Laura loved writing her life stories into a journal. She became curious what it would be like to turn her stories into a published book. Her curiosity spurred her to investigate the possibility. We can all rejoice that Laura Ingalls Wilder responded to her inner curiosity. At the age of 64 she published her first book, Little House on the Prairie.

As a child you too were driven by curiosity. It’s how you learned about the world around you. Curiosity is that secret inner drive which turns you into a creative learning machine. But as we age, our curiosity disappears. We accept this as the norm. It never crosses our mind to be curious about our lack of curiosity!

What happened to your curiosity? It began to die the day you colored outside the lines. Scribbling outside the lines represented a freedom of curious creativity. But what happened when you explored the joy of going outside the established boundaries? You were told to never do that. Never, ever color outside the lines. As time went by our curiosity about going outside the lines died.

It’s time to restore your lost curiosity.

Now is the time. Restore it and become a creative learning machine which will benefit you in this chapter of your life.

How do you restore it? Try this. Each morning for a week place 15 pennies in your pocket. The jingling pennies will remind you to become curious about your current situation.

• Jingle jingle. “Why am I wasting my time on Facebook?”
• Jingle jingle. “How can I improve this report for my boss?”
• Jingle jingle. “what would happen in my life if I read a self-help book instead of this romance novel.”

Or, if you are willing to feel like a fool, print out a coloring page from the internet and color outside the lines. Do it with glee. Rejoice that you are satisfying your curiosity of what it feels like.

You get the idea. Curiosity can lead you to an improved life. It can lead you into a satisfying job as your leave your old career behind. It can point you to a way to improve your legacy. And it will inspire you to improve the lives of those around you.

Live life intensely curious!

(This article is further explained in commandment #6 of Tom’s List.)

The next several weeks will focus on commandments found in Tom’s List: 50 Commandments to Transform Your Life. I’m working on seminars and workshops for Baby Boomers based on those commandments.

To learn more about my availability for a speaking engagement check out my speaking page.