A Recipe for Chasing and Catching Curiosities
Curiosity Prep using the Ponderings Board
· Spend 20 minutes to an hour per day doing high flow activities…those things that your child loves to do and would choose to do if given the freedom to do so.
· Using a piece of butcher paper or white board, jot down curiosities. Jot freely without a filter over multiple days.
· After several days or a week, find the intersection of multiple curiosities by drawing lines between related ideas.
· Identify curiosities that align with your child's personal strengths, goals, values, or identity by circling with a colored pen.
Putting on the Cape: Chasing Curiosities Daily Plan
· Choose a group of curiosities that intersect. Decide on a group to learn more about. Poke at them without stress and give them time to percolate. If you want to learn more, bring curiosities into deep work.
· Spend 90-120 min of deep work daily (using the challenge/skill balance and clear goals with alternating pomodoros and brain breaks) to acquire basic skills in the topic of interest. Deep work often starts with books because the greatest wealth of information is inside of books, but feel free to also include embodied experiences. Put clear goals on the list for the day and check off each one as they are accomplished.
Traditional notes aren’t needed. Instead, write down notes on the story, terminology and ideas that get you excited or curious, including questions or curiosities you have. The purpose here is to develop some foundational knowledge and gain inspiration to keep going.
1. Read a light, enjoyable book that has something to do with the chosen curiosity.
2. Read a book that deals in some way with the history of the topic.
3. Read a book that includes some of the terminology of the topic.
4. Read two more books that dive deeper into the topic with the last of five books focused on the future applications of a topic.
5. Digest any other related content through documentary, blog, podcast, interview, etc.
6. Amplify passion by talking to your family or others about what you’ve learned.
Still interested? (If not, choose again. Sampling is encouraged.)
o Conduct an expert interview or join a group focused on the topic (e.g., a local or online meet-up, like a book club, foreign language class or foraging group)
Still interested?
o Consider acquiring tutoring or mentoring with lots of incremental feedback to grow your skill set.
o Integrate other subject areas into your chosen content area and keep reading deeply and broadly across intersecting fields of interest
Still interested?
o Insert yourself into the space through volunteering or employment. Try out your newfound skills in the real-world.
· Include the flow boosters of novelty, unpredictability, and complexity throughout. Take safe risks. Use all the senses in observation and a variety of embodied experiences.
· Twenty-minute mindfulness practice. I suggest practices such as, Find Your Flashlight, and Body Scan to increase attention. We include mindfulness to teach the brain to be calm, and focused; thereby helping the juggler direct the flashlight and floodlight. A mindfulness practice also amplifies the gap between thought and feeling, which helps us creatively consider far-flung possibilities.
· Five-minute gratitude practice. Gratitude loads novelty into our system and helps put us in a more positive, optimistic state to be able to use the new material coming in through our senses.
· Twenty-five minutes of reading outside of the chosen curiosity. Read something pleasurable in any other area of interest. This practice encourages the application of ideas from one discipline into another. Pause frequently while reading to give yourself time to connect ideas.
· Seven to eight hours + of sleep, depending on age
Chasing Curiosities Weekly Plan
· Two to six hours of any high-flow activity (e.g., dancing, imaginary play, building). The more flow you get, the more flow you get.
· Daily active exercise.
· Twenty to forty minutes of active recovery, such as massage, sauna, warm bath, stretching, yoga, etc. Modify age appropriately.
· Thirty to sixty minutes of feedback on your deep work, preferably split up into daily feedback of your choice.
· Two hours+ of social connection with friends.
