Happy New Year! I hope you had a great start to 2018. I thought the first post of the year should be a little more meaningful than the rest, so today I’m going to share a little about my journey as a blogger. I’ve never really been too big on resolutions, but January always feels significant. It’s the first month of a new year, & it feels like the perfect time for new beginnings- there’s just this special energy about it, you know?
A few days ago, this blog turned nine. That’s a big milestone, just one short of a decade. Now that blogging is a very well known & a viable profession, I often get asked more about how and why I started doing this back in 2009? If I would sum it up with one word, it’d have to be curiosity.
What is Curiosity?
Curiosity, defined in the most simple way is the desire to know more about something.
More broadly, curiosity entails wanting to gain new knowledge & stepping out of one’s comfort zone. Without it, there would be no discovery of fire, or man wouldn’t have forged the wheel. I don’t think civilisation would have existed without it. And to apply it to my life, if I wasn’t curious, I probably would have thought blogging would be a gigantic waste of time – a ‘journal’ on the internet that nobody’s ever going to read? What’s the point? But it seemed interesting, fresh & new; I wanted to know more. I wanted to try my own hand at it. That decision to start then & stick with it definitely changed my life in many ways & I never would have done it without a healthy dose of curiosity.
The Curiosity Report
In 2015, Merck Group worked with curiosity experts to develop definitions and launch a curiosity survey among workers in USA. This survey measured not just employee levels of curiosity but also the level of curiosity supported by their employers. For 2016, workers in China and Germany were also surveyed to begin to understand global curiosity levels, not just curiosity levels in USA. The State of Curiosity Report captures the findings from the research in these surveys as well as insights from focus groups & curiosity and innovation experts.
Curiosity involves recognizing, seeking out, and even preferring things that are new, unusual, and outside of one’s normal experience. Curiosity has been broken down into measurable units, or dimensions:
- inquisitiveness – asking questions and exploring ideas
- creativity in problem solving – a willingness to try new solutions
- openness to other ideas – preferring a variety of experiences and perspectives and
- distress tolerance – the ability to meet the unfamiliar with bravery rather than anxiety
These categories help us understand curiosity as a concept and measure levels. There’s a whole lot of really useful data in Merck’s Curiosity Report, with lots of really interesting takeaways.
My Takeaways | How Curiosity Helped Me
To me, it just reaffirmed (through scientific methodology) what I already knew. Curiosity drives us all forward. Being more curious will always be rewarding, both in your professional & personal life.
Professionally, that can lead to amazing discoveries & new opportunities, whether you work a regular job or are self employed.
Personally, it can lead you to try something you wouldn’t usually do- a new cuisine, a solo trip, or maybe even adventure sports?
Curiosity will help you have momentum, so you never feel bored or boxed in.
I used to be very cautious myself (& I thought it was a good thing). I thought it’d be better if I always stayed within my comfort zone & only took up things I knew I’d be good at. But over the years, I’ve realised that this line of thinking just held me back. So exactly four years ago, I started a YouTube channel. Even though I thought I was terrible at speaking & expressed myself better in writing. Even though I didn’t know anything about videography – I was an awkward, hot mess. But again, making videos felt interesting & new, so I was curious & determined to explore. And slowly, so slowly… I got better at it! Today making videos brings me a lot of joy & satisfaction. It’s challenging but stimulating & also really rewarding. That experience taught me a lot & it’s made me determined to keep exploring & trying new things. Even nine years into blogging, I still don’t know where I’m going. All I know is, it’ll be an interesting ride…
