Curiosity is the springboard of innovation. It is the key to growth in both personal and professional life.
But only when it’s done with care.
Which brings me to a story from a few years ago:
“Ahh, don’t bring you confusion towards me.”
One of the musicians I interviewed for my first book said, jokingly.
It was the beginning of 2020. I had spent the last few months of 2019, interviewing entrepreneurs, musicians, and designers for my book – Press Play.
As I sat in a dark room in my parent’s house in Lagos, I was on FaceTime with one of the most rebellious musicians I had come across.
I was setting the scene for how I got to this topic and why I was interviewing him. I ended with: “So that’s why I’m interviewing musicians, so what’s your take on how music can drive innovation and social change?”
He paused, then said: “so you went from chemical engineer, to beat producer, to business owner, you said you worked at a furniture factory too. You mentioned something about Stanford. And now you’re writing a book?”
“Chaaiii.” He laughed. “Abeg no bring your confusion reach me o.”
We laughed about it and we’ve stayed friends ever since.
But even for the rebellious and unconventional artist, my curiosity came across as confusion.
What most people don’t realize is that curiosity requires a lot of discipline.
And that’s what has allowed me to cut across many fields in a short amount of time.
Curious Suppressants:
A lot of people are not curious enough.
The education system was built to squeeze out any ounce of curiosity in your bones, so that you are a dry artifact that plugs into the industrial corporate system.
Teachers poured fixed knowledge into you.
You ask too many questions?
They respond with:
Curiosity kills the cat.
Children want to grow up quick and start impersonating adults, especially the ones that got patted on the back by the adults.
They start doing the biddings of the “curious-choking crew.”
CCC United.
“Oh she doesn’t know what she wants to do with life.”
“He’s always switching.”
“She needs to get it together.”
“That bunch, they just lack discipline.”
So most people, in an effort to keep with the Joneses, stick to the middle, unhappy.
In reality, curiosity in essence is what makes you human.
It’s the path of discovery that has helped us advance. It is curiosity that has driven scientific knowledge, engineering feats, and tremendous innovation.
But this curiosity is not for a reserved few.
It’s accessible to everyone.
The one thing that most people get wrong is that curiosity is not something that negates discipline. In fact, a major driver for personal growth is a disciplined approach to curiosity.
That’s how you get the most out of the vast opportunities in life.
Discipline and curiosity belong together.
Nurturing Curiosity With Discipline
You’re not confused, you might just be early in the process.
Real curiosity requires patience and discipline.
When you take a disciplined approach to your curiosity, you’ll gain confidence and clarity, pace yourself through life, have a higher chance of getting into flow states (which make life more enjoyable), and most importantly direct your growth.
Here are six things that have helped me along the way:
1. Stop stifling your interests
Undo the programming.
You might have a few interests that keep coming up but you might have suppressed them so much that you can’t even recognize them anymore. This is from years of saying things like:
“That’s just silly.”
“I used to do that as a kid”
Unfortunately, you have trained yourself to not enjoy your life.
Whenever you have a certain interest, sit with it, talk about it, most importantly do a 10-minute activity on it.
Allow yourself to make life interesting.
2. Avoid the trap
Your enthusiasm can work against you.
Most people get excited about an idea or a vision. They jump into it excited. They convince themselves that it’s going to be how they live their lives.
And then, 2 days later, they’ve lost interest. Excited about another shiny idea.
They have fallen victim to the enthusiasm trap. Scott Belsky describes this as the “Project Plateau” in his book, Making Ideas Happen.
The project plateau is the den of half-baked ideas.
Through the journey of bringing an idea to reality, there will be long stretches of down times.
It’s normal. Don’t let that discourage you.
Pace yourself.
3. Focus but multitask (in slow motion)
You are not that great at doing multiple tasks at once.
There was a time when it was a badge of honor to be a multitasker. Being able to manage your tasks is important but there is a significant mental cost associated with switching between tasks. This kills your creativity and productivity.
You are better off, focusing on one task at a time for 90-minute stretches.
But this doesn’t mean you should only do one thing at a time. You can work on multiple projects over a long period of time.
Research shows that scientists with the highest numbers of patents and scientific discoveries work across multiple disciplines. It allows them to transpose ideas across fields, leading to innovative ideas.
“On average, the most enduringly creative scientists switched 43 times in their first 100 research papers. Seems like the secret to creativity is multitasking in slow motion. Through their life they multitask across each project, slowly.”
~ TIM HARFORD, AUTHOR, JOURNALIST, THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST
So focus on one task at a time (in the short-term).
Work on multiple projects (in the long term).
4. Don’t let scarcity hold you back
Nothing kills your creativity like being broke.
Trust me, I’ve been there a few times. Some starving artists and entrepreneurs make it. Majority don’t.
No impact. No reach. There’s nothing worse than feeling insignificant.
So get a job.
Start a business.
Find some investors.
Be able to pay your bills.
It is hard to create from a state of constant scarcity.
While you explore your interests, keep the main thing the main thing. Take care of yourself and your family.
5. Set Deadlines and Ship
Share your work.
Ideally, you want to follow your interests just for yourself. You can continue to nurture that intrinsic interest on your way. But we are also social animals.
We experience the world through the eyes of others too.
So it’s important to get a tangible manifestation of your interests into the hands of people.
Whether that’s a:
- Book
- Service
- Product
- Illustration
It helps you learn how people respond to your ideas. This is valuable feedback that allows you to iterate on your process.
It also provides accountability to stick to how you nurture your interests.
Set deadlines for your interests and ship them out, consistently.
It’s all a journey…
True curiosity requires discipline.
You nurture your curious mind by allowing it to foster, understanding project lulls, focusing and (unfocusing), prioritizing abundance, and setting deadlines to ship.
Allow your curiosity to grow by showing up.
Remember the most important thing is the journey itself.
Make sure you enjoy it.
It is not confusing if you find it interesting.
Yours truly,
Nifemi
