CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
The beauty of surfing vs deep diving
When it comes to topics we’re interested in, our natural curiosity draws us deeper and deeper into it without much conscious effort. But curiosity doesn’t just go deep — we can use it laterally as well, to discover new things and areas of interests we may not otherwise have been exposed to.
Focused curiosity is good for delving into subjects and really mastering them, but idle, casual curiosity has its place too. One example of idle curiosity at its finest is the infamous late night YouTube rabbit hole. Maybe you start off with a harmless cooking video, and three hours later find yourself caught up in understanding the inner workings of a black hole, or the minds of the world’s most notorious serial killers, or how a specific parasite can wreak havoc on the human body. Maybe it’s not the most “productive” activity when you’re supposed to be doing other things, but in the long run it can greatly expand your horizons and expose you to new areas of interest. It could, potentially, introduce you to something that means a lot more to you than what you’re already familiar with.
In our earlier experiment, we explored how asking many questions on one particular subject allows us to really get to understand it better. In this one, we’re going to see how many different topics we can ask just one question on, and see where it leads us.
There are a few different ways to do this.
The YouTube Surf
One way is the aforementioned YouTube surf. Start with a video that captures your interest. It could be anything — an old favourite, something new from a channel you subscribe to, a recommended video or something totally random off your home page. Watch it, see which parts of it capture your interest, then take a scroll through the recommended videos and, again, click on whatever intrigues you. There are absolutely no rules here. Simply follow your curiosity, without judgment, and see where you end up! It would be wise to dedicate at least a couple of hours to this exercise, so you can really take your time with what you find. (On the flip side, if you know you’re prone to procrastination, it may help to limit how much time you spend on this exercise instead. Do what works for you, you know yourself best!) You can, of course, apply this method to other apps or websites you frequent, but I find that YouTube is the best for this sort of thing.
The Old Fashioned Way
Get out into the world and take a good look around you. Really pay attention to what you’re seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, sensing, thinking, feeling. Ask questions about the most mundane, random things — how does that bird stay up in the air? That’s a cool piercing — I wonder how piercings were done traditionally? This decor is really cool — where did it come from, who made it, is it symbolic in any way? That person has a really interesting sense of style — I wonder where they got their outfit, and what inspired them to put it together the way they did? That person’s really cute — I wonder, are they interesting? Single? Willing to go out on a date with me? The moment something captures your interest, even if only for a brief moment, think of a question to ask about it. Then, find an answer to that question (not the answer, mind you — bear in mind there may always be more than one). How you go about this really depends on the question. You could look up the answer online when you get home — bring a journal, sketchbook, camera, iPad or whatever works best for you to document any thoughts, questions and ideas that come to mind, so you can come back to them later. Other times, the only way to get your answer is to walk up to someone and ask. It’s intimidating at first, for sure, but whether you receive a blunt reply, a nice conversation or even a new friend (or date!) in return, the reward of asking that first question is often well worth the effort.
The One-on-One Conversation
One more way you could do this is to sit down and have a real conversation with someone. Simply identify a person who really interests you in some way, and arrange to meet up and pick their brains for a while.
This is essentially what I do when interviewing people for BRAZEN. If I find myself intrigued by a person, their work and their outlook on life, I ask them if I can have a chat with them about what inspires them, what they’re passionate about and how that comes through in the work they do. More often than not, people are happy to talk about themselves and share what they love and stand for with others, especially if they can see that you’re genuinely interested and have good intentions. I’ve learned a ton by deciding to just ask people things. The beauty of this exercise is that you very quickly realise that there’s so much more to these people than meets the eye. If you’re open to receiving what they have to share with you, you’ll find yourself walking away with new perspectives, new music or art or books or resources to check out, new stories, new ways of thinking, new ideas and a new appreciation for the person you’ve spoken to. I’ve had the pleasure of conducting a few interviews by now, and every one of them has left me enriched in some way.
If full-on interviews aren’t your speed, any conversation has the potential to be an exploration of a person’s interests in some way. As you’re talking, ask them further questions about the interests they bring up, be curious about each of them, and see how they all fit together to form this whole person sitting in front of you. Take a genuine interest in them and see where the conversation takes you. People are really cool, guys — but it often takes a good old-fashioned face-to-face conversation to realise just how cool.
These are just some of the ways you can use curiosity to expand your horizons and discover potential new interests, as well as to get started on learning more about them. I hope you’ll give this experiment a go and see where your curiosity takes you. There’s a whole world out there waiting for you, and we’d love to see what you discover!
If you try any of the ideas suggested here, or come up with any of your own, share your experiments on Instagram using the hashtag #brazenexperiments and tag us @brazen.mag so we can come along for the ride.
