Following the Thread of Curiosity

Lately, I've been paying closer attention to the small sparks that show up throughout my day. The tiny moments of curiosity. The ideas that tap me on the shoulder. The patterns I notice. The questions that feel alive.

For most of my career, I treated curiosity as something to fit in around the real work. A luxury. Something I would explore if I had time. But over the past few months, I've realized that curiosity is not extra. It is the starting point for almost everything meaningful that I build.

When I look back, the ideas that became projects, the projects that became products, and even the shifts in my own life all began with something very small. A question. A frustration. A moment of wonder. A feeling that something could be different.

The tricky part is that curiosity rarely announces itself. It whispers. And it asks you to follow it before you know where it leads.

Following that thread requires trust. And looseness. And a willingness to explore without turning everything into a goal.

Recently I've been trying to create more space for that. Not by forcing myself to generate ideas, but by slowing down enough to notice the ones that are already there. Ideas never show up on a schedule. They appear when I'm walking, staring out a window, talking to someone I trust, or doing something completely unrelated.

The more space I give curiosity, the more it gives back. It has led me to new projects, new experiments, and new ways of thinking. It has also reminded me that creativity is not something I have to push. It grows when I make room for it.

All of this has made me more interested in understanding creativity itself. Not the productivity version of it, but the deeper version. The quiet, internal one. The version that comes from presence, attention, and a willingness to explore what feels alive.

Which is why the next book I want to read is The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. People keep telling me it is less about how to make things, and more about how to be someone who notices, listens, and creates from a grounded place. That feels aligned with what I'm trying to cultivate right now.

I don't know where each thread leads, and I'm learning not to worry about that. Instead I'm focusing on what feels meaningful and what I want to explore next.

If anything I build is worth anything, it starts here. With a question. With attention. With curiosity.