Hi, I grew up in a sports -minded family where
athletics was not just an important thing, but
kind of the only thing. As a kid, most of my
friends were athletes. I spent my time with athletes.
I admired athletes. And to be truthful, I did
not pay much attention to people whose interests
were different from mine. I'm talking about musicians
and artists. Theater students. People who seemed
interested in things I didn't understand or even
care about. And without realizing it, I had decided
what a successful life was supposed to look like.
And because of that, I missed opportunities to
learn from people who saw the world differently
than I did. This is just one example of how my
lack of curiosity limited my life for many years.
Now what's interesting is that being wrong usually
is not the problem. The problem is when we're
no longer willing to consider other perspectives.
Author Adam Grant describes three mindsets that
many of us naturally fall into. Sometimes we
are preachers. We defend beliefs that we already
hold. Sometimes We are prosecutors. We try to
prove someone else is wrong. We say what we think
will win approval from others. All three have
something in common. They focus on defending
a position. Now, in a sense, I was defending
a position of being an athlete and prosecuting
those who are not. But there's another mindset,
the mindset of a scientist. A scientist is not
primarily trying to win an argument. A scientist
is trying to learn. They're willing to test ideas,
to question assumptions, follow the evidence.
In other words, they are curious. And I think
mathematics is at its best when we approach it
with this curious mindset. Many people imagine
math as a collection of facts That must be memorized.
But mathematics grew because people questioned
what everyone else accepted. What if there are
numbers that cannot be written as fractions?
What if geometry would work differently? What
if there are different sizes of infinity? Questions
like these transformed mathematics. they can
transform us as well. A few weeks ago, we explored
the idea of certainty. We saw that certainty
can be helpful. It gives clarity and confidence.
But we also saw certainty can sometimes close
our minds. Curiosity does the opposite. Curiosity
reopens the door. It creates space for learning,
growth, and discovery. And I've noticed that
some of the biggest moments of growth in my life
began when I stopped defending my perspective
long enough to consider someone else's perspective.
Or maybe there's an area of your life where curiosity
could reopen a door. Perhaps a person you stopped
listening to or an idea you've already dismissed.
A perspective you've never taken time to understand.
It seems like sometimes growth begins with a
simple question. What might I be missing?