214: Being Curious to Overcome the Uncertainty of Transition
Part 1 of the Curiosity series where I chat with a few folks about an aspect of their life that makes them tilt their heads in curiosity and want to figure out how to satisfy it.
“If I had 10 years remaining to me in a theoretical lifespan, would I stay in Chicago? I mean, is there an adventure out there for me, something that my family could really enjoy? That could be the next chapter. And so, that's a curiosity for me.”
My guest in this episode is Pat McHugh. Pat is the Executive Vice President of Sales for the hand2mind school publishing company, which develops supplemental curriculum, social and emotional learning products, and hands-on resources.
In this episode, Pat engages his curiosity to confront an issue that each of us will eventually face: retirement.
So, let’s talk about engaging our curiosity.
In her book, I Never Thought of It That Way, author Monica Guzman suggests that curiosity may be the pathway that leads us out of our extreme political divide. Instead of trying to change people with whom we disagree on any number of issues with a lot of facts and diatribes, Guzman suggests that we first ask ourselves the question “What might I be missing about this topic or person?” And then we could explore with them “How did you come to believe what you currently believe?” In short, she says, listen to understand instead of arguing. Listening to understand defuses anger and helps identify common ground. Common ground can lead to shared solutions.
I’ve been thinking a lot about her idea and the power of curiosity beyond its potential political application. Being curious naturally forces us to slow down, to take ourselves off the autopilot mode that is daily life for most of us. Being curious encourages us to engage more meaningfully with others at work and at home.
Being curious offers several benefits. It helps us become better problem solvers, more self-aware, less fearful, and maybe most important, demonstrate greater empathy. How’s that for a leadership skill set?
Context – looking at the past to inform and understand the present – is my top StrengthFinder skill. It’s no surprise, then, that I studied and later taught history at the high school level. But we’re all different, and not everyone shares the curiosity gene. Others might be more apt to take information at face value rather than examine its source or veracity. Is it any surprise, then, that disinformation is rampant today and feeds our political division?
But I don’t want to talk about disinformation or our great divide in this series – at least not yet. Instead, I’ve asked several people to come on the show to talk very briefly about an aspect of their life that makes them tilt their heads in curiosity and want to figure out how to satisfy it.
My goal is to have you, my listeners, experience a spark of curiosity and maybe disengage that autopilot.
Pat – on the bottom – overcame his fear of skydiving and said “1,2,3 go!” I know him. He’ll do the same with retirement!
“It's kind of like when you’re planning to jump out of a plane from 15,000 feet. You believe you can do it until you're kneeling at the open door. And you have to decide whether you're either going to do it or not. And so, regarding my retirement, I'm afraid right now. I'm sort of not quite kneeling at the door, but I'm crawling over to the door to jump, and initially, it's fearful.”
Connect with Pat
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