I love curious people. I enjoy spending time with them and conversing with them. Their excitement for knowledge and learning is contagious. I often wonder why more people aren’t curious. So many people seem to be indifferent. Why don’t they ask why? Are some people simply born without the desire to learn? Are some people just mentally lazy? Or does life become so routine for some people that they don’t mind living in a rut, doing the same things day in and day out? Can such people “wake up” their minds and become more curious so growth becomes more natural to them?

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• I certainly hope so. I believe so. It’s why I recommend the following ten suggestions for cultivating curiosity:

1.Believe you Can Be Curious.

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Many people fill their minds with limitation beliefs. Their lack of personal confidence or self-esteem causes them to create barriers for themselves and put limitations on how and what they think. The result? They fail to reach their potential_not because they lack capacity but because they are unwilling to expand their beliefs and break new ground. We cannot perform outwardly in a way that is inconsistent with how we think inwardly. You cannot be what you believe you aren’t. But here’s the good news: You can change your thinking and as a result, your life.

Give yourself permission to be curious. The single greatest difference between curious, growing people and those who aren’t is the belief that they can learn, grow, and change. Knowledge, understanding, and wisdom will not seek you out. You must go out and acquire it. The best way to do that is to remain curious.

2. Have a Beginner’s Mind-set

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The way you approach life and learning has nothing to do with your age. It has everything to do with your attitude. Having a beginner’s mind-set means wondering why and asking a lot of questions until you get answers. It also means being open and vulnerable. If your attitude is like that of a beginner, you have no image to uphold and you desire to learn more is stronger than the desire to look good. You aren’t as influenced by preset rules or so-called acceptable thinking. People with a beginner’s mind set approach life the way that a child does: with curiosity. They are like the little girl who kept asking her mother question after question. Finally the mother cried,”for heaven’s sake,stop asking so many questions. Curiosity killed the cat.” After two minutes of thinking, the child asked, "so what did the cat want to know?"

The direct opposite of people who have a beginner's mind set are the know it alls They see themselves as experts. They have a lot of knowledge, education, and experience, so instead of asking why and starting to listen, they start talking and give answers. Anytime a person answering more than asking, you can be sure they've showed down in their growth and have lost the fire for personal growth.

3. Make why your favourite word

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The important thing is not to stop question. Curiosity has its own reason for existing . One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life , of the marvellous structure of reality. it is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery everyday. Never lose a holy curiosity. The secret to maintaining that "holy curiosity" is to always keep asking why.

Most of the time, focused questions begin with the word why. That word can really help to clarify an issue. And it's important how you ask questions. People with victims mind set ask, "why me?" Not because they want to know, but because they feel sorry for themselves. Curious people ask the question to find the solution so they can keep moving forward and making progress.

4. Spend Time With Other Curious People.

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When you think of curiosity, growth, and learning, do you think of formal education? I think in the early grades curiosity is encouraged, but after that, it’s not. Most formal education steers people toward answers rather than questions. If you went to college, how many times did you hear a professor ask students to hold their questions until later so he could get through his notes or complete the syllabus? The emphasis is often on information over inquiry.

So do you find an attitude of openness and inquiry in the corporate world instead? Usually not. Most corporations don’t try to stimulate curiosity either.

No one in a corporation deliberately sets out to stifle creative thought. Yet, a traditional bureaucratic structure, with its need for predictability, linear logic, conformance to accepted norms, and the dictates of the most recent “long-range” vision statement, is a nearly perfect idea-killing machine. People in groups regress towards the security of the familiar and the well-regulated. Even creative people do it.it’s easier. It avoids the ambiguity, the fear of unpredictability, the threat of the unfamiliar, and the messiness of intuition and human emotion.

So what must you do to cultivate curiosity and stimulate growth?you must seek out other curious people.

5. Learn Something New Every Day.

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One of the best ways to remain curious is to begin each day with a determination to learn something new, experience something different, or meet someone you don’t already know. Doing this requires three things. First, you must wake up with an attitude of openness to something new. You must see the day as having multiple opportunities to learn.

Second, you must keep your eyes and ears open as you go through the day. Most unsuccessful people accept their day, tuning things out,simply hoping to endure it. Most successful people seize their day, focusing in , ignoring distractions. Growing people remain focused, yet maintain a sensitivity and awareness that opens them up to new experiences.

The third component is reflection. It does little good to see something new without taking time to think about it. it does no good to hear something new without applying it. I’ve found that the best way to learn something new is to take time at the end of the day to ask yourself questions that prompt you to think about what you learned. For years I’ve made it my practice to review my day and pull out the highlights. Remember , experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is.

6. Partake In The Fruit Of Failure.

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A curious, growing person approaches failure in a way completely different from someone who isn’t curious. Most people see failure, mistakes, and errors as signs of weakness. When they fail,they say,”I’ll never do that again” but people who grow and develop see failure as a sign of progress. They know that it is impossible to continually try without sometimes failing.it’s part of the curiosity journey. Therefore, they make failure their friend.

When failure is your friend , you don’t ask, “How can I distance myself from this experience?” instead, you ask, “why did this happen? What can I learn? How can I grow from this?” as a result,you fail fast,learn fast,and get to try again fast. That leads to growth and future success.

7. Stop looking for the right answer.

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There are many people with different personality types who are motivated to find the right answer to any question. Believe it or not, that is a problem. These “single solution” people are putting themselves in the best situation to learn and grow. Why? Because there is always more than one solution to a problem. If you believe there is only a single right solution, you either get frustrated because you can’t find it,or if you think you have found it, you stop searching and perhaps miss better ideas. In addition, when you land on what you consider to be right answer, you become complacent. No idea is perfect. No matter how good it is, it can always be improved.

You've probably heard the expression, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." That phrase definitely was not coined by someone dedicated to personal growth. If that has been your mind set in the past, then I suggest you develop a questioner's mind set instead and replace the popular phrase with the following questions:

• If it ain't broke, how can we make it better?
• If it ain't broke, when is it likely to break in the future?
• If it ain't broke, how long will it serve as the world changes?

people with curiosity keep asking questions, and as a result, they keep leaning.

8. Get over yourself

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If you're going to ask questions and allow yourself to fail, then you will at times look foolish. Most people don't like that. Do you know what my response is? Get over yourself! Instead, we need to be more like children. The thing I love about young children is that they just ask. They don't worry if a question is foolish. They just ask it. They don't worry about whether they will look dump trying something new. They just do it. And as a result they learn.

9. Get out of the box

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I value innovative thinking, and I am easily frustrated by people who refuse to think outside of their self imposed boxes. When people say things like, "We've never done it that way before" or "That's not my job," I just want to shake them up. I want to offer to do their funeral, because they've already died and are obviously just waiting for somebody to make it official. Good ideas are everywhere, but it's hard to see them when you won't look outside of your box. Instead of remaining confined, people need to break down the walls of their boxes, get out, and become hunters ideas.
That requires an abundance mind set. Unfortunately, most in the box thinkers possess a scarcity mind set. They dint think there are many resources to go around. They believe they can't.

10. Enjoy your life

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perhaps the greatest way to remain curious and keep growing is to enjoy life. That means taking risks sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always learning. When you enjoy your life, the lines between work and play begin to blur. We do what we love and love what we do. Everything becomes a learning experience.

I remain my humble self @drayhazz