Episode 1164: Curiosity is Key

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,164 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Marcus Hall: I'm Marcus Hall, author of pursuing spiritual wealth, 40 principles that make your life richer. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your. Having the ability to recognize you are a manager and not an owner is key.

[00:00:29] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:38] Scott Maderer: The truth is what often blocks us from curiosity is the opposite of many of these things. When we look at ourselves as having all of the answers, when we decide that something we believe or understand that there's no possibility that it's wrong. When we look at our own view or our own position, [00:01:00] As correct.

[00:01:01] And therefore everyone else's has to be wrong. Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence.

[00:01:27] So that. Can impact the world

[00:01:31] in today's episode about investing in others, through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about why curiosity is so important when it comes to serving others. I share how we can have a posture of curiosity when dealing with others. And I also share some of the things that block you from having that curious position.

[00:01:50] you've heard me talk about developing your talent and one of the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to [00:02:00] find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up. And you can get a 30 day free trial.

[00:02:13] There's over 180,000 titles to choose from, and you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. When it comes to serving others, curiosity is vitally.

[00:02:38] Imp important often when clients come in and are asking for help from me as a coach, or whenever you're dealing with a relationship with someone else when anytime we're talking or having a conversation, maybe with someone we disagree with [00:03:00] taking on a posture of curiosity is one way and a vitally important way.

[00:03:07] To begin to open up the door to possibilities of change when clients come in and they feel like they're stuck, or when you feel like you're stuck, when it comes to any sort of action that you wanna take, recognizing that we often are looking for the, just tell me what to do give me the tools, give me the techniques, give me the knowledge, give me the skill, teach me what to do.

[00:03:38] That tends to be where we start. That tends to be the beginning point when we think that there's a need for change. But what's interesting is that studies and experts have say, found that for someone to change, there is a need for this self-determination. And having some sort [00:04:00] of autonomy self-efficacy and competence are all important, but often we focus just on the competence part, just on the skills and abilities part, just on the, what do I do?

[00:04:13] Not the self-efficacy and the autonomy part. So instead we often need to have curiosity so that we can develop the other two portions. I think we've all heard the expression about leading a horse to water. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. But what you can do is create an environment that creates thirst.

[00:04:39] You can't motivate other people, but you can create an environment that helps motivate that particular person. Yes, we can't help other people change, but we help create an environment. that lets the other person change. This is what curiosity does. This is why [00:05:00] curiosity is so important to really making a change in yourself or for others.

[00:05:08] It's about exploring what's going on. It's about expanding the understanding. It's not about proving a point or. Getting my point apart across, it's not about somebody has to be right, and somebody else has to be wrong. It's about looking at what is going on without judgment. It's about understanding that what's happening is happening, but you don't have to label it with the label of good or bad instead, you just.

[00:05:46] What's what else? Tell me more, what else is going on? Because that actually helps people get out of an emotional state and begin to look at the thing that's going [00:06:00] on with more curiosity themselves. So there's some techniques you can use to help cultivate curiosity, to help cultivate this mindset and posture of C.

[00:06:14] One is stop looking for education and begin to look for exploration. So don't look for the answers. Look for what else is going on. Look for what is happening and how can you explore what's going on? Don't just explain. to me, don't just, let me find the reason don't just give me the tool or the technique, but let's explore more behind what's going on.

[00:06:49] You can look at your goals and the things that you want to achieve, and just begin to look at them as experiments. You've heard me talked before, about how much I love. [00:07:00] running experiments, as opposed to just setting a goal, this idea to just run an experiment, because at the end of the day, what an experiment gives you is information.

[00:07:12] It gives you data, it gives you an experience, but it isn't good or bad. The true thing in science is having an idea or a hypothesis and finding out that it's wrong. Is actually just as powerful, if not even more powerful than finding out that your hypothesis or your idea was correct. But to be able to do that, you need to take on the third idea, which is grace earlier.

[00:07:41] I mentioned having a judgment free zone. This is about recognizing that it isn't about what is right. It's about what is. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to get it wrong. It's okay to fail. It's okay. To struggle. [00:08:00] All of these things are okay, but we have to take on that statement so that we recognize and give ourselves the grace to do those things.

[00:08:11] The truth is what often blocks us from curiosity. Is the opposite of many of these things. When we look at ourselves as having all of the answers, when we decide that something we believe or understand that there's no possibility that it's wrong, when we look at our own view or our own position, as correct.

[00:08:33] And therefore everyone else's has to be wrong. When we begin to look to situations as a judgment filled situation where it's either right or it's wrong, not. It just is what it is when we begin to look at things as things that we can solve with just a tool or a technique, as opposed to things that we need to explore and find out more about.

[00:08:59] When we begin [00:09:00] to look at failure is fatal as opposed to just something that teaches us something. We begin to shut down our curiosity muscles. And if you review and return and go back. In any of these situations, when you begin to find yourself getting stuck, when you begin to find yourself shutting down or others are, and you put back on that curiosity hat and ask more questions more often than not, you begin to get unstuck and move forward.

[00:09:32] Thanks for listening.

[00:09:34] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and [00:10:00] sign.

[00:10:00] For our five week series on the stewardship of talent, or if you're in the us, you can text 4, 4, 2, 2, 2 talent tips. That's talent tips to 4, 4, 2, 2, and get those tips until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.