Creative curiosity is a driving force not only of superlearning but also mindfulness, positive thinking / happiness, successful career planning, personal finance management. Below are some practical ways to encourage creative curiosity and benefit from it in your life.
Recently I read this article about generating curiosity as a way to increase IQ. The challenge of generating natural curiosity [not as a part of prereading process] is not new for me. I wrote about it long ago for example here. So naturally I asked myself if I have anything new to add to this concept from my recent experiences.
Using new technologies
This seams strange, but I am a late adaptor. I know virtual everything about many new technologies, yet I have a hard time integrating them in my lifestyle. Therefore I make a concious effort to get some of the newest gadgets and try to see what I can do with them. I read a lot of reviews and I try various apps, even if it means paying 1-4USD. The technology is entering our lives from every direction. When using it we generate new ways to do things and get insights before our peers.
Generating bucket lists
On my 30th birthday I suddenly realized that most of my life has been incredibly boring and I have no idea how to spice them up. So I started browsing the internet for various new experiences adding them to the “bucket list”. Before I was 32 I completed this list on “new stuff” including several extreme experiences, long travels, marriage and a kid. Now I am almost 40 years old and when I have spare time I work on “40×40” lists, e.g. 40 different ways to do something I love. This is a great creative exercise.
Generating passive income
Passive income is an activity where you invest a lot first and then are paid small amounts of money for long periods of time. There are many ways to generate passive income. Some of these ways work some of the time. Since everybody wants to be rich, generating real passive income is a cool creative challenge. If you are more adventurous you can try your luck with tax planning – finding legal ways to pay less taxes.
Reframe your life
Presenting an idea in a new light is sometimes called reframing. Positive thinking and mindfulness involve finding things you are grateful for every single day. If this seams biased, you can try finding your mental biases- this involves debugging your belief system by thinking how someone could live your life differently and which believes would generate this difference.
Dream about your next job
No matter how happy you are with your current job, you can view it as a stepstone to your next great job. Imagine where you will work and what you will do there. Now think what you will be asked to learn once you start the job. Now learn it before you start looking for a job. Now think of another cool job you could do….
To conclude this post a simple advise. Choose what will encourage you to look for new and innovative solutions, what drives you and makes you feel happy, what generates your flow – now focus on it and follow your passion.
