I Need the Curiosity of a 7-Month-Old (Do You?)

I just returned from spending two weeks with my 7-month-old granddaughter, Naya.

Of all my hours with her—playing on the floor, “talking” to her by mimicking her screeching sounds back to her, watching her rummage in her toy basket—what I enjoyed most was her diligent curiosity. I know, babies are easily distracted. Babies are not known for their long attention spans.

Yet recent studies reveal the average American adult has an attention span of a mere 8 seconds, which is, unbelievably, less than a goldfish!

Naya can focus far longer than 8 seconds. She would zero in on something—a picture in a book, someone working in the kitchen—and gaze in rapt attention. Once I took her outside and held her up to the leaves of a tree. From a few inches away, she examined those leaves as carefully as any botanist.

Talk about diligent! With a few peas lined up across her highchair tray, she would laboriously reach out to grasp one. She does not yet have the two-finger pincer grip mastered, so holding the pea in her fist means she usually drops it just short of her mouth. But rather than give up, she chooses another pea and tries again.

In a similar way, she tried over and over to stand up on her own, never quite getting her legs organized correctly. Then one day, she did! After that initial breakthrough, it was only another day before she had mastered it. the new skill.

I need to follow Naya’s example

I marvel at Naya’s curiosity about the world and her diligence in mastering new skills. She’s a great example to reject the temptation to coast along on what I already know and the skills I’ve already acquired.

In “Owning Your Own Future,” Thomas Friedman of the New York Times makes the point that lifelong learning is mandatory:

“The notion that we can go to college for four years and then spend that knowledge for the next 30 is over. If you want to be a lifelong employee anywhere today, you have to be a lifelong learner.”

I plan to retire next year, so one might assume I’m immune to this need for life-long learning. In fact, my retirement means I need to ramp up, not put my feet up. Here are a few suggestions I’m working on that might apply to you, whatever your age:

#1. Begin a New Project

Hopefully in the next month, I plan to write a group study guide for my book Paradox Lost: Rediscovering the Mystery of God. I want to publish it as ebook to make it easily accessible online. But have no idea how to create an ebook. I need to learn.

What project is calling to you?

#2. Learn a New Skill

I need to learn how to find an audience interested in what I’m motivated to write about. I need to learn new skills of marketing myself as a coach and consultant. I’ve never really enjoyed using social media and am the polar opposite of the person constantly checking Facebook (I rarely look at it). How can I develop the skills to use social media in ways that fit my personality and use them with integrity? I’m curious to find out.

What new skill do you need to learn?

#3. Find a Topic That Captures Your Imagination

I want to encourage Christians who seemingly have no personal power that they can still make a difference in the world. I come by this topic through personal experience living in Africa for several years among Christians who often lacked power and felt helpless to address the ways their churches or societies need to change. Here in the US, it troubles me that some evangelical Christians seem to believe that power is best expressed through bombastic authoritarianism when I believe the Bible clearly teaches real power is found in self-sacrifice, humility and service to others.

What topic motivates you?

#4. Find a Learning Partner

We recently purchased a home in a community that includes 30 acres of forest crisscrossed by nature trails. A recent issue of the community newsletter included a “critter corner” section featuring pages of photos and descriptions of various kinds of owls that live in the community’s woodlands. After we move in, I want to get to know this owl guy! I’ve always been curious to learn more about the natural world—here’s a future neighbor who knows far more than I do to be my guide.

Who might be your next learning partner?

#5. Join a Group that Expresses Your Passion

The same community newsletter also offered a gardening club section of beautiful color photos of plants around the community. Here are some partners who will help me expanding my gardening lore and repertoire.

I also care deeply about the environment and the consequences of climate change, especially on the world Naya will inherit from me. I’ve identified a local citizens’ action group in our community I plan to join. It will offer a way for me to channel my diligence in ways that will hopefully make a difference.

What group might you join?

Perhaps Edmund Burke had Naya in mind:

The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.

I can’t follow in Naya’s footsteps (she’s not walking yet). But I can follow her example.