The Year of Curiosity: Grow Through Exploring, Not Planning

Are you tired of rigid plans that leave no room for joy or surprise? In this episode, we’re declaring 2025 the Year of Curiosity! Instead of over-planning every detail of your life, learn how to embrace curiosity as a mindset that fuels creativity, adaptability, and joy. Discover how exploring the unknown—without fear of failure—can lead to unexpected growth and fulfillment. Whether it’s trying something new, following your ‘what ifs,’ or simply seeing life through fresh eyes, this episode will inspire you to make this your most exciting year yet. Let’s explore together!

IG: @themrmindd

Transcript

Ryan Johnson (00:00):

Hey, do you remember when you were a kid and everything felt like an adventure? You'd go outside adventure, you'd go to the store adventure, you just hop in a car adventure. Wow. What if this year we approached life with the same sense of curiosity? So instead of Richard planning 2025 could be the year we embrace curiosity, experimenting, learning, and most importantly, exploring without fear of failure. Today I'll show you how living with curiosity could lead to unexpected growth and fulfillment. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Mr. Mind Podcast, your twice a week dose of living well. And yes, this is the very first episode of 2025. I hope your New Year's was great. I hope it was wonderful. I hope you're all safe and I hope great things. Well, I don't hope I know great things are in store for you and this new upcoming year.
(01:20)
How do I know that? Because you're listening to this podcast. No, I'm not saying there's some magic to it or something like that. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that because what we pursue, the universe has a tendency to open up doors in that same lane. Do you ever notice that whatever we pursue, the universe will open up doors in that same lane? You ever try to pursue something? You start doing, let's say music. You start pursuing music. Oh my goodness, all of us sudden I'm starting to get connections with people in the music industry, rather it be producers or people that just do other things in music, other songwriters, other types of collaborations you have. So that's why I'm saying that I know you're going to do good because you are listening to this podcast. This is what we're going to do this year.
(02:11)
We're going to be more curious instead of over planning, because rigid plans, they often lead to stress, disappointment, missed opportunities. What is stress? Stress is when something doesn't meet our expectations of it. So when we plan rigidly and don't leave any room for wiggle room, guess what? We're going to get even more stressed when it doesn't go as planned. When we're too focused on the plan, we miss out on the chance to try something even better. This is what curiosity brings. It brings creativity, it brings adaptability, it brings joy. Creativity is one being curious. If you're not curious, you're not being creative. So instead of asking, what should I achieve this year? Ask yourself, what can I explore this year? What can I explore this year? Curiosity does so much for us. One of the things I tell my clients, I say, Hey, what makes you happy?
(03:20)
Be curious about what makes you happy. Be curious about why it makes you happy and lean into that. Lean into it. Also, you never know where that new door is going to lead you. You never, no. Well, Ryan, I've been doing this my whole life. What am I going to do if I don't do this? I don't know. You know more than me, and no, I'm not saying, go quit your job that you've had for 20 years and do something else. I'm not saying that if you are wanting to do something else, pri to exit plan that transpires over the next year or two, right, that you can exit and seamlessly transition into your next career. Don't go in and throw the book at your boss's face and say, I quit because if you do, things will get hard. I'm just saying keep your eyes open.
(04:10)
You never know what's out there. Be curious. There's this lady, she began her career as a stockbroker on Wall Street. That's what she did day in and day out. She went to Wall Street. She was a stockbroker, but she transitioned into the world of home deck decor and to cooking, and her pivot came when she started catering parties, which led to her writing cookbooks and eventually launching her multimedia empire company. You may know this lady. Her name is Martha Stewart. You never know. When you explore, you don't just grow in one direction. You expand in every di direction. You learn without the pressure of perfection. Instead of worrying about whether something works, you get to ask, what can I learn from this? What can I learn from this? You find it in passions. You find talents. This is what happens when you're curious because sometimes the thing that we stumble upon ended up being our greatest passions, our strengths.
(05:18)
But I'll tell you this, you can't stumble upon something. You don't walk over. So the question is how to live curiously in 2025, what I would say is adopt a what if mindset approach. Challenges are opportunities by asking, what if I tried this? Not that is stupid, not it's never going to work. What if I tried this? What if I joined that class, reached out to that person or traveled to that place? What if, and I want you to experiment small, just small stuff. How about this? Try a new food in an unexpected place. That place that you see when you're driving home from work on the bus, going back home from work, going to work, and you think to yourself, man, that looks pretty good, but I don't have time to go there. Try it out. But Ryan, I don't have anyone to go with.
(06:26)
Who cares? And you do have someone to go with. Look in the mirror, guys. I've watched countless movies by myself. No, not just at home on Netflix. I'm talking about in movie theaters. Once I even did it without my phone on me, huh? How about that? It was great. It had a type of nostalgic feeling. No, not because I used to watch movies by myself in the movie theater back then, but I didn't have cell phones when I was younger. Our parents would drop us off in the movie theater and say, Hey, be here at this time. And that was it. You just had to be there. Oh my gosh, the movie actually running longer than what it was supposed to. It doesn't matter. You have to go. You got to meet your parents. There's no Uber, there's no Lyft. Try this one. Become a tourist in your own city.
(07:20)
Pick a day. Any day. Go explore a part of your city that you've never been to. I know you've heard the stories. People come and visit. They say, oh my goodness, Margaret, I want to go to this location. Have you been there? It's only four blocks from your house. And you say, you know what? I actually haven't been there. I live here in Hawaii and I tell you there's many of things that I didn't do here, and I'll talk to my friends. They say, Hey, you didn't do that. I say, no. They say, how long have you living here? Since I was 14? Be curious guys. Become a tourist in your own city. And once I started to do these things in a city and just around where I live, it's like, wow, my goodness, there's so much to do and I don't have to go very far.
(08:10)
Monthly sunrise hikes. Try that challenge yourself to watch the sunrise from a new location each month, whether it's a nearby hill, a park rooftop. This may just get you up early and immersed in nature, and that may lead to something. Who knows? I don't know. You don't know until you try. Don't let yourself talk yourself out of it. Don't let yourself talk yourself out of it. Try this. Pursue what sparks your interest, even if it doesn't make sense right away. Pursue what sparks your interest, because guess what guys? Curiosity doesn't have to lead to a big outcome. It's about enjoying the process. That's what it's about. It's about the journey. If you're driving, you don't have to do this part, but if you're not driving, feel free to join me. Close your eyes and think about one thing you've always been curious about, but never explored.
(09:12)
What's stopping you? What's one small step you can take toward it this week? Just one. And how is it going to feel once you accomplish that one step? How this is important to think about, because a lot of times we don't do things that we really want to do because of here it comes fear that it won't be as it's advertised in our minds, it won't be as good, it won't be as fun. You ever heard that term? Sometimes the embers are better than the fire, but this year is different. Ladies and gents, this year, let's trade perfection for play, rigidity for wonder, and plans for possibilities. Because growth doesn't come from sticking to the script. It comes from being brave enough to explore the unknown. If this idea of living curiously resonates with you, I'd love to hear about it. Share what you're curious about this year on Instagram.
(10:33)
Tag me. That's the Mr. Mind. Yes, there's two Ds at the end of that. This is an affirmation I made for you. This is the year I let my curiosity lead the way, trusting that every step will bring me closer to who I am meant to be. Thank you so much for tuning into the Mr. Mind Podcast. If this resonated with you at all, please like please subscribe. Please leave a comment and please share because you never know the person that you share it to, it might make their day. And can you do me a favor? That very last person you sent a text message to, can you text them again and say, Hey, I hope you're having one heck of a new year, and I hope your day is amazing because you never know. They just might need it.