CURIOSITY KILLED ALL CATS

The more I observe brilliant people, the more I notice that one distinguishing characteristic they have is insatiable curiosity. Intellectual curiosity ranks as one of the most productive and powerful qualities that any person has. It adds dimension, context, and passion. To embrace its uncertainty brings excitement, opportunity & pleasure to one’s life.

In my opinion, the most important word in human history is ‘why’.

But for many of us, as we get older, we lose our appetite for curiosity. In today’s technological society, the competitive load of information is enormous. It’s so overwhelming it often intimidates many perfectly capable people forcing them to conform to the lowest common social denominator.

This is not a new problem…philosophers Leibniz and Diderot complained of information overload in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. The “Renaissance Man,” or person with a working knowledge of every area of human endeavor, becomes increasingly less knowledgeable of the total sum of human knowledge. Instead of inspiring lifelong curiosity and learning, this vast body of knowledge tends to discourage many people from pursuing their natural curiosity about the world around them. This tendency to ask questions can be reinforced or stifled during the ages of two to four when children start asking questions.

Curiosity: Killer of Cats Among Other Things

As kids, we’re insatiably inquisitive. Hundreds of questions often receive answers such as “because I said so” or “Curiosity killed the cat.” Parents rarely want to discuss the big questions such as life, death, and sex. Instead, they give fantasy answers or put off answering the questions until their children are older. The same holds true in crowded classrooms. Stressed-out teachers

struggle to prepare kids to meet mandated educational levels, which limits the time for answering questions that don’t directly relate to the subject being taught.

Successful parents, mentors and teachers learn how to manage complexity so they don’t stifle curiosity, a powerful force in education. In fact, kids hit their peak curiosity level before most even enter a classroom, between the ages of four to six.