Are you Curious?

“Everything we know we learned from someone else.” – John Wooden

How many of you, when you were born, already knew how to speak? How to read? How to count numbers? How to do calculus? Or how to make an app?

No one. Yes?

A few months ago, someone came up to me and said, “You know what, I’m gifted!”

I asked, “Why do you say so?”

“When I was born I know one thing no one taught me to do,” he replied.

“Really?” I asked in a very attentive look, “What is it?”

I was waiting for him to say “Oh when I went out from the womb of my mother I instantly said ‘Mam-ma,” or “I did the action song of Twinkle Twinkle, close-open my two hands.”

And he said, “I knew how to cry.”

Curiosity: A Learning Skill of a Child

When we were a toddler, most of the time, we asked so many questions. We were curious about the things around us.  Sometimes we asked so many questions that we tend to annoy the ones we were asking.

But that's the good thing about young children. They don’t worry if the question is foolish. They just ask. They don’t worry whether they will look dumb trying something new. They just do it. As a result, they learn. 

And that’s basically a need for us to grow: Curiosity.

Curious people possess a thirst for knowledge. They live in a constant state of wanting to learn more. Author and speaker John Maxwell said, “Curiosity helps a person to think and expand possibilities beyond the ordinary. Asking why? fires the imagination. It leads to discovery.”

So why are there some people who have stopped growing and wasn’t able to move on with their lives?

Pride.

These are people who don’t have a beginner’s mindset and are the know-it-alls. They see themselves as experts. They’ve began to answer more than ask. And when they do, you can be sure they’ve slowed down in their growth and have lost the fire for personal growth.

Author John Naisbitt believes that “the most important skill to acquire is learning how to learn.”

That is why I made a decision to have a teachable spirit. I realized that all the wisdom I need are available in this world.

As John Wooden said, “Everything we know we learned from someone else.”

All we have is to do is to acknowledge the need, ask, learn to listen and enjoy life.

I love it when John Maxwell said, “Perhaps the greatest way to remain curious and keep growing is to enjoy life. I believe it honors God when we enjoy life and live it well. That means taking risks – sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always learning."

In his commencement speech in Stanford, Steve Jobs ended it with a line, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.”

Friends, be curious.

Have a teachable attitude.

A blessed weekend!