About this quote

Intellectual growth stops the moment you think you have everything figured out. We tend to walk through our daily routines on autopilot, ignoring the strange mechanics of the world around us. When did you last stop to look at something ordinary and ask why it works that way? Regaining your curiosity requires you to admit your own ignorance, which is uncomfortable but necessary. Pay closer attention to your immediate environment today and let yourself be baffled by it.

When to use it

• A software developer stares at a messy legacy codebase and feels stuck. She uses this idea to shift her frustration into curiosity about how the original coder solved the problem.
• A father watches his toddler spend twenty minutes examining a beetle on the sidewalk. He stops rushing the kid and instead kneels down to observe the insect with the same fresh eyes.
• A student feels bored during an advanced chemistry lecture. He recalls this thought to challenge himself to look past the dry equations and find the mystery in how elements bond.