Genius Way To BREAK THE ICE In Everyday Life

[@joshnadzam]

Everything about this video is awesome! The content, the stories, the editing, and the transitions. Love it Chad!

[@chad.littlefield]

Ha! Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you. What are you currently curious about right now?

[@asrj14]

Love your content. Binged on 3 so far. Can’t wait to apply your tips!

[@cnewberry1966]

Your office space is so cool!

[@chad.littlefield]

Thanks Cheryl, although I was using a community space in the building where my office was to film. It's a space in downtown Pittsburgh. Anybody is welcome to swing by for a cup of coffee while in town if they'd like 🙂

[@playmeo-group-games]

Chad, curiosity is my #1 strength and I reckon it has powered my ability to help my groups feel really comfortable very quickly for the past 32 years. And this trait is definitely one reason why only our mothers can tell us apart. :-) So, here's my question: I'm curious to know, what makes you happy? Cos you make me happy.

[@chad.littlefield]

You are a curious sponge even with so much incredible wisdom and experience. Lots and lots of things make me happy. But currently, I've been doing a deep dive into Dave Chappell and stand-up comedians. It's been hilarious of course, but really intellectually stimulating at the same time. Lots of joy in this "study" or "curiosity rabbit hole" I'm chasing down.

[@christophermaxwell5005]

great video really helped me

[@chad.littlefield]

Fantastic! So glad it clicked for you.

[@adamrosendahl]

Love the video Chad!

[@chad.littlefield]

And I love that YOU love it, Adam! Hey...do you know Kat Vellos by chance? Just discovered her work. And it's awesome. I believe she's Bay Area and I could imagine swims with you, Jenny, and co.

[@alyciamg]

I’m relieved curiosity is a muscle

[@chad.littlefield]

Ha...a metaphorical muscle anyway. Flexed only through the questions we ask.

[@LMKath]

Love the video and your work (I use the cards in my teaching)! One thing that came to mind to me, as a multiracial person, is how often people have approached me with their curiosity about my racial/ethnic background. And I generally roll with it, but there is a current of "you don't look like you belong here" in the question, "what ARE you?" (which is how I'm usually asked). So a quick check on whether your curiosity might make someone feel like they didn't quite belong would be a great addition to this concept.

[@chad.littlefield]

Mmmmmmm, we talk about this quite a lot in our book, Ask Powerful Questions, actually. While I didn't unpack it here, we advise people to follow their curiosity based on things people can CHANGE. Like shirts, jewelry, art on the wall in a Zoom background, etc. Rather than race/ethnicity, nose size, hair type, etc. etc. Thank you GREATLY for taking the time to share your perspective here. SO, so valuable! Indeed, it is essential to remember that people are NOT the objects of our curiosity.

[@LMKath]

@@chad.littlefield - love that clarification; that's so clear and easy to implement :D

[@TheRealTomi-x]

Didn't break the ice. He clearly didn't like it.

[@clintoncountyilceo2803]

Thanks perfect content for week 1 of our Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunity. I will be shared with 20 energetic youth ready to engage with their community and learn from them!

[@chad.littlefield]

Woohoo! I hope to hear that it goes better-than-well!

[@eriktyler6402]

I have many thoughts here, as ever. But I'll share one light one and one deeper one. Light: In addition to the pocket list of curiosity inducers you offer - something a person is WEARING, CARRYING, SHARING or PRESENTING - I'll add another: EXPERIENCING. I suppose, from a certain perspective, this could fall under "SHARING," though not in the way you meant. That is, I'm talking about an experience sharing that connects the two of you in a given situation or moment. I work out between midnight and 3:00 AM each day. It's just been my lifelong pattern. But I'm always curious about why OTHER people work out at such a time. And I ask. I've had many incredible answers to this question beyond what one might expect (e.g., "I work the night shift / early shift). And this has also been a door to now having built a community feel for all of us who work out during those wee hours. Similarly, I recently walked into a convenience store (in the middle of the night having come from the gym, as it so happens) and the Spice Girls were playing over the radio in the shared environment which, in that moment, connected me and the two clerks. I first said, "Will we ever know what they really, really want?" This definitely broke the ice, though the question is rhetorical. But I then followed with, "Do you have any particular memories associated with this song?" And both guys-who most would not think to be Spice Girls fans in the least-immediately lit up and answered in detail. They didn't "share" something with me overtly at first. But I used our shared EXPERIENCE as the curiosity point. As to the deeper thought, per your story about Will, he finally realized in your anecdote that he should ask about the damn Yankees. (And Will was terrific at following his curiosity most of the time!) But it does bring up an important point. I would argue that what Will was actually thinking initially, while it may have FELT like he was "trying to be curious," wasn't actually curiosity. Because he was thinking, "I MYSELF am not interested in that." And that would be to say, "I am only curious about things I already know a lot about or care about," which is almost an oxymoron. It doesn't seem to be curiosity at all. Rather, it's seeking conversation that will include "myself" in a more prominent or knowledgeable way (i.e., a form of "listening to win"). We ALL do it from time to time. But it's good to be aware that true curiosity isn't contingent on whether I'll seem smart in a conversation. In my experience, "listening to learn" is the most natural result of following natural curiosity.

[@chad.littlefield]

Oooo, light and deep indeed, Erik. I don't fully agreement with your assessment of Will passing by curiosity. In fact, I think that he was searching for natural, genuine curiosity. His question didn't actually include too much of himself. Besides that point, adding EXPERIENCING to the mix is a MAGICALLLLLL missing piece to the puzzle. Thank you for contributing that. It's cracked open a new lane in my brain.

[@eriktyler6402]

Of course, you know my point wasn't about Will per se. Again, he was great at following natural curiosity. I was just using the anecdote to point out a tendency that most of us can fall into, especially when we "think we should" be curious. I'll shift to a personal example quickly. I was "in the mix" with someone recently and they were talking about NFTs and short trades and such-topics about which I am not NATURALLY curious. (Ah, I just stumbled onto something important. Hold that thought as I continue.) So my tendency was to want to ask questions that steered away from that "boring and unimportant" topic to something less superficial / more important, as I saw it in that moment. But then I realized-like the Yankees, Yankees, Yankees clothes-that it didn't MATTER whether I was "naturally curious" about NFTs and stocks. THAT PERSON was excited about them and certainly knew more than I did about them; so there was something there for me to learn. Still, honestly, I didn't care about learning about NFTs or short trades. But I DID care about knowing that person better. And these things were a big part of their current experience and joy. So I shifted my "natural curiosity" away from the topic itself to why that topic was so important to that PERSON. I stopped focusing on the "boring" topic and started seeing an opportunity to understand someone better. That was the point at which I found my "natural curiosity" again. I won't do a deep dive into my AHA! moment earlier there except to say that I realized in telling that story that I am able to follow genuine natural curiosity without avoiding topics if I shift my focus from the PERIPHERALS (e.g., words, topics, clothes, etc., about which I might not care) to the PERSON.

[@jeWElleOfTheTable]

thanks mucho for your insights, chad and erik! wow. this inspires me to continue being curious about people's range of realities. (",)

[@anastasiawehrenberg3066]

Where did you get the "L O V E" tables? They are so cool!

[@chad.littlefield]

I didn't buy them actually, so I haven't a clue. They are cool though, right! Will, my late co-founder, used to sign many of his emails "with expansive love."

[@jeWElleOfTheTable]

W2C, curiosity to contribution resets, window/door/lens/viewfinder/camera, curiosity snapshots, curiosity language, spark/flicker/light/igniiiiiiiiiite! (",)

[@jeWElleOfTheTable]

thaaaaanks for the video, chad. i wonderrrrr..... what was one of the recent questions you were asked that made you go 'hmmmmmmmmmm.......' ;-)

[@jeWElleOfTheTable]

also looking for one liners that could be the 'opposite' of 'curiosity killed the cat'. smiiiiiiiiiile.

[@chad.littlefield]

@@jeWElleOfTheTable oooo! This is a lovely question. I don't remember how I came across it, but I've loved asking people, "What are your algorithms showing you right now?" In some weird way, it is actually a "data based" way of getting to know someone personally.

[@eriktyler6402]

@@jeWElleOfTheTable , in case you're curious (see what I did there?), a bit of research involved in my latest book revealed that "Curiosity killed the cat" is actually a bastardization of the original saying: "Care (or worry) killed the cat." In other words, even if one had nine lives, worry would quickly eat through them all. And that makes utter sense. This was coopted into the (unfortunate) saying we know today by the high church of yore as a means of scaring parishioners into NOT following their natural curiosity, lest they discover information that contradicted the dogma of the day.

[@jeWElleOfTheTable]

@@eriktyler6402 thaaaanks for this! and yes - i saw what you did there. (",)

[@memetastic100]

2 min in and i'm already bored af

[@chad.littlefield]

I'll try a TikTok dance next time 😉