As we graduate from high school and then graduate from college, what happens to our curiosity?  

In high school and college, we had discussion groups, team assignments, peer-learning and working in pairs. In my time, everyone also enjoyed team sports, Spanish club, drama club, science club, math club, engineering club and many others. We were all in a learning mode, curious about the world around us and how we could make the world a better place for ourselves and others. 

What happened to that curious nature? What happened to the curious nature that truly improves our ability to communicate, enjoy and experience life? When we asked more positive, curious questions, we received more valuable information to share and improve our discussions and understanding of the world around us, our communication circle for our life.

It was a time when success was breeding more success, growing our knowledge and our experiences made us more curious. Virtually all of us were endowed with a sense of adventure. 

When we graduated from high school, did we feel we knew enough to function well in our current circle of life? The people we are around the most. How big is our circle? How big is our circle required to be to reach enough people to achieve our goals? 

If we did not graduate, do we feel we were smart enough to start the career that will bring us the life we always wanted? The life that provides the cars, family, homes and vacations we dreamed about as we attended the clubs and events during our school years. 

Today, there are many jobs that only require a certification in a technical field where individuals make the money they believed they could in a satisfying job where the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) may not be as universally important. There are jobs like computer programmers, project managers, database administrators or other technical fields where communication is digital and not personal. 

Of course as the technical jobs grow, so does global competition. Corporations find themselves wondering if they need a well-rounded, local individual with a solid education versus a technical person they can hire on a contract basis, from anywhere around the world, to get the one step done and then let them go as they hire someone else for the next step and not be required to include the benefits, or expense, of a permanent, well-rounded, position.

What does that do to our ability, or desire, to be curious? As we grow more into AI (Artificial Intelligence), we have less jobs that require personal actions. A job as important as changing a tire on a car, SUV or 18-wheeler, is still just as critical for safety but most of the work is accomplished through a machine. We put the tire and wheel on a machine to find the air leak or balance the tire for increased safety. 

It is remarkably like the technology we have today in computers. Technology receives the biggest celebration and excitement in learning because of the benefit provided and the cost savings. The positions are not more important than vehicle safety but the work required to accomplish the goals are more digital, mechanical, repetitive and the steps to accomplish can be learned by anyone around the world, even robotic. If the function, program or subroutine does not work, we execute debugging software to help us find the problem(s). 

With AI writing for us and debugging software working for us, where do we find the fascination of solving the next problem unless we are one of the temporary workers that come in, create a new debugging routine, correct the current problem and move on to another challenge. We use the new software, like the person that uses the machine to balance the tire at the auto shop, and we can lose that level of curiosity which also diminishes our need to communicate clearly.

Has our wondering turned into assumptions, expectations and opinions over possibilities, concepts and inquisitiveness? In our fear of standing out, speaking up or fear of not being accepted or fear of being unneeded, did we lose the desire to be curious, communicate and understand? 

Did we forget how to ask curious questions to continue or start a conversation? Have we learned to just find the wrong, call in the temporary “fix-it” person, and forget about the long-term benefit of that curious nature we enjoyed in school? 

We must grow beyond the short answer, stop searching for the quick fix from the temporary worker, and become passionately curious again. Our endowed sense of adventure must conquer our fears of possibly not knowing a quick fix but, instead, we must know our curiosity is the key that opened, and continues to open, our door of intelligence! 

Let us stay in the mode of learning, using our curiosity to create new adventures and not just memorize a temporary fix that does not better the world for all of us, personally and professionally. Some jobs will continue to be eliminated but we will also create other doors that bring our communication back through the path of understanding.  

If you, or someone you know, is encountering troubling times today because of a lack of communication or too much frustration and would like to learn more about transforming the challenges of today into a better tomorrow, please call or schedule time with me immediately. 

I coach and collaborate with individuals, parents, groups, corporations and enterprises as a Sr. Transformational Coach to develop new habits and sustainable improvements as we resolve issues by creating solutions at home, for the corporation and socially.  

I would also be honored to speak at your next event on “Achieving Unity: It is not Rocket Science.” I want to collaborate with you to speak to as many Associations, Corporations and Colleges/Universities as possible. Do you, or someone you know, schedule speaking events? Please let me know. 

I am looking forward to talking with you today at 303-362-8733 (303-Focused) or whichever communication channel works best for you. 

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.AchievingUnity.com/

Calendar: https://www.Calendly.com/MarkEntrekin  

“Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. What people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.” Aaron Swartz