Driven by Curiosity

Driven by Curiosity(ˌkyo͝orēˈäsədē)

By Steve Pavlina

People often ask me what drives me. While there can be many motivations for taking action, I’d say that one of my biggest drivers is curiosity. I love to learn, and I find it most valuable to learn through hands-on direct experience.

In my early years of exploring personal development, I did a combination of reading books and doing experiments on my own. I almost always found direct experimentation(ikˌsperəmənˈtāSH(ə)n) to be a better investment. Books were mostly good for stimulating further experimentation. It was rare that I found good ideas from books that I could apply as-is. Most ideas I picked up from books were misaligned(ˌmisəˈlīnd), and they often led me astray(əˈstrā) for a while. I made the mistake of trusting other authors too much and giving them too much credibility(ˌkredəˈbilədē). I mistook their confidence as a reason to presume(prəˈz(y)o͞om) that their ideas were flawless(ˈflôləs).

Many of my best advancements and cherished(ˈCHeriSH) experiences started with a spark of curiosity. Then I added fuel(ˈfyo͞o(ə)l) to that spark by investing in exploration.

I went vegan(ˈvēɡən) 24 years ago because of curiosity. I’m eating raw this year because of curiosity. I became an entrepreneur after college(ˈkälij) because I was curious(ˈkyo͝orēəs) about it. I moved to Las(ä) Vegas(ˈvāɡəs) because of curiosity.

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https://stevepavlina.com/blog/2021/01/driven-by-curiosity/