I’ve often wondered about these men and women. What gives them that special indefinable quality that makes them so enjoyable to be around?

Some will say its education, talent, money, humor or celebrity. But I think it’s something that’s within the reach of us all: curiosity.

Curious people are interested in the world and everything in it. They seek out new friends and experiences. They pay attention to what’s going on around them and why.

Astronomer Carl Sagan once lamented that when a child asks a perfectly good question like “Why is the sun round?” it’s not unusual for an adult to give a dismissive response like, “What do you expect it to be, square?”

(Of course, most adults probably don’t know that intense gravity pulls material towards the sun’s center, forming a sphere. But there’s never any shame in answering a question with, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”)

By the time we reach adulthood, many of us are already jaded or closed-minded. We tend to speak with, read and praise people who share our point of view.

When our views are challenged, our instinct is to defend them (even if they might be wrong). In the process, we may miss the opportunity to learn something.

Other times it is the desire for certainty that suppresses our natural curiosity. After all, why look into a matter further when you’ve already got it all figured out?

Uncurious people tend to see the world in black and white. People are good or bad. Choices are right or wrong. Yet outside of mathematics, alternatives are rarely that stark.

Sometimes life comes in infinite shades of grey. And nothing demonstrates a low tolerance for ambiguity like a lack of curiosity.

High curiosity, on the other hand, opens us up to multiple perspectives. It is regularly tied to greater analytic ability, problem-solving skills, and overall intelligence.

Curiosity drove many of the world’s finest scientists and explorers. Our greatest discoveries often come when we question authority, the status quo, or our own beliefs.

Curiosity is also what leads many of us – often late in life – to take up the piano… or fly-fishing… or ballroom dancing… or visiting all 50 states.

And it is something that can be practiced. Often it’s just a matter of greater awareness. When you’re making your schedule, what are you planning that you haven’t tried before?  When you’re talking, what opinions are you hearing that you haven’t heard before? When you’re traveling, what are you seeing that you haven’t seen before?

Curiosity is essentially an attitude toward living. It shows we are interested in adding to our knowledge, our skills, our areas of competence. We are willing to break out of our routine and experiment with our lives.

When you’re curious, you’re energized. You’re learning. Your focus goes beyond yourself and your own petty concerns. You’re making discoveries, finding opportunities, adding to your quality of life.

Best of all, these pursuits don’t just make your life more fascinating.

Source: Alexander Green

. Repetition
Repeat something new over and over and you’ll develop ‘muscle memory’ that will help you memorize a new subject. Whether is a particular set of words or phrases in a foreign language, or cooking a recipe, the secret is to repeat the task over and over several times until it’s stuck in your memory.
I recently needed to learn a new programming language for a project I was involved with. The fastest way for me to learn the new language, was to sit down at my computer at the start of the weekend and, write lots of new software, over and over. I spent the whole weekend working in the new language, writing the same software many times. By the end of the weekend, I was confidently fluent in the new language.

. Association
Associating new subjects with ones you know is a great way of learning. The most popular application is the use of mnemonics. Find a word or phrase and associate each letter (or initial letter of that word) with the topic you’re learning.
For example, the first letters of Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vein spells out the colors of the rainbow in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
Google ‘mnemonics’ and you’ll find plenty of websites listing mnemonics for a huge range of subjects.

. Watch video tutorials
It’s easy to learn from other people, and one of the best ways to do this is by finding how to videos and tutorials. Learning a new piece of software becomes a piece of cake when you can sit in front of your computer, be talked through the process, see exactly what’s on their screen as they talk, and then repeat the actions yourself.
You can do the same for playing a musical instrument, learning a foreign language, drawing, making things, learn new concepts, and more. Have a search around, you’ll find hundreds of examples online.
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Every subject requires a different approach to it depending on its nature. It is not correct to generalize that the best way to learn a new subject or skill is to study small segments or details in great depth rather than to start by trying to develop a sense of the whole.

The method to learn a new subject or skill depends on the type of the subject. In some cases the best way to learn is to study small segments in great depth without trying to develop a sense of whole. In other cases it might be important to develop a sense of the whole to develop an interest in the subject. Sometimes the study requires intermingling of both the techniques.

People always learn a new language by first trying to develop a sense of the whole. The study of a new language begins by identification of important words in that language. These words help people to start making sentences that make sense. These sentences might not be grammatically correct but they can convey what the person is trying to say. It is more practical to study a language this way. For example if a person travels to a foreign country, it would be important for him to understand and be able to convey his thoughts. It would not matter if he does not understand the nuances of the grammar or all the denotations and connotations of a particular word.

Children begin learning new subjects in school by trying to understand subjects as a whole. For example by the time children reach middle school they begin to understand that geography deals with study earth and its environment, science deals with logical explanation of all processes, history deals with the past etc. This introduction gives them the opportunity to decide their field of interest. If the learning of biology began by letting children know in great depth of a particular plant, they would not know biology deals with lots of other things besides that plant. It is important to tell that biology is the study of all living beings because if they are interested to study about animals later, they will know how to go about it and which field to pursue.

On the other hand the learning of a new computer programming language begins by learning its parts in detail. A computer program can be developed in various ways using the same language. The study begins by learning the details of the different syntaxes of the programming language. The students compare and contrast each new syntax with previous ones and try to develop the best way to program in that language. It is important in this case to study each part in great depth to understand the programming language as a whole.

The study of a skill like dance or knitting also requires learning by studying its parts in detail. The study of dance begins by learning to do basic steps. The next step is to learn some simple combinations of these basic steps. As the learning progresses, the student develops the sense of the whole dance form. It is impossible to learn the dance without knowing the steps. The same holds true for knitting.

The study of a new subject on which there is no prior information requires study of parts in a little detail to form a vague idea of the subject. After the formation of the idea, the details of the subject need to be explored further to make the idea stronger. For example the people who took up the study of possibility of stepping into the moon did not know if it were possible. They studied the parts of the moon, the atmosphere between the earth and the moon, the variance of climatic conditions etc in detail before they decided that it was possible for man to go to the moon. Then they explored the details further to prove the fact that it was possible to step the moon.

Source: Articlegarden

Creative risk taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.

Discipline is based on pride, on meticulous attention to details, and on mutual respect and confidence. Discipline must be a habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the excitement of the goal or the fear of failure.

Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.

Every choice carries a consequence. For better or worse, each choice is the unavoidable consequence of its predecessor. There are not exceptions. If you can accept that a bad choice carries the seed of its own punishment, why not accept the fact that a good choice yields desirable fruit?

Learning is about more than simply acquiring new knowledge and insights; it is also crucial to unlearn old knowledge that has outlive its relevance. Thus, forgetting is probably at least as important as learning.

Money is always on its way somewhere. What you do with it while it is in your keeping and the direction you send it in say much about you. Your treatment of and respect for money, how you make it, and how you spend it, reflect your character.

Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It require you to connect today’s actions to tomorrow’s results. There’s a season for sowing a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which.

Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.

We only live once, but once is enough if we do it right. Live your life with class, dignity, and style so that an exclamation, rather than a question mark signifies it!

You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.

Your future takes precedence over your past. Focus on your future, rather than on the past.

Your mind, while blessed with permanent memory, is cursed with lousy recall. Written goals provide clarity. By documenting your dreams, you must think about the process of achieving them.

Source: www.brainyquote.com