Curiosity is more important than knowledge

4th Industrial Revolution, Career, Futures Thinking, Learn how to Learn, Lifelong learning, Planning

The quote “Curiosity is more important than knowledge” is often attributed to Albert Einstein, although the exact phrasing might be a paraphrase of his actual words. Regardless of its origin, this statement carries a profound meaning about the nature of learning, growth, and human potential.

Here’s a breakdown of the meaning:

  1. Drive to Learn: Curiosity is the driving force behind the acquisition of knowledge. Without curiosity, one might not seek out knowledge in the first place. A curious mind is always eager to learn, explore, and discover.
  2. Limitations of Knowledge: At any given point, what we know is limited. Knowledge can become outdated, or new discoveries can reshape our understanding. However, curiosity is timeless and can lead us to continually update and expand our knowledge.
  3. Depth of Understanding: Someone who is truly curious won’t just stop at surface-level knowledge. They’ll ask deeper questions, seek to understand underlying principles, and explore various facets of a topic.
  4. Adaptability: In our rapidly changing world, what we know today might not be as relevant tomorrow. However, if we remain curious, we can adapt, learn new things, and remain relevant in various fields.
  5. Innovation and Progress: Many of the world’s greatest discoveries and innovations didn’t come from what was already known, but from individuals who were curious enough to ask “What if?” or “Why not?” and explore uncharted territories.
  6. Lifelong Learning: Knowledge can provide answers to questions we have now, but curiosity ensures we keep asking questions throughout our lives. It fosters a lifelong love for learning.

Curiosity and the future of work

I have a keen interest and expertise in the skills required for the future of work, and I’ve even developed an online course on this subject, titled “Future Skills 2030-Prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution“. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report (2023) emphasizes the importance of curiosity and lifelong learning, ranking them within the top 5 essential skills for future employment. Furthermore, these traits amplify other vital skills. For instance, curiosity fuels creativity, which the report identifies as the premier emerging skill in 2023. When we allow our curiosity to expand beyond our immediate surroundings, it naturally evolves into deeper creative pursuits. Creativity embodies the generation of unique and innovative ideas, giving tangible form to our inquisitiveness. Moreover, curiosity is closely tied to other pivotal skills like innovation, analytical reasoning, adaptability, and leadership. Indeed, curiosity is a transformative force!

New Curioisty Course Launched!

I am happy to say that my new course on how to unleash your curiosity and lifelong learning superpower has now launched. The course was scheduled to launch in December but is ready a few days ahead of schedule! Check out the course here or watch the course preview above.

Many thanks,

Tom Carroll PhD, November 28th 2023

Design Your Best Future Life

Goal Achievement

How do you design your best future life and in particular what would you envision your best future life to look like in 10 years time? Ten years is enough time to achieve almost anything. This is a fascinating question which is the subject of my new course Design Your Life with Futures Thinking .

What do I mean by preferred future? A preferred future is one that we positively hope for and work to create. What we do today builds our preferred future. It’s impossible to predict the future and that is wonderful news! It’s wonderful news because the future is not fixed and is open. That means you can build the future that you want by your actions today. It doesn’t always mean that your goals are going to happen exactly as planned. It does mean that you can move in the direction of your preferred future. Of course your preferred future can also change as well. It’s your plan and your preferred future and you can change it any time you wish. Its not a straight jacket.

Your future will come anyway!

Here’s the thing – if we don’t decide what future we want then the future will happen anyway. Our future will emerge anyway – it’s coming whether we plan it or we don’t. Therefore it is well worth the time and effort deciding what you want and going for it. Your future self will thank you! The sad thing is that most people spend more time planning their holidays than planning their future. There are three basic steps when planning your future:

  1. Know where you have come from and where you are now in your life
  2. Know where you want your future to go
  3. Build a solid strategic plan on how to get to where you want to go

Futures thinking methodology

There are various futures thinking tools we can use to help us build a solid strategic plan for our long term future. For example to understand where we have come from and where we are now we can look at stakeholders in our lives and the stages of life. We can look at trends and forces – internal and external. We can also look at our beliefs, values and assumptions.

To know where we want to go in future we can explore multiple plausible futures using scenarios. In the course you will develop 6 plausible future scenarios. These are the more of the same future, the optimistic scenario, the negative scenario, 2 wild card scenarios and an aspirational scenario.

Step three is to build a solid strategic plan to get us to our preferred future. To do this we create a vision of our preferred future along with strategies and action plans to achieve that vision. To strengthen our plan we use tools like backcasting, vulnerability analysis, gap analysis and contingency planning.

Design your own future

“Nothing we do can change the past, but everything we do changes the future.”

Ashleigh brilliant

If you are interested in building a well considered personal strategic plan for your preferred future 10 years from now then please check out my new online course. The course has the tools and templates that you need to design your best future life step by step from the ground up. We work methodically through the three steps – where you are now, where you want to go and the plan to take you there. By the end of the course and the 27 worksheets you will have a solid and well research strategic plan for the next 10 years of your life. Remember the next 10 years will pass anyway so why not shape your future now?

Please watch the above video or check out the link for a free preview of the course and discount (current best available price on Udemy)

I look forward to seeing you on the course and also interacting with you and fellow students in the dedicated Facebook discussion group.

Best wishes,

Tom Carroll, PhD