity gives our minds the freedom to daydream, to imagine a world filled with curious characters, problems become puzzles that we solve by making them into shapes and rearranging them.” Sidney 

“I like to think of choosing to be curious as acting on the idea that there is opportunity in the unknown. That might translate into wandering down an unfamiliar street, or reading/listening/eating outside our favourites, or being willing to sit in dialogue with people and ideas that make us profoundly uncomfortable… or even just a tad uncomfortable, for starters. We build muscle with this curiosity stuff.”  Lynn