Tinker tinker tinker. When I was younger I was a constant tinkerer. I would build bridges over the creek behind my house, experiment with building dams and building fire. I would build small boats and trailers for those boats designed to be pulled by a gas powered remote control car I had. Like I discuss in my article called About Me, I was always curious. I read a lot, watched a lot of documentaries, and was always tinkering and trying to understand and manipulate the world around me.
Towards the end of my time in high school and throughout most of college I got away from tinkering—I still read pretty often but had lost some of my curious zeal (we could discuss the role that school and college play in killing curiosity but that’s better saved for another time). It’s only in the last couple of years that I started to pick up my tinkering once again. Only this time it’s not building bridges or playing with fire, but writing and building websites. Now I tinker with things that make me a more valuable person—experiment ways that can make myself better as a business.
The point is we should never lose our curiosity. As I’ve said in other pieces, we should never cease to stare in wonder at the amazing world around us and we should never cease asking ourselves the question, “how does that work?” Try new things, push the boundaries of what you think you’re capable of doing, and never underestimate the value of setting aside time every day just to think and ponder. Think about your life, those in your life, what you value, what you enjoy spending your time doing, and what type of skills or knowledge would allow you to better achieve your goals and live the life you want to live.
It’s easy to get complacent in life. Easy to stagnate once you have a good job, good living situation, happy family, etc. But successfully having all of those things does not mean you have to stop pushing the envelope. To be human is to continuously learn at every opportunity. To be happy is to push yourself to be better and better. Challenge yourself, leave your comfort zone, and tinker tinker tinker. If you do that I think you’ll find yourself to be exponentially more confident, have more skills than you’ll know what to do with, and probably be a much more interesting person than those who are complacent around you.