Tuesday Email: Be Curious

Read time: ~3.25 minutes

Happy Tuesday!

Every Tuesday I'd like to offer strategies for the week ahead and a thought to fuel your action.

The way we are curious is just as important as the act of being curious.

Curiosity isn’t one-size-fits-all.

We all have different skills, personalities, and learning styles.

To many, curiosity seems simple—just explore, ask questions, and learn new things. But the how is just as important as the what. And if we don’t understand how we best cultivate curiosity, we risk abandoning it before it has a chance to shape us.

If I had to take two things with me forever, it would be my Kindle and computer.

Here’s the ironic part: I don’t even like reading on a Kindle. I prefer the feel of physical books. But I know myself—I want access to unlimited information at all times.

I’ve been on an obsessive learning streak for the past ten years. It started with my perfectionist tendencies, but over time, something shifted. I fell in love with the pursuit of knowledge, not the completion of it.

At first, I thought the best way to learn was my way—reading, consuming newsletters, and meticulously organizing insights. But then I noticed something. Some of the smartest, most insightful people I knew hated reading. They learned through conversation, debate, and real-world interactions.

That’s when I realized: Curiosity is as individual as a fingerprint. It doesn’t matter what sparks it—it matters how we nurture it.

Think about the last time you felt genuinely excited about learning something new.

Were you alone, deep in research? Or were you bouncing ideas off others?

Did you build a mental model first and then test it? Or did you dive in and experiment as you went?

These tendencies form your curiosity type—your natural way of engaging with the unknown.

But curiosity isn’t just about how we learn. It’s also about how we apply what we learn. That’s where curiosity style comes in.

• Curiosity type is like your natural athletic ability—it’s wired into you.

• Curiosity style is how you train and play the game—it’s the method that helps you make the most of your curiosity.

Ignoring this distinction is like trying to train for a marathon when you’re built for sprinting. You can force it, but you’ll struggle. To tap into your potential, you must align how you learn with who you are.

The biggest barrier to curiosity isn’t intelligence—it’s anxiety.

Since childhood, we’ve been taught that being wrong is bad. An “F” on a test wasn’t just a mistake but a mark of failure. Over time, this ingrained fear suppresses our natural instincts to question and explore.

Anxiety builds walls between what we know and what we could learn. The only way through is to reframe learning as an ongoing process, not a test to pass.

Curiosity isn’t about finding the right answer. It’s about unlearning outdated assumptions, adapting, and evolving.

Technology has made answers more accessible than ever. But it has also changed the way we ask questions.

In the past, curiosity required a grind. If you wanted an answer, you searched the encyclopedia, debated with friends, experimented, sat with uncertainty. Today, the answer is a click away.

We’ve been given an easy button, and that easy button has given us so much—but it has also taken something away.

The process of searching is where the real growth happens.

Curiosity isn’t a trait—it’s a skill: one that we can sharpen, refine, and master.

But how we build that skill depends on who we are. Instead of forcing yourself to be curious like someone else, align curiosity with your natural tendencies.

Ultimately, it’s not about what you learn.

It’s about how deeply you’re willing to explore.

The best is ahead!

-Matt