Question with fervour. Experiment with vigour. Imagine with soaring mind and courageous heart. But not at the expense of getting stuff done.
Hit pause. Get curious about where you are, and what’s already there. Interrogate what matters now. Relevance can be short-lived. Pay attention to the next best step. You might be better served applying what you’ve discovered than trying to discover yet more. And watch for duplication. No one will thank you for wasting your effort, and still less for wasting theirs.
Curiosity needn’t involve leaving no stone unturned. Sometimes a few questions or a tiny experiment is all that’s required. So be judicious. Don’t wander down every avenue. Perform a regular cull of experiments that aren’t driving learning or creating value. Don’t pull your teams into the fiction that every curious thought can be pursued. And don’t push them into endless exploration of a single thought without direction or decision.
Be consciously curious. Know why you are pursuing your curiosity, and to what end:
Why are you curious about a particular project or relationship – to what end and for whose benefit?
What can you adapt and apply instead of starting from scratch?
Where do you need to pause the exploration and start applying the learning instead?
Where is your personal curiosity stopping your team getting stuff done?
Which ideas require a pragmatic cull instead of more pointless pursuit?
Whose energy are you investing?
You’ll get much more done if you’re pragmatic about what to pursue, when and why. Where will you apply pragmatism to your curiosity? What will you reign in rather than unleash?
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Get curious with The Curious Leader newsletter. Longform, practical, personal opining on curiosity in leadership. Like this on owning your success, or this on busting that pesky FOBFO.