From Seth's Blog: Thirsty (- but I beg to differ)

Thirsty

I've noticed that people who read a lot of blogs and a lot of books also tend to be intellectually curious, thirsty for knowledge, quicker to adopt new ideas and more likely to do important work.

I wonder which comes first, the curiosity or the success?

via sethgodin.typepad.com

One step missing here IMHO: curiosity - IMPLEMENTATION - success.

I know people who read a lot of blogs and a lot of books do nothing else than read. Once they have the "guts" to implement what they read they start to see the results and the success. Curiosity is not enough.

What do you think?

I've noticed that people who read a lot of blogs and a lot of books also tend to be intellectually curious, thirsty for knowledge, quicker to adopt new ideas and more likely to do important work.

I wonder which comes first, the curiosity or the success?

Comments

[Evi]

How about they go hand in hand? They usually do!

[Karin H.]

Hi Evi

Oh, I absolutely agree with you. No success without implementation and no implementation without curiosity ;-)

Karin H

[Varun Pratap]

On a lighter note. Curiosity creates keyboard warriors.
Look at the forums, blogs too much noise, no action :-P

[Michaelsola]

Ingenuity is typically part of a successful implementation which requires a retooling in how we think - I'm leaning towards curiosity.

[Sina]

My motto is 10% creativity and discovery, 90% execution. Just reading and not acting is useless.

[Karin H.]

@ Varun - I like your take on this ;-) (And so right you are)

@ Michaelsole - but isn't the retooling the result of curiosity linked to implementation steps?

@Sina - and 90% execution can take 90% perspiration ;-)

Thanks for dropping by and adding to the discussion

Karin H

[John Smith]

Seth - interesting observation.

I see this not as linear, but as a circular process. As we increase our knowledge and awareness by being curious, that increased knowledge and awareness in turn generates more curiosity, which feeds further learning and growth.

It's not about finding the answer, it's about engaging in the search:).

John

[Eric]

I agree with the circular feedback idea - at the root, there must first exist a childlike (not childish) sense of wonder of information and facts for their own sake.

[Metzgerbusiness]

I'm sure there are people out there are take action without the curiosity but they will encounter greater hardships. I think for most of us The curiosity leads to an OH I can do that, then action follows.

[Karin H.]

@ John - pity Seth Godin himself hasn't opened his comment box, you could have published your findings at the original source of my blog-it post there then. Agree with you, without engagement curiosity on its own goes nowhere very fast.

@ Eric - childlike wonder is IMHO the root of curiosity. If we go through life excepting it as bland facts none of the invention would have become real. The "what if..." is the biggest ingredient in any invention I think.

Thanks for dropping by and joining in the discussion

Karin H

[Karin H.]

@ Metzgerbusiness - the people you describe sound like "cattle", following the herd without ever wondering why they do this in the first place. No originality, no success - because mostly it will be the success of the head of the herd that creates it, if any.

Karin H

[Nicole]

@john I completely agree!

[steve]

I'm in the curiosity camp and believe a lot has to do with how you define a success. I have few financial resources but feel as if my life is successful simply because I'm happy and content with it. Nice coincidence that I recently wrote about success! lol

[Todd Kashdan]

I agree with many of the posters. The action lies not with the feeling of wonder and curiosity but the act of exploring discovering and growing as a result of it. Transforming the intrigue into action. As a psychologist studying this topic for years I summarized what the science has to say in Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life. Details at: www.toddkashdan.com

hoping more people start to recognize the value of this underappreciated strength.

[Patrick Johnson]

Seth does say "more likely to do important work"

Implementation is such a marketing buzzword nowadays. It also presupposes planning and a long planning stage at that. Doing creates success not constantly planning and seth gets this accross in his blog post.

[Karin H.]

@ Steve - I'm with you. Success doesn't have an exact price-tag: Now I've got xxx in the bank, so now I am successful; now I've got xxxx followers, so now I am successful: now we sold xxx widgets, so now we are successful. And I don't think curiosity ever killed the cat - it kills boredom and stagnation ;-)

@ Tod - your reply reminds me of Paul Gorman's "The Genius Factor", it's all down to mind set. (Edited your link, more readers might be curious of the results of your study - I am).

@ Patrick - beg to differ I'm afraid. Perhaps in large corporate business where decisions to implement change can take forever, but for most businesses and people implementation has nothing to do with either marketing buzzwords or long planning stages. All it takes is a decision to implement, not just to read and only wonder about it.

Thanks for dropping by and joining in the conversation

Karin H