A good way to cultivate your curiosity is to find interesting/enjoyable sources of information outside of your normal field(s).

A newsletter you can’t seem to unsubscribe from despite it having almost no overlap with your life, a podcast you keep listening to even after reading the show notes, a book you keep reading when you tell yourself you’re going to put it down for good. Etc, etc. You get the idea.

Don’t (just) specialize.

An example of this is The Prepared newsletter. A newsletter that, if it were a circle, would not create a venn diagram with my “professional” life (what does this mean? but also, it overlaps with my actual life becuase I’m a human. you’ll see what I mean by this if you read it.) except the sliver where my former stint as a supply chain/logistics person is concerned. But I always find something of interest. Something I share with someone who knows me IRL.

Tangent time! (or is it an anecdote?)

I remember talking with a close family friend once about my dad. He (the friend) shared that (initiate: haze of memory) he had never met anyone who could carry on a conversation about as many diverse/divergent topics as my dad. My dad has always been widely read and willing to dip his toe into any pool that catches his interest (first I get my face from him and now this?!). Pretty sure he (my dad) once said something to me along the lines of “I know a lot about a few things but a little about a lot of things” and that always seemed like a solid aspiration to me. If, at the very least, so you can talk to someone that may have very little else in common with you.

But, generally, because there is a whole lot of stuff out there and most of it is fascinating, so why not learn at least a little about it?

Fun fact: the Port of Rotterdam is the largest in Europe and the most automated in the world. And port officials say they’ll be backed up through the end of the year. Yay knowledge?