Imagine yourself in 10,000 BC on a hunt…

Naturally, the prey doesn’t present itself to you on a platter. Usually, it’s hiding in plain sight, camouflaged you might say. You observe your surroundings and you “sense” something…something different; your curiosity is triggered.  Your mind analyses the situation and concludes that it could be a prey.  You think fast and come up with numerous strategies on how to capture the prey.  You finalize a plan of action and then make your move…

The result is successful and you have food for your family.  Alternatively, the result doesn’t turn out so good and you are still hungry.

BUT, with each hunt you are learning…learning the camouflage techniques of your prey; how to identify them; how to think up successful strategies; how to execute a plan of action efficiently; how to share and a lot more. Most importantly, you know that ultimately you will get a prey because your life depends on it!

Nature taught our ancestors this important life-saving lesson of survival.  However, over time, we seem to have forgotten this lesson as our primary needs are easily addressed.

So, let’s re-think the above “hunt” in today’s context.   Let’s just convert the word “prey” in the above example to “opportunity”.

Does it make sense to you now?  If yes, read on; if no, well, you had better read on!

In my experience (and I don’t have stats for this, just my gut instinct) at least 80% of the people lack the curiosity to observe & question; in other words, they simply fail to see an opportunity.  The next 19% who actually are curious, think they “tried their best” and give up.  It is only that 1% who drive themselves to figure it out!

If you want to be that 1%, follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: be curious – observe & ask

Step 2: be hungry to learn – think, research & analyze

Step 3: satisfy that hunger – Don’t give up

Bring out that “hunter” in you! Start being curious about anything and everything that you observe and question it. Then try to figure out why it happens and don’t stop until you have figured it out.  Most probably, you will learn a lot more than you thought you would. Once the cycle of learning begins, it’s a never-ending journey!

After all, curiosity didn’t kill the cat, it just learned something new.