In my last blog, I considered the meaning of curiosity and openness.

As a quick recap, curiosity is the desire to learn or know about anything, whilst openness is the ability and willingness to embrace new experiences and new ideas.

I now want to reflect upon how to develop these two essential personality traits.

Firstly, curiosity.

Ask questions

Never be afraid to ask questions – they fuel your creativity and innovation, help you understand how things are connected, and infuse purpose and insight into your actions.

Explore, explore, explore

If something piques your interest, don’t give up but allow you curiosity to guide you. Learning more about things that interest you engages your mind and inspires your world.

Indulge your curiosities daily – even if it’s just a Google or Wikipedia search.

Listen

Never forget that you have one mouth but two ears.

Active listening is an important skill to develop.

Listening intently, without thinking of your response, or allowing your mind to judge the information, helps develop your brain’s curiosity muscle. Staying curious is about seeking new knowledge and information – not simply talking about that which you already possess.

Write things down

Writing by hand slows us down, lights up our brains, and stimulates curiosity

Keep a notebook with you. When you have a passing thought or a turn of phrase crosses your mind, write it down. If you see something you want to think about later, write it down. Write down the dreams you can remember and the goals you want to achieve.

Memorise knowledge

Memorising knowledge enriches your creativity and fuels innovation by making old information accessible and new connections possible.

It gives you the ‘a-ha moments’ that stimulate the curious mind. 

Remember you don’t need to be right

Never forget, nobody knows everything.

Replace the need to be right with the desire to learn. Being in a state open to learning is what curiosity is at its core.

Now let’s consider openness.

Practice change

If you tend to refute or reject new ideas, approaches, or opportunities, try to make a goal to accept at least one every few weeks.

Improve your decision-making

When making decisions at work, start by identifying any barriers that might hinder you – for example time constraints or lack of confidence.

Reflect on recent decisions and assess how you could have approached them more analytically. Use tools like the SWOT analysis to examine the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to help you decide on the best route to take.

Think about goals

Rather than getting stuck in perfecting the minor details of your work, think about what you’re really trying to achieve – and let that guide your thinking.

Learning time

Assign yourself an hour each week to expose yourself to new ideas and concepts.

This can be done through TED talks, documentaries, and seminars, or engaging with thought leaders and innovators.

Look out for the next two blogs in this series – “What’s the importance of curiosity and openness and “What are the benefits of curiosity and openness?”

If you need further information about these approaches, or any other resilience topic, please contact russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.