We have all heard the expression “curiosity killed the cat” which was often used to ‘silence’ our curiosity as young children. I am sure the upside to refraining from being too curious is that we were kept safe from the unexpected or dangerous and unknown situations.

Curiosity however, can be one of our greatest assets, in both personal and business growth.

Consider what curiosity demands of us. You cannot be curious without asking questions. Curiosity and a questioning attitude keeps us from assuming that we know the answer about something or someone. Curiosity also keeps us out of judgement. Judgement implies that we have made a decision about something – and blame follows closely behind. When we are in a ‘blame frame’ we have given away our power to change things and grow!

If we are asking questions or in wonderment about something we are not in the judgement mode. Our thinking goes from “I cannot believe she said that” to “I wonder why she said that?” In our self talk this can be the difference between “How could I be so stupid” to “now why did I do such a thing?”

When we keep our thoughts in wonderment, and ask lots of questions, we tend to suspend judgement as we are in the fact finding mode. Wonderment is about finding the truth and learning. It is considered by many to be living above the ‘blame’ line.

Judgement is often about blame and fault finding – where we make decisions according to mores, values and experiences we have gathered and stored along our life journey.

Blame and Judgement keep us prisoners of the past.

One of the reasons many of us never achieve our full potential or reach our goals and dreams is because we live in the state of self judgement or blame for past actions and circumstances – and then subconsciously attach decisions that prevent us from moving forward. And then to add insult t injury, we may set goals but as we miss even the smallest mark, we begin to berate ourselves (or blame circumstances or others) and eventually come to the conclusion that we are unable to achieve things we hoped to achieve.

If however, we were to live our lives ‘considering or wondering” why it was that we did something or did not get something done instead of looking for excuses or blame, we would perhaps uncover small truths about ourselves and begin to build strategies to better reach our goals. Taking 100% responsibility for our lives – and learning more about the ‘why’s’, helps us to really discover and address what is going on for us and helps us discover our own truths.

“I wonder why I did not get that article written last week? Hmmm? What happened? Well, I was busy and on Wednesday I was extremely tired. Did I not want to write the article? Did I over-plan my week? Did I not get to bed on time? What would have changed things for me?

Or for me this week it was - “I wonder why I said and did that? Could I have been insecure in that situation? What was I fearing? How could I have handled it differently? What did I learn? How do I need to correct the situation?”

Asking questions like these takes away the self- judgement – and allows us to grow. It forces us to ask the hard questions and become honest with ourselves about what we really want, address destructive behaviours and helps us to get closer to our reaching our full potential and our goals.

This week I vow to re-activate my curiosity. Why? Because I have suffered enough in one lifetime from the judgement and beatings from my own hand. If I love myself – I will take care and honour my spirit – be curious about my actions and form winning strategies that support my goals and dreams.

Business growth cannot happen if the person driving the ship does not grow to lead better – day by day. Asking the right questions can help with both business and personal growth. What a novel thought!


Copyright Mandie Crawford 2010
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