Sip n share curiosity teranscription

Speaker 1

Welcome to Sip and Share. Today, let’s have a chat about curiosity. So grab your favourite drink, get cozy and let’s get into it. Curiosity is a superpower that we all possess and it supports us to build confidence, learn and discover new opportunities, options and people. But it’s often underrated, defined as the desire to learn or know more about something or someone. It is the state of being curious, inquisitive, wondering, exploring and figuring something out. It’s without judgment and it helps us to process and hone our knowledge or skills.

But why am I passionate about curiosity? Because it’s the secret weapon we often forget we have. Research shows that curiosity isn’t simply a personality trait, it’s a skill that has been shown to build our resilience and emotional regulation. It can transform the way you approach and see things. It’s also a sought after skill in the UK workplace, placed fourth in the top Skills to have according to the Future of Jobs Report 2023 by the World Economic Forum.

Why is that? Because it builds innovation, challenges ideas and results in change. Over the last five years I have coached many through career change and I found myself mentioning curiosity as a tool. Yes, there’s usually an eye roll or two, but hear me out, we’ve all been there. When the job search is tiring, draining and you’re feeling demotivated and hopeless. This can lead to burnout, procrastination and not applying for anything, or even applying for things that aren’t a great fit for you, but just to tell yourself that you are keeping yourself busy. It’s a natural part of the job search.

What isn’t natural is how long it can go on for, especially in our current job climate and we start to doubt the career paths we’re pursuing. When faced with this, I recommend leaning into curiosity. What are you intrigued by in the field that you’re applying to or what genuinely interests you, no matter how small that spark? Because that is what you want to follow. Whether it’s listening to a podcast, reading articles, watching talks, going to events or lectures, or reaching out to someone in the industry. Take action on your curiosity. Why? Because this starts to lift those heavy feelings and allows us to shift our mindset.

Curiosity is a gateway emotion to enthusiasm, excitement, optimism and passion. It opens up our perspective, the view of what is gets larger and options and opportunities become visible. Curiosity is a great mindset shift out of fear, judgment or isolation. And it’s a central feature of emotional intelligence, which is also in the top 10 of in demand skills. I’ve seen this work time and time again when people follow their curiosity and it takes them to paths they may not have expected, but it’s a much better fit for what genuinely lights them up. Following our natural interests can reduce overwhelm, spark passion and allow for self compassion, even when you feel in the depths of self doubt or stress. Studies show that curiosity stimulates the dopamine reward center.

Jessica Austin of Positive Acorn, specializing in positive psychology, describes curiosity as a knowledge emotion. She says knowledge emotions aren’t what we typically think of when we’re asked to make a list of emotions. Usually people list fear, happiness and anger before they would add interest, confusion, surprise or awe. But it’s through these emotional states that we find flow and that we are able to broaden and build our understanding of the world around us. It’s vital, both professionally and personally. For me, when healing from a narcissistic relationship, I discovered a few of Dr. Ramany’s videos, who I highly recommend by the way.

And by watching more of her videos, I found myself learning and exploring and curious to understand my ex’s reactions. But mine too, and why this had happened. The focus had shifted, even ever so slightly, from simply doubting and blaming myself, which can be second nature for me, to observing and learning about the dynamics. No, it wasn’t a fix, but with time, the shift focused and it helped me to heal and understand myself better, to create distance and perspective. And that made it easier to unpack challenging experiences and in turn strengthen my resilience. Taking on curiosity as an attitude can encourage us to look at other perspectives, continue learning, and build connection with those around us. For example, when I worked in an art shop, something as simple as asking a lot of questions about people’s projects out of genuine interest left customers feeling valued, and it created genuine connections with them, especially when they returned and I would ask how their projects were going.

And a side note to that is, on my first day in that shop, I remember helping someone who wanted to make a bucket out of cardboard that she could climb into. And yes, she did want to fill it with water, but I never got to ask her how that went. So curiosity makes us more engaged and memorable, develops our listening skills, and in turn, our confidence. Coach Steve Chandler says, worry is misplaced imagination. And I like this because although it doesn’t apply to every situation, I think there’s many where it actually does apply. And if we turn that curiosity outward, instead of turning it into inward worry, it can help us to explore assumptions, worries and doubts in a healthier way. Curiosity connects us to others, but it can also help to ease our own doubt, as with the work of Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset Theory, which encourages us to view challenges as learning opportunities rather than obstacles.

Of course it depends on the challenge you’re navigating, but when you really take a look, I think you’ll be surprised at where a sprinkle of curiosity can help. So how do we cultivate curiosity intentionally, rather than passively waiting for inspiration to strike? If we look at things from the perspective of being detective, things change, we get new information and we are continually learning and building out our stories and experiences. This attitude can help to ease self doubt, perfectionism and black and white thinking. We evolve with curiosity. It helps us develop self trust through small achievable acts of discovery. Curiosity helps us explore our judgments, assumptions and the stories we tell ourselves and it puts us in a more positive, open and idea generating space and our mind will naturally start to connect those dots and look for the answers to our questions. Dr. Todd Kashdam shows that as well as curiosity being directly linked to resilience and emotional regulation, it helps us stay open to growth in difficult situations as well as improving the quality of relationships and helping people navigate social settings with greater confidence.

I actually found this today when attending a networking event by embracing curiosity. Some of those pre networking fears and worries started to dissolve as I took the approach of learning about and from others in the room. So my top three benefits of curiosity strengthened connection and community. We learn from, with and through others. Sharing knowledge and curiosity leads us to new paths and people confidence. Detaching from outcomes and learning from our failures boosts our courage, resilience and builds confidence. And it challenges ideas.

It keeps us fresh and innovative as we continually learn innovation, explore ideas, assumptions, processes and opportunities and to touch on that. Actually, if you are new in your workplace and you are worried about imposter syndrome which many of us experience, please remember how valuable your fresh perspective and voice is to your new colleagues. It’s easy to dismiss this, but it’s actually been pointed out to me in the past and I’ve also really felt the benefit of new colleagues that have joined my teams in the past too. So curiosity increases our self awareness and emotional resilience. It reduces stagnation and plays a powerful role in making lasting change. And this is something I speak about a lot in my Rise and Thrive course, specifically in Module 2, which is released this month and is called Quieten those critics and get to know your inner mentor. It’s really about understanding our critics but also supporting that inner cheerleader within us that I believe we all have and giving them a bit more space and room to grow and be heard.

Till next time, embrace your curiosity and take good care.