“I just couldn’t make it go away even though there were

many times that I wanted it to.”

     Seth Godin on “Curiosity” in a must-see video by Nic

As a dyed-in-the-wool inquisitive and independent individual, these are my sentiments exactly. 

I was born curious. And my middle name should be “Why?” 

Although my inherent curiosity was barely more than an annoyance for both my parents while growing up, it was handsomely rewarded in school – particularly grade school – where critical thinking was expected and taught. Ironically, I can say this now with clarity – not solely from memories – because I recently had the chance to peek at an old school-papers file with workbooks/report cards (from my Mom) that I unearthed during our last house move. I was surprised to see how intensely the grade school teachers and curriculums focused on the development of critical thinking skills. WOW. And to think I took my fabulous New York State public education for granted all these years?! Of course, when I got to college (SUNY-again, it was a quality education) the free thinking was roped in just a bit and the A grades definitely came easier if you gave the Prof what s/he wanted to hear, rather than what you actually thought. But, still, the only thing that mattered was that I still had my own thoughts.

The painful part for me came when I realized that everyone else in the world was not necessarily as curious.

Actually, it was painful leading up to that point, too, because I was “assuming” that everyone else was curious…creating an environment for skewed communication. Now, at least, I can handle a situation differently with the knowledge that curiosity may not, in fact, be a part of the communications mix.

Anyway, now that I am older and wiser I am grateful for this gift of curiosity – although I can’t quite say that I’ve figured out what to do with it yet!

Note: If you want to enhance your critical thinking skills, I recommend taking a critical thinking seminar from the American Management Association (AMA). The one I attended a few years ago was called “Critical Thinking: A New Paradigm for Peak Performance.” As a curious person, I felt quite “at home” at this particular seminar. Enjoy.

UPDATE 1.28.08 – AMA now offers a seminar called “Critical Thinking.” I recommend the instructor James Morgan.