Embracing Curiosity | #07

Foreign. Hi, I'm Dr. Nathalie, and today we are speaking about curiosity. This thing is such an important value, I think, because it helps you to learn and grow almost naturally. I think having a curious attitude has made a huge difference in my life. Maybe I'm lucky because I'm a curious person, but I find a lot of people who ask, why get further in life, because once you understand why something is being done, you can now play with it. You're not obliged to just take things as they are. I notice it in leaders, in managers, in people who have to do creative things. Having an edge where you ask yourself why something is done or how it's done, or what else can be done. It helps you to see things in a new way. It helps you to bring new information to yourself. It helps open your mind to other ways things can be done. And also I think it gives you more confidence in what you're doing. When you know the underlying why something is why something is being done the way that it is, you can feel more secure in the way you are executing it. It really helps to ask questions around things. It helps you to follow your own energy, the things that you're interested in, the things that you find you're curious about. I actually even keep a list of things that one day I'll Google this or read about this or learn about this, and you never know how that thing is going to affect another area of your life or an aspect of your life. Is it going to affect your work or your personal life? But if you have this curious mindset of why does something work this way, or how did you get here, or who helped you to do this? Asking questions really leads to so much more. Something I ask for every project or any new thing I have to do is what does success look like? It's something I learned along the way. But if you know what people's priorities and desired outcome is, then you can adjust how you're going to get there. No one really cares how things get done. They just want it to get done. So if you want to know, what do you want it to be, what's the vision? What's the goal? What's the dream? Then I can walk backwards and make anything happen, because then I can look at the resources I have, the time, the money, the people, what it's going to take to get that desired outcome. But if you just take instructions or you're told, do this, do this, make sure this works, you're not really sure. Is it working? Is it not working? Is the target high? Is the target low? Is the revenue high? Is the revenue low? Are these the people I need or do I not need them? You're kind of just swimming in that limbo. So learning to ask questions helps. And I feel like because so many people are nervous about asking questions, and here in Uganda, we have an attitude of asking questions is negative. I think it comes from childhood and not being encouraged to ask questions at school. But I find that it's almost frowned upon, even with me. When I was younger, my parents used to be like, shh, don't ask questions. You're always asking too many questions. I used to annoy people by asking all these questions till I wasn't allowed to sit next to people at dinners whenever my parents would have, like, guests over because I'll disturb them the whole time. Why are you like this? Why did you say this? What does this mean? Because I'm curious. And for me, I just like to know who knows when I'll use that information. But I do think it has helped me, especially in my career, because my mind is always wondering about why things are the way they are or how they got there or why this happens or why things are done like this. And I've noticed my dad is like this too. When we're working in construction, everywhere we're going, we're now noticing things. Why are the lights like this? Why are the tiles like this? Why did they put that dim there? Why did they make this room that size? And you ask questions and you find out, because there's always a reason. A lot of the time when people come to your business and say, why don't you do this? Or have you thought about this? Or I suggest this product. There is a reason why we do this or we don't do this. Sometimes there's no reason. I mean, that frustrates me. Sometimes people don't know why things are the way they are. They how we found it. This is what happens. Is there a reason you're specifically doing it this inefficient way? Yes or no? Find out. It helps to drive you and guide you. And the more questions you ask, the more information you get. Most of the time as an adult, no one's going to tell you you're annoying, asking too many questions. That's for kids. But as an adult, you find out so much if you just ask something that we task women to do when we're teaching public speaking and visibility in the office, ask questions in meetings. Give yourself that target or that, that pressure. I have to Ask one question per meeting so that I get practice in speaking up. And when you have to ask a question, you also get used to looking at things critically. Being curious helps you to assess things, analyze things. We are living in a time where technology is taking jobs. Don't think just because we're in Africa, it's not going to affect us. We are already using ChatGPT in our work. It happened and it's moving very fast. What human beings will always be needed for is creativity and judgment. Computers, machines, automation, they're going to take over a lot of the different jobs. Anything that's routine or manual or has to be done the exact same way. A computer will always do it better than a person. But anything that requires analysis, assessment, critical thinking, some judgment, some creativity, you're going to need a human being for that. When you get all the data analytics from your social media, yes, it's automatically generated by the social media media platform. But what you use that information for, a human being must assist. Is this the kind of audience we're looking at? Is this the goal that we had? Why did we do it this way? Who are we targeting? What is, what does success look like? These are questions only human beings can ask. So empower yourself, protect your job. This is how you're going to be valuable in the company. If anyone in your team can do what you're doing, you are not valuable. If you ask the right questions, your judgment is what your boss trusts, your assessment, your creativity, that is where you will add value that no one can replace. Because each person is unique. Even when you look at your own siblings, raised in the same household with the same parents, you have different personalities, you have different experiences. So the way you react to the same information is different. So no one in life is going to be exactly the way you are. Even people who went to the same school, work in the same company, who are the same background as you, you all see things slightly different and that is your unique edge. So follow your curiosity, ask questions, understand things at a deeper level. I'm not saying ask every question all the time and ask why, why, why, why, why? You know you're gonna retain it. Follow where your interest is, follow where your passion lies, Follow where your job works. In your sector, you should understand many different things in your skill set. You should understand what's going on and push yourself to be creative, push yourself to be more proactive. Once you have more information, you can plan ahead. If you're always reactive, you're waiting for instructions, I do it. Instructions, I do it you're not asking why. You don't know where you're going. You can never be proactive. You can never go to your boss and say, since we're working on this project and I know this is the target in three months, why don't we do it this way? Have you thought about this? Can we try this? I did some research and this tool is what we need to help us get the results we're looking for. That's how you stand out. That's how you're more valuable even in your own family, in your own life, in your own organization. Creativity, the value you have in your relationships and the people around you. It's important to arm yourself with information, empower yourself and ask questions to get that information. If you have a mindset of curiosity, it makes learning easier because you're constantly asking questions and you get used to what Wondering why things are the way they are or how they got this way. And you'll find what works for you. Where does your natural curiosity lie? Because as human beings, we are generally curious. I think that's how we keep inventing new things, always trying stuff. How do you start to try something, you wonder, can it do this? Can it do that? Why not this? I encourage experimenting. We all learn how to experiment as children. How to plan out the different steps, a hypothesis. We test it out, we get the feedback, we adjust. Do this in your life. What is the best way for you to lose weight? Is it to change your diet? Is it to exercise? Is it to add more water? What type of exercises? What type of foods? Should you remove something? Should you add something? Keep experimenting and be curious. Adding being curious helps you to remove judgment. It helps you to be so attached to the results of something. You need to be open to how things will work. A lot of the time there are many different paths you can take to get to the same destination. So if you think about the destination and you have a curious, open minded, flexible kind of understanding, how you'll get there, you will get there. If you have a destination, this is the route you've decided to take. And now there's an obstacle, you get stuck. I see this happening too often. Oh, madam. There was an obstacle in the way and you stopped there because you attached to one way. I said this is the target we have. Yes. I give you instructions to get there, but if there's a problem, go around, go above, go under, try something else. You're not the how you get to places is usually not so rigid. As long as you get there that's what matters. So it doesn't help to say I tried and I failed because I tried only one way. Did you try this other way? Did you ask this other person? Did you pay this? Did you get this? Did you try that license? Get advice. Look at all the different ways you can do things. Open your mind. Once you're curious and you're open minded and you're feeling flexible, so many things are possible. Understand where you're actually trying to go. Too many times, we are all in autopilot of this is my job, I'm just supposed to do this. As long as I do this, I get paid, I go home at 5. No, guess what? That's not being proactive. You're not showing your value, you're not using your own talents and skills. There's a reason you're in that job. There's an ability that you have, you're not giving it your best. If you're trying and you're making an effort and yes, I'm not saying you're not trying to, you're doing the bare minimum essentially if you're just doing what you're told. But if you are over delivering, that is where you're adding value. That's where they look for promotions or trainings or support or they invite you to different things and you asked into different rooms and you're given more opportunities because you add value, your judgment, your assessment, your creativity. In every job, even in the most, even in accounting, you can be creative. There are different ways and different things you can do and think of on a bigger scale. And that will help you to move forward in your career, in your personal life and your own self satisfaction. Because happiness is not just about a destination. If you're so busy chasing happiness, I need to be happy, I need to be happy, I need to be happy. You're missing the actual happiness which is in the journey. It's in the process. In the American Constitution, every American has the right to pursue happiness. Not to be happy, to pursue. Because that pursuit is what brings the happiness. Satisfaction comes from progress. If you have the best job and the best life and the best family, I promise you in one week you're going to be bored of them or you're going to not feel satisfied. You need to feel progress. That's how human beings feel happy. If you see your own growth and you feel the momentum and you see that you're moving forward, that's what makes you happy. If you feel resentment or anger or sadness when you're stuck, when something you feel trapped, you're not able to move. Because human beings are very energetic beings. We like to keep moving and to feel that flow. So I feel like coming with a curious mindset is what unlocks a lot of different paths for you to take. That's what's important. It's not about what specific destination you're trying to get. If you have a curious mindset, if you're open minded about how things can be done and you're ready to research them, look into them, ask questions, then there's many different ways for you to get there. There's so many different paths. Of course, every path has its obstacles, its distractions, its resources that it needs. But it makes you have more options. Don't trap yourself to one option in life. This is what I studied, this is my job, this is what I have to do. That's it. And you think it makes you feel secure. But too much certainty also removes happiness. If you know exactly what your next day, your next week, your next month is going to look like, how much room for joy and excitement is there and there. Because life is hard, there's lots of struggles. So you need to have these things. Your journey needs to have joy, you need to be interested in things, you need to laugh every day. There are specific things you gotta have to have the happiness. But being curious makes more options for you. It opens more doors. There are more ways to get to what you want than you think. Just because you've only seen one way or heard of one way, doesn't mean there's one way. Our minds are like computers. When you buy a computer, it's empty, right? It has Microsoft Word, it has the basic programs. But you have to put information inside it for it to give you information out. To make a presentation, you have to think and type and add and cut and paste and put. Then that nice presentation comes out. That's what your mind is like. Our minds do not come pre programmed with anything. They're empty. That's why children don't know anything. And once you teach someone something, you show someone something. Now their mind has it. But we can only imagine based off the data we already have. So even your wildest dreams are based on something you've seen or heard somewhere. You cannot dream of something you've never seen or you've never heard. It's not possible. The data doesn't exist in your brain. So you are limited to only what you've been exposed to in what you are capable of thinking and the options you think are in the world. So the more information you give your mind, the more things it knows is possible. So being curious just opens you to way more possibilities, opportunities, way more scenarios that than you would if you didn't know these things. If you read books, you watch YouTube, you meet people, you talk to people, you ask questions, you're constantly giving your mind new things. It can constantly be thinking of new possibilities as well. And that's how you also free yourself and you open yourself up to so much more. Just because you have this job doesn't mean you can't have a side hustle. But if you've never seen someone in your field with a side hustle, you're like, is it even possible? Are we allowed? How would it work? You need to open your mind to different things, different paths of life, different fields, different sectors, different people. And if you let your curiosity take you there naturally, it doesn't feel like work. It doesn't feel like you're always learning, but you're always adding new information that's going to help you to open new paths and new possibilities. And it gives you more confidence and excitement and motivation to live your life and to do things because you know you can do them in all these different ways. There is a famous monk who says, where your attention goes, your energy blows. And that is very, very true. So wherever you're putting your focus, your time, your attention, your energy is naturally going to feed it and it's going to grow. And that's something that's good for your life. So use curiosity to unlock things for yourself. See where your curiosity is taking you and let those things grow. They will bear fruits in your life. You will see connections, possibilities, opportunities, because you have put some time and energy in just learning new things, in opening your mind, in listening to things. And there's so many mediums and different ways that you can learn and listen and grow in this day and age. We thank God for the Internet. So take some time and see where you can be more people curious. There's a TED Talk that I really like called why I Read a Book a Day by Tai Lopez. He read a book a day, I think, for two years or something, and his life completely changed just because of the amount of information he was giving himself. He now has businesses and moves and travels and he does so much, but it changed his perspective. So you're no longer trapped with where you are and what you do and what you learned. You can unlock more opportunities and possibilities for yourself just from putting in more information into this supercomputer that is your mind. So take some time. What can you be more curious about? Where can you ask questions? How do you learn? Do you like videos? Do you like audio? Do you prefer books? Do you want to meet people? Do you wait for someone to send you something on WhatsApp? Before you watch or listen, Seek for yourself. Be proactive. Go out there and see what you're interested in. Follow that energy and that curiosity and see where it can take you. Nice.