“But…why?”

Those of you who spend a lot of time around children will hear questions like these hundreds of times per day.

“Why are there all those lines on the road?”
“Why do I have to eat my greens?”
“What will happen if I throw this hard object at my Dad’s expensive TV?”
“Why do I have to clean my room?”
“Why can’t I feed the dog leftover pancake batter?” “What do you mean I can’t eat leftover wedding cake for breakfast?!”

The list goes on…

As we grow, our tendency to constantly ask questions about what goes on around us diminishes. 

We learn things, we learn to generalize what we learn, and we begin to make assumptions about too much of what we “know” and how it applies to what is in front of us.

There can be many reasons this habit disappears, such as

-a school environment that discourages question in favor of rote memorization or blindly accepting information
-parents who (bless their well-meaning hearts) simply can’t answer everything every day
-a cultural philosophy that encourages kids to be empty vessels to be filled rather than seeing their unrealized learning potential waiting to be set loose upon the world
-busy teachers needing to push through lessons that don’t have time to explore every concept
-others who don’t deeply understand the answers and their feelings of inadequacy when confronted with it

and so on.

It can become a limiting belief for us that “these sorts of questions are ‘stupid questions'” or “asking questions and seeking deeper understanding is ‘rude’ or ‘disrespectful’ towards our teachers”. 

This limits the questions we ask, which begins to dim the flame of curiosity that used to burn so brightly in most of us, which leads to even fewer questions, until (in the worst cases) we blindly accept the information that is fed to us and cease to question anything but the most obvious mistakes.

Humans are learning machines.  It’s what we do best, better than any other species out there.  Our brains are made for it, and without it, we feel unfulfilled.

Without curiosity – without a burning desire to know – there is little motivation to continue to learn.  Just think of how many people simply stop actively learning once they leave school.  Their curiosity has been damaged, they no longer ask the “stupid questions” that kids ask because they have been told that it is wrong, they feel like they are interrupting, or they assume that everyone else already knows (because they aren’t asking questions, either) and they don’t want to be “that guy”.

This study identified a link between the participants’ levels of curiosity and their ability to learn and memorize both target material and “incidental” material, or material that wasn’t their target, but that was provided during a state of enhanced curiosity. 

This shows us that, if we can develop our curiosity, we can supercharge our learning capacity (and give our memories a boost!).

If this is true, we can probably assume that the absence of curiosity would lead to decreased ability to learn and remember…like when you’re passively reading a book, or staring out the window during a lecture.  If you’re not actively engaged, asking questions, seeking answers, and getting involved with the learning process…don’t be surprised when you don’t remember any of it later.

Exercises to Improve Curiosity

The 100 Questions Exercise

In my coaching, I often start students off with a series of exercises meant to reconnect them with their natural curiosity and to rekindle their curiosity.  We start by unlocking our ability to ask the “stupid questions” by, simply, asking as many questions about as many topics as possible.  These questions do not have to be related, they do not have to make sense to anyone else, and they do not have to be turned in to me (I’m not necessarily sure I want to know  EVERY question my students come up with during this exercise…).

This is referred to as the 100 Questions exercise.  I first learned about it through a book written by a friend of mine (and fellow SuperLearner©) Collin Jewett called “Out of Your Wheelhouse”, and you can find a copy of it here.

Don’t overthink it – set a timer and ask questions.  You can write them down, type them, say them into a voice recorder, or simply think them – though I do suggest, if you are going to repeat this exercise, finding some way to track them so you can see progress.  If I ask 30 questions in ten minutes the first time, then 40 the next time, I can easily see improvement.

Don’t judge the questions at all, if you can help it. Ask, ask, and ask more.  If one question leads to others, great!  If no two questions are related at all, that’s fine too!

The Stream of Consciousness Exercise

This is another very simple exercise: just write what you are thinking.  Fill up a set number of pages and/or set a timer, and GO.  Write whatever comes to mind – you can attempt to answer some of your 100 Questions from before, you can explore abstract or spiritual topics like consciousness or morality, or you could even try to articulate a complex idea you have or are trying to learn.  Explore your “stupid questions” or write about something you want to understand better (you could use this as an opportunity to explore the Feynman Technique).  The choice is yours, and the possibilities are endless.

This is also a great technique to explore what is going on in your head. I will use this when I feel “stuck” in my thoughts, or when I can’t seem to put into words what is going on in my head.  I will often unearth ideas that I didn’t even know I had – even I am surprised by what I write during this exercise at times.

Again, it doesn’t have to make sense.  You’re not writing a story or a research paper.  You might spend a few minutes pontificating on the mysteries of frozen pizza, or you might create an entirely new world.
Part of being a SuperLearner© is taking an active role in what you are learning.  We go from passively receiving information – from books, videos, podcasts, or lectures – to actively working with it.  

We also create wacky, intense, emotional, or bizarre visualizations to remember information better – and removing this “mental censorship” of our thoughts and the questions we are asking will go a LONG way towards making these “markers” (as we call these visualizations in the SuperLearner© Master Class) more memorable and speeding up their creation.  This is how we can take the first step towards drastically speeding up the memorization process and boosting our reading speed while maintaining high comprehension.

Curiosity might seem to fade away as we get older, but all it takes is a few simple exercises to bring it back.

Don’t just read this article, though! Ask questions, get curious, and take action on the exercises right away – you’ll be amazed at how quickly these skills come roaring back.

Key Takeaways:

• As children, we naturally ask questions to satisfy our innate curiosity
• As we grow, this tendency begins to fade as we learn to censor our thoughts and avoid asking “stupid questions”
• Fortunately, curiosity can be rekindled by actively practicing using some simple exercises
• The 100 Questions Exercise – practice asking questions. Either set a timer or choose a target number of questions and ask them as quickly as possible
• The Stream of Consciousness Exercise – set a timer and write. You can explore any topic you’d like, answer some of your “100 Questions”, or just write whatever comes into your head