What is curiosity and why is it important?

Curiosity is an important and natural urge to discover and grow as a human being. It makes us learn and survive and create opportunities in life.

The benefits of natural curiosity

Einstein once said he wasn't extraordinarily smart or talented. He just considered himself very curious. Not everyone has to become an Einstein, but natural curiosity offers many advantages. For example:

Making more social contacts

It's easier to have a pleasant conversation with a stranger if you both know something about the same subject. It's easier to make friends, get a nice date and build a helpful social network.

Less judging

If you know more, you have a broader understanding of a subject, which makes you less inclined to judge. You can approach something from different points of view.

Problem-solving ability

More knowledge gives you more insight into problems and possible solutions. You will become more creative and will, therefore, be more likely to find a good job or get promoted.

Seeing and using more opportunities

Natural curiosity gives you the knowledge and insight to see and use more opportunities. The more you know, the more is possible.

A happier life

Research shows that curious people have less stress and fears. They are calmer and more satisfied with their lives.

You can't know it all, but you can be curious

If there are a trillion things to know in a lifetime, how many things of those trillion do you know? A million things? That is still only 0.00001% of all there is to know. It’s like a dot on the map, isn’t it?

I’m sure you know more than a million things, but I’m also sure that we can multiply the trillion things to know with another trillion things that we could know. Multiply that with another trillion things we can still discover in the next ten years, and you might realize how less you know.__

You are an invisible dot on the map

Now imagine that of all the things you know, you only understand half of them. The rest you only hear of, or you know little about. That increases you to an invisible dot on the map of all there is to know. Some people pretend they know it all, but how poor in mind are they. Some think they know nothing and how right they are.

It’s the people who speak and act in a way they know nothing who we experience as the kindest, open, and warm. It’s them who we can have close friendships with and who we spend until late night next to the fireplace to discuss, learn, and enjoy the new insights we mutually gather.

To realize you know nothing doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert

I know a lot of people who realize they know nothing but are expert in some areas. Expert because they can do things better than anyone I know or know more about a particular subject than anyone I know.

But while being an expert in a specific field of expertise, they realize that in general, they know nothing.

What to do when you are good at nothing?

When you have the feeling and attitude that you are good at nothing or know nothing like any expert would, you are probably a very kind person. Many friends or at least many people will like you. If not, there could be something else going on. Something like you gave up trying to learn. You gave up to be curious. Maybe you even gave up on life without knowing it.

Without Curiosity People Eventually Die

People are born to discover and create. It is in our nature. We discover who our parents are, how to walk, how to draw, and how to make friends. Curiosity is like an instinct that we need to feel good. Because being curious makes us grow. It gives us self-esteem and self confidence. It makes us - like told before - feeling alive.

A monkey doesn’t want to discover if the vegetable is edible to show he knows more than other monkeys. He also doesn’t want to discover it so solve the puzzle of a trillion times a trillion things to know. He wants it because he knows by nature that curiosity makes him grow, broaden his options to survive and eventually might save his life.

Don’t be worried that you’re just an invisible dot in the universe. Worry if your dot doesn’t grow, because one day it could get you in trouble.