How to Make Curiosity the Key to Both Intelligence and Creativity
We are born curious, but when answers are valued more than questions, we forget how to keep it going. As youngsters, we’re naturally curious–it’s how we grow and learn–but by the time we start school that sense of wonder starts to escape us. Make curiosity the key to continuing the learning process.
Stupid people tend to overestimate their competence, while smart people tend to sell themselves short. As Shakespeare put it in “As You Like It“: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Do you wish to become a highly curious and intelligent thinker?
So how can we retrain ourselves to develop our habit of curiosity
and be more curious? By forming new habits, obviously. You knew that, of
course.
Answers are more valued than inquisitive thought, and curiosity is
trained out of us.
While we’re born curious, experts say we can relearn the trait.
Every person can describe at least one moment that stands out in
their memory where someone demonstrated true and unbridled curiosity. Some of
my greatest memories of my staff’s curiosity have come at the most unexpected
times and most pure of circumstances.
Here are 12 simple things to do to teach curiosity.
What we
know about motivation
Everybody
has a personal and evolving profile of abilities, including areas of strength
and weakness in intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and behavioral
domains.
Contrary to what many people think, intelligence and creativity are not fixed at birth. They develop step by step over time. They require relevant learning opportunities, hard work, and a willingness to learn from setbacks.
They also demand preparation, communication, questions (and answers), reflection, practice, and patience. And, encouragement!
These understandings of what can propel both intelligence and creativity have action and desire at the core. It is each person’s choice whether to extend personal experiences in purposeful ways so as to augment intelligence and fuel creativity.
There are no limits, only horizons.
However,
when it comes to motivating and nurturing capacities, it’s important to provide
encouragement—to show confidence, demonstrate willfulness, and convey positive
messages.
Help people
understand why something is worth pursuing
It may be an assignment, a creative endeavor, a recreational activity, or something else altogether. If there is buy-in—that is, if people perceive a task as being relevant or meaningful—then they will be more motivated to see it through.
Motivation is often associated with triggers such as need, instinct, curiosity, or encouragement. Learning opportunities should be interesting so kids can experience the kind of motivation that comes from personal engagement.
Praise
should be genuine and constructive
Vague compliments don’t really propel us forward in the same way that constructive and direct feedback does.
Praise.
Well-targeted and immediate feedback can be motivating, and empower us to keep going and to feel that we’re making progress.
Help others
learn from their mistakes
An effort is what really matters. Final products may not be perfect, and there may be stumbling blocks along the way, but that’s okay because it’s all part of the learning process.
Show people that taking responsibility—including working toward addressing challenges and errors, and overcoming problems—is every bit as important as other completion-related outcomes
Tap into
support networks that will enable learning opportunities
Relationships are foundational to human development. Seek out and take advantage of local and long-range liaisons and leads for learning.
This might include courses, seminars, conferences, panel discussions, chat groups, and book clubs.
Find out what’s available in your area, or what’s accessible online. Also, watch for books on a variety of seminal topics.
Become
more knowledgeable about intelligence and creativity
Read
articles to discover why a person’s education is not just about schooling,
how there are endless possibilities for personal expression, and how increasing
knowledge and applying understandings can empower all of us on many fronts.
Monitor a
person’s momentum as they proceed
Stay attuned to their ups and downs. Help them learn to be patient, and to recalibrate or make any necessary adjustments as they complete tasks.
Taking steps backward or sideways (or even pausing now and again) can often be as illuminating, learning-laden, and creativity-inducing as steps forward. After all, learning is a multifaceted process.
Change is
inevitable, so help people to anticipate it, deal with it, and use it to
advantage
Change can be exhilarating or deterring. It can accelerate or short-circuit a person’s learning trajectory. Leaders are well-positioned to offer guidance and encourage us to manage the changes that occur in their lives.
These might include transitions to different or special programs, new friendships, altered family circumstances, and various expected or unforeseen circumstances that may occur.
Become an
advocate
No two people are alike. And, every person is entitled to an education commensurate with his/her abilities. Leadersdo not help by refusing to recognize and acknowledge their differences.
They help them by celebrating those differences, looking for ways to accommodate them, and teaching the other students acceptance and tolerance and compassion.
Life
balance has a positive impact on intelligence and creative expression
All of us should make time for play, relaxation, and reflection. People who look after themselves, take breaks, exercise, and stay healthy are better able to invest the energy required to “kickstart” and augment learning, and engage in creative initiatives.
The best kind of nurturing happens in the flow of day-to-day life, so pay attention to smart routines, rest, nutrition, recreation, and life balance—and to the whole person.
Know the
importance of life-long learning
Embrace
reading, open communication, curiosity, problem-finding, and problem-solving.
Convey an attitude that shows and also reinforces that every day is another
chance to learn new things and contribute to the greater good.
Your curiosity skill … a
motivating example
Curiosity, of course, has a very positive side. Consider the case of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century German naturalist, and explorer after whom the Humboldt Current, off the west coast of South America, was named.
At one point in his life, Humboldt said: “From my earliest youth I had felt an ardent desire to travel into distant regions, which Europeans had seldom visited.” This desire arose, he said, when he felt “an irresistible attraction in the impetuous agitations of the mind.”
At the age of 29, he traveled to Central and South America on an expedition that lasted five years. With the information that he collected, he compiled a 30-volume chronicle of his travels.
Everything attracted Humboldt’s attention —the temperature of
the ocean, the fish that lived in it, the plants he found in his path. He
climbed mountains, explored rivers, and sailed the oceans.
Humboldt’s research laid the foundation in several fields of
modern science.
It all began with his intense curiosity, and his insatiable desire for knowledge accompanied him throughout his life.
In the words of American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Humboldt was one of those wonders . . . who appear from time to time, as if to show us the possibilities of the human mind, the force and the range of the faculties.”
The
bottom line
Intelligence
and creativity are not elusive. They’re a bit like salt and pepper. They’re
accessible. They go together. They’re a choice. They can be used sparingly or
plentifully.
However, unlike salt and pepper, an abundance of intelligence and creativity is good for everyone, cannot be used up, and can contribute to their overall well-being. That abundance is well within reach.
