Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Gain Confidence Through Curiosity



Are you a curious person? Curious like a child who investigates grains of sand or tiny bugs?

Oh I am!

How does that relate to confidence? Well, it makes a person have to do a lot of problem solving, lol. Yes, I've wandered into some interesting territory.

Seriously though, I think as adults, we've hog-tied ourselves by putting curiosity in the realm of childhood. Or even developing a fear like the old wives tale that curiosity killed the cat so we aren't willing to step outside of our box to challenge ourselves.

I started to feel blocked in writing Courageous Beauties. Not good, I have a book due. So I gave in to my curious nature and went word diving. (It's my own term for immersing myself in my two favorite tool books.) I began to latch onto the fascinating twists and turns in the synonyms and nuances of a few definitions. At first I chastised myself for wasting time. And then something happened. I realized my chain of words all led to a pattern. A few new ideas for chapters I hadn't set up popped into my head sparked by a few words I hadn't thought of before diving into my dictionary and thesaurus.

Now I know a non-writer might think word diving a bit, shall we say, dry. Lol, but I get a spark of curiosity and I just can't turn it off. My desire to learn turns on as if it's an unstoppable tank!

Translate it into travel. Do you like to see new places, learn about new people and foods, and make memories? What about mechanics? Do you tear things apart just to see how they work?

When we release our desire to ferret out answers, explore the unknown, and discover fascinating things we gain knowledge. That knowledge opens up new opportunities and abilities. Those new abilities create trust in our self. We know that we can deal with the unknown because we've done it before. The more unknowns you build up over time, the more you trust yourself to handle another new one.

I left that session today much more set in what I needed to write and with a sense of peace about that resolve. Do you know what that is? Confidence. Confidence caused by curiosity. There is a direct correlation in healthy curiosity and a strong self-confidence.

Without that joy in discovery, I'd still be sitting staring at a blank screen. Instead, I laid out the ideas for several more chapters and logged over 1,400 words in between business calls and interruptions.

What do you think?
Does curiosity fuel confidence for you?
Are you willing to release that part of you?
When have you allowed your curiosity to help you build confidence?
Did you know you are never too old to start building confidence?

Why not start now?

Angie
http://www.MyGemOfWisdom.com

2 comments:

Sasha Townsend said...

I agree with you! I'm also a curious person, and I think curiosity leads study which leads to competence which leads to confidence. I know I feel the most insecure when I feel unprepared or incompetent. As you expressed so eloquently in your post, success builds upon success. It all begins with taking a risk, trying something new, having the humility to realize that we don't know it all :), and then seeking out answers! Thank you for your blog, Angela. :) You are a ray of sunshine.

AngBreidenbach said...

Thank you, Sasha! I appreciate your input here and your kind encouragement!
Angie