I have always marveled at people who are not curious about anything; people who just take everything as it comes, and merely shrug off anything they don’t understand.
I marvel because I can’t understand them! How can anyone see or hear something completely new and not at least try to understand the "why " or "how" of it?I guess many feel that people like that are better off.
As far as they are concerned what they don’t know can’t hurt them. Well perhaps - but I’m afraid I can’t agree at all. I’m inclined to think that the greatest asset, next to a sense of humuor, is a healthy curiosity.
Curiosity may have "killed the cat" but where human beings are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity will kill is ignorance.
A healthy curiosity can also eradicate poverty and take an individual or organization to the next level. Most of the inventions and changes in our society are as a result of peoples’ curiosity.
"Why did the apple fall down?" and that resulted to Isaac Newton coming up with the law of gravity. That wasn’t the first time an apple is falling down, nor will he be the first person to witness it happen, but he was the first to ask the question why.
Albert Einstein once remarked "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.
It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never loss a holy curiosity.He spent a few years in the "garment center" pushing and pulling racks of dresses through the crowed street.
Now many of those who push these racks or hand trucks can’t see past the front of the truck. They are interested in only one thing-getting the dresses from one place to the next. That’s their job, and what else is there to think about?But our friend happened to be a curious nature.
He was interested in the dresses he transported. He learned their prices, and wondered why they were priced so high. During his spare time he went about finding out how much the material per dress was worth. He learned why manufacturing the dresses was so costly and thought about methods to cut down this cost. He went on to learn all he could about the business from his position behind a hand truck. It covered some years- and when the opportunity to go into business for himself arrived, he was ready. His ideas on lower manufacturing costs, and therefore lower prices for the same quality merchandise, couldn’t help but make him a success. He is now hiring many people to push his hand trucks around; and these people would have the same opportunity he had, if they would just exercise the same curiosity.
Dave Sutherland remarked "Sometimes the questions you ask are more important than the answers you receive."Some school of thought advised that we ask open-ended questions to enable us get positive response from people. The same can be adopted in trying to get positive response from ourselves. If you form the habit of asking questions when you come to a crossroad instead of giving up, the possibilities of coming out with answers that will not only proffer solutions to your challenges but is capable of changing the world will be endless.
The story is told of a young Igbo man. As a fresh university graduate, all his effort to secure contemporary employment met with countless failure. Surviving became so excruciating that he would rather die than live on. Suddenly, an idea struck his mind. He realized he could make a living from dealing in used clothes. "Why not?" he asked himself. So he went about the neighbourhood collecting items that the owners no longer needed - with a big sac, he would go from house to house requesting for these materials. And in a short while, he had amassed clothes of different shades-in size, style and texture. All at virtually no cost save his time and energy.Then he began putting his idea into practice – to recycle his collections. First, he loosened the entire fabric of each garment. Turned them inside out, and reassembled them in their former fashion. The result - the same old clothes, but relatively new in appearance. Can you believe this? His idea also introduced a new fashion in town. He went on to make a trade out of his discovery. And the business became so lucrative as to attract more participants. Worthless fabrics that were no good, only for the refuse heaps, began attracting money. Today, the man through this business acquired some of life’s conveniences to keep him comfortable.
According to Benjamin Franklin "The way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality; that is waste neither time nor money but make use of both.
."Dr. Russell Conwell through his classical speech, "Acres of Diamonds" which he gave more than six thousand times inspired one woman. (This same story has inspired millions all over the world.
If you have not read the book "Acres of Diamonds" please do. You can even download from the Internet.). Back to our story.
She heard Dr. Conwell say that everyone has a great creative, inventive idea that are worth vastly more than all the gold ever mined. She believed him in spite of her doubting husband. Later, in her job as a menial file clerk pinning collated papers together, she stuck herself with a straight pin and had an intuitive flash that there had to be a better way. Then something inside of her began to tell her why not. She experimented with the idea and came up with paper clip. That was how she invented the paper clip, which made her a millionaire. Today, in the center of Philadelphia, in United States of America a six-story-high paper clip stands as a constant reminder that anyone can have a life-serving, life-benefiting, life prospering idea that will make everyone better off and no one worse of.
In the words of Rudyard Kipling "We are the opening verse of the opening of the chapter of endless possibilities."
YOU WILL SUCCESED
JOSEPHSON PETER
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