Episode 096: Follow Your Curiosity to Build Craftsmanship

Finding Your Groove With Kathleen Thompson

An Artisan develops craftsmanship. And it doesn’t stop even at mastery. There’s always room for more growth. What’s one way to develop craftsmanship? By following your curiosity. How do you do that, you ask? Well, it’s all explained in this episode. Not only that, but we’re talking blueberries and how sometimes quotes get just a little bit jumbled as people use them over time.

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On This Episode

Rhythm of Life – Don’t Add Blueberries to This…
Random Riffs – (Mis)Quotes
Feature Segment – The Artisan Life: Craftsmanship – Follow Your Curiosity

Today’s Quote

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. –e.e. cummings

Rhythm of Life – Don’t Add Blueberries to This…

Blueberries are in season here in CT. I’ve been picking at Deercrest Farm in Glastonbury, where I get my produce. Even talked about it in a recent blog post.

I love blueberries. I could eat them almost every day. But I found out the hard way not to put blueberries in this…

I followed my curiosity that day, and learned some valuable lessons about cooking I wouldn’t otherwise know. It’s so much more fun than simply following a cookbook.

Random Riffs – (Mis)Quotes

So often you hear famous quotes or proverbs and nod head wisely. “Yes!” And yet, how many times is the quote not even the original? Someone somewhere along the line shortened or changed it, and the changed version became better known.

Listen to the episode to hear some examples of what I mean.

Feature Segment – The Artisan Life: Craftsmanship – Follow Your Curiosity

I followed my curiosity when trying to make Madrigal costumes for Jerry and me using a sweatshirt, shorts, and modern dress pattern. And you better believe it developed my craftsmanship in ways I didn’t predict.

You can learn to follow your curiosity too. As you heard in Episode 095, it’s one of the foundations for building craftsmanship. And craftsmanship is one key to living an Artisan Life.

What does following your curiosity look like? Do you know you can practice it any time? And how fun it is?

The first key to follow your curiosity is to do it when stakes are low. Because you want to push yourself to edge of your competency to grow and stretch.

A great example musical arrangers when they reinterpret songs. Here are the Beatles and Carpenters versions of the same song – Ticket to Ride.

Beatles

Carpenters

One way to follow your curiosity is to ask the question, “I wonder what would happen if I tried — this?”

Other questions you can ask?

• I wonder where that comes from?
• I wonder who started that?
• I wonder what would happen if I turned this upside down?

A sense of wonder is an important part of curiosity. That and experimentation.

You heard in Episode 090 about daVinci taking years to complete the Mona Lisa. It was all because he was experimenting with light.

You can follow your curiosity by asking questions. You can follow your curiosity by doing regular activities a different way. The more you practice the better, even if you aren’t directly practicing your craft.

If you remember nothing else from this episode, remember to ask yourself this question, “I wonder what would happen if I tried…this?”

Now go and do it. Let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below, or send an email to [e-mail]. I can’t wait to hear what happens when you try it.

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To follow your curiosity, ask “I wonder what would happen if I tried this?”
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Artisan Series

090: Why You Should Be an Artisan at Work
091: The Three C's of Artisanship
092: Are You a Creator, Consumer, or Critic?
093: Where to Start as an Artisan? With a MAP.
094: What's Your Signature Scent?
095: The Foundations of Craftsmanship

Announcing:

I thought you would love this. The business author of Profit First, Mike Michalowicz (I struggle to pronounce his last name too), just released his newest book, Clockwork.

In the book he outlines an extremely simple process to make your business run itself. He challenges the concept of “grinding it out” and shows that how even the smallest businesses in the world, can run all by themselves. I just picked up my copies, and thought you might want to check it out too. Here's the link.

Enjoy! *****************************

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