Squiggly Skill Sprint Day 11: Curiosity

It’s day 11 of the Squiggly Careers sprint, and we are over halfway! Today’s topic is Curiosity https://www.amazingif.com/listen/skills-sprint-curiosity/

I’ve increasingly come to believe that curiosity is something that should be a fundamental trait in any career. You never know when a skill or a piece of knowledge is going to come in useful, give you an alternative perspective in solving a problem, or give you a metaphor that you can use to explain a problem.

It is also something that gives you a fundamental value that can drive other aspects of your life. One of the earlier sprint podcasts was about listening, and there is an often repeated sentiment that everyone has something that they are an expert in, and you should be able to come out of every conversation having learned something. Especially since moving to Helsinki, I have met so many people with very different backgrounds and skills to what I was used to in Cambridge. Nothing makes me happier than sitting with a new friend and asking them to explain what they do, since I’ve never come across someone that does that before.

I liked Helen’s mention of learning a course on Jazz composition on masterclass, as that is such a good example of something that will probably not be useful, but you never know, and the simple joy of learning should be enough reason. At the moment I am doing a coursera course on linguistics, am signed up for a creative writing course, and have lost count of the random courses I have on masterclass (Penn & Teller teaching magic is great fun).

I do like the concept of a curious career conversation, which is something both Helen and Sarah talk about a lot. The simple pleasure of sitting with someone and spitballing can be such a great driver for creativity and energy, and is something that I do try to put into practice when I can. I am of course in control of my time at the moment, so if anyone reading this ever wants to connect and shoot the breeze on whatever topic, you know where I am :)