Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s helped me survive so far

Sometimes the headlines for these blog posts make it onto the page before the body copy. Such was the case with this one.

The other day, a friend and I were talking about the importance of curiosity in the workplace. You can have all the skill and confidence in the world, but curiosity is what really drives excellence. Humility is also essential. Without curiosity and humility, skill and confidence can only take you so far, in part because your output will remain limited but also because no one will want to be around you.

Anyway, this post won’t be solely about work, though work — specifically how AI is transforming it — is what prompted it.

As a writer and designer, I empathize with my peers who are fearing for their livelihoods right now. Some of them have already lost their jobs to AI, and plenty more will. It can be unnerving, but I don’t think this is so different on the surface from the advent of the internet and SEO. Yes, they were disruptive. Newspaper ads shrank and along with them so did newspaper staffs. Those who were left had to do more with less. People who were once specialists in their craft had to become full-stack journalists who wrote and edited articles, starred in and produced their own videos, and optimized everything for search and social engagement.

It was a lot of change, and not everyone made it. The ones who did make it were those who A) acknowledged that the change was inevitable and B) got curious about the technology responsible for it. They armed themselves with knowledge and learned how to apply it. This is the only way to survive and thrive when life comes at you fast.

I’ve found this to be true for myself during other types of disruptive events. When little Simon fell ill and nearly died right after I moved to New York, I was terrified I’d lose my best friend (and indeed my only friend in that city at the time). I knew nothing about his condition or the ways to diagnose and treat it. I didn’t know about fine needle aspirations, or the differences between regenerative, non-regenerative and immune-mediated hemolytic anemia.

During the week he was hospitalized, I channeled all my fears about losing him into a quest for knowledge. I listened carefully to every possible diagnosis the vets tossed out there and then read every article and research paper I could find about them. This helped distract me enough to avoid spiraling into despair, but it also gave me the tools I’d need to speak to his doctors and advocate for his care. In the months and years that followed, I was able to make informed decisions that kept him happy and alive until he was nearly 21. I’d accepted the inevitable — that our carefree life together would no longer be so carefree — and gotten curious about the disease responsible. I’d armed myself with knowledge and learned how to apply it.

Such was also the case when my father got sick. Another best friend battling for his life. I couldn’t let my fear of losing him consume me. I needed to be fit for battle, too. So I read every article and research paper I could find. I acquired the terminology I’d need to speak his doctors’ language and the knowledge to help advocate for his care. Eventually I accepted the inevitable — that our window of time together was rapidly closing — and gotten curious about the factors responsible. I armed myself with enough knowledge to stay strong for him until the end.

Curiously, each of these two episodes coincided with other major life and career shifts. With Simon, I’d just gotten to New York. I was starting a new type of job in a new city in a new medium, editing stories about a subject I knew nothing about. With my dad, it was a week before I started a new job in a new discipline in a new industry. Looking back, it’s a bit of a miracle I didn’t lose my mind assimilating so much information in either case. I guess the best we can do sometimes during a sea change is lie flat, brace your core and surf each wave as it hits.

I went through a phase in the mid-2010s when I was teaching myself Photoshop where I placed little Simon in photos with my favorite people. I’m so glad I did.