The curious child
When we were children, we were curious about everything. If we spotted a caterpillar, it would consume the next half hour of our day. By the time we reached high school, the mandatory lessons within the education system had us tasting a different flavor. Instead of being a soft drink that we crave, learning would often seem more like a bitter medicine that we had to swallow quickly and hope to keep down. With a heavy work load, the inspiration for curiosity got buried underneath required books and half-finished papers. For the most part, our grades reflected our ability to quickly ingest large amounts of information and hold onto it long enough to reach the exam. Beyond the work that required a lot of memorization, creating gradable bodies of work was another part of our schooling. With these assignments, the deadlines would always come faster than the good ideas.

In school, wouldn’t it have be nice if our studies kept pace with our curiosities and our curiosities followed our studies? Wouldn’t it have been nice if we had more time to ponder possibilities? To ponder ways in which past events and resulting achievements could shape our lives?

Within a work environment, we still need to learn. The more complex the work the more continued learning will be required. Learning is a little more tricky within a career, as we are on-the-clock and ultimately responsible for productivity. Training within a career includes formal company training and on-the-job training. Sometimes, on-the-job training is more baptism by fire; where doing work and learning happen at the exact same time, for better or worse. When a company calculates employee compensation and position productivity, they do it over the long run. They may have flexibility that will account for a learning curve, however, they rarely factor in time for learning over the long haul. It is up to workers to find time to continuously learn; even if it needs to happen after hours.

Where did the child go?
Somehow, we make it through a formal education and we find ourselves in a career; but what happened to that curious child? The curious child is still inside of us and it is up to us to make sure that he or she has time to come out and play. As adults, we need to spark our own curiosity and use it to motivate continued learning and accelerate success within our careers. Curiosity can help us grasp broad, focused and conceptual understanding within any given topic; well beyond trivia and independent facts. Curiosity can help us with memorization and retention.

Curiosity within the context of the individual work-process:
• Curiosity makes us jump to activity.
• Curiosity craves relevant information.
• Curiosity opens us to possibilities.
• Curiosity explores possibilities with strategy.
• Curiosity bonds us to our projects.
• Curiosity inspires ideas.
• Curiosity motivates us to realize our ideas.
• Curiosity wants to see results, as ideas get tested.
• When we fail, curiosity wants to know the obstacles and how they can be overcome.