Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

My pulse quickens whenever we leap into the unknown of space, be it with the 2015 New Horizons flyby of Pluto, or the launch of the new James Webb telescope on December 25, 2021. And so, I experienced that rush on September 26 when the D.A.R.T. spacecraft designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA was intentionally slammed into a tiny asteroid at some 14,000 miles per hour after traveling for more than 10 months and 7 million miles. "Intentionally slammed into a tiny asteroid" is the operative phrase here. Let's find out why that was done from one of the critical minds on the project, Michelle Chen, an engineer with the Johns Hopkins APL who led the team that developed the spacecraft's SMART navigation system. Takeaways √ The D.A.R.T. mission — D.A.R.T. stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — was undertaken to see if we could nudge an asteroid out of an orbit that could potentially be on a path of hitting Earth. √ The D.A.R.T. spacecraft flew on its own for the last 40 minutes or so of the mission, courtesy of the navigation system that Michelle and her team built. It had to be capable of maneuvering independently, given the speed at which it was flying and the distance between the craft and the JPL team. √ Michelle judged the quality of her team, in part, by the quality of the questions they asked. √ As a leader, Michelle believes in giving her team members room to explore and make mistakes. √ Curiosity will help to define our future innovations. √ What would you tell your younger self? Stay true to who you are, and ask questions. References/Resources New York Times: NASA Smashes Into an Asteroid, Completing a Mission to Save a Future Day

One part of life that I've become really curious about in the past few years is dying. I didn't think about it at all when I was in college and played racquetball on a Saturday morning following a little too much end-of-the-week celebration the night before. There were moments in the four decades that followed when death reared its head — close friends from my college years passed away, and I lost both my parents — but aside from the immediate grief, I continued to live life like most of us probably do: on cruise control. I got up, I went to work, I pursued my personal interests, and I went to bed. Rinse and repeat.

"As it turns out, personal finance is like touching an electric fence that you didn't know what electric. Managing our money is not a math problem; it's a behavioral problem." Carl Richards is a Certified Financial Planner™ and creator of the Sketch Guy column that appeared weekly in The New York Times (2010-2021). There, he used simple illustrations to introduce calming financial advice and counsel. He is also the author of The One-Page Financial Plan and The Behavior Gap resources — a book, website, and podcast that provide simple ideas to help us "Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money." Carl's goal is to demystify financial planning by focusing as much — or more — on the humans it serves as it does on the numbers. Topics discussed in this episode include: The crash of the housing market in 2008. The psychological underpinnings that influence money management. Using a tree as an analogy for financial counseling. Carl's sketches as "shortcuts" and "souvenirs." Simplifying the complex world of money management. "Conversation grenades." Why Jeff focuses on curiosity. Takeaways: If you want to understand money management, start by understanding fear and greed. When we talk about return on investment, emotional balance sheets are just as important as financial ones. The line between financial planning and therapy is super thin. Making the complex simple in terms of money management starts and stays with an unrelenting focus on one's goals. Simple line illustrations can be used to engender problem-solving conversations outside the worlds of finance and money management. Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkingcarl https://twitter.com/behaviorgap The One Page Financial Plan "The Behavior Gap" resources Behavior Gap Radio (free site) The Behavior Gap website The Behavior Gap book

My guest in this episode is Charlotte Wittenkamp. Her own experience relocating from Denmark to California led to her ongoing fascination with global differences in value systems and communication patterns. In short, why do we believe what we believe?

Many people mistakenly equate obituaries with death notices, but, as we'll hear in this episode, obituaries are not tales of death; they are tales of life. They are the CliffsNotes of someone's identity and relevance. And as much as we know we shouldn't, we are drawn to them as mirrors, which we figuratively stand in front of and ask, "How does my life compare to this individual's?" My guest today is Richard Goldstein. Since joining the New York Times in 1980, Richard worked as an editor and an obituary writer, focusing on figures from the military and sports world.

I've written four screenplays as a hobby, one of which received an honorable mention at the 9th Annual Nantucket Film Festival. If I were thanking the Academy, it would be because I had an exceptional teacher who just happens to be my guest in this episode. I've asked her to clarify what and how screenwriters work to help inform your storytelling ability as a communicating leader. Debbie Danielpour writes award-winning screenplays, libretti, fiction, and nonfiction. She has been an award-winning professor of fiction and screenwriting for over thirty years at San Francisco State University, Emerson College, Harvard University, and now at Boston University.

I've asked several people to come on the show in this series to talk very briefly about an aspect of their life that makes them tilt their heads in curiosity and want to figure out how to satisfy it. My guest in this episode is a master at looking at the familiar from a different angle. Dr. Christine Mason is a university professor, prolific author, workshop facilitator, yoga instructor, and painter.

My guests in this episode are Melissa Hughes Ph.D., a neuroscience researcher, educator, keynote speaker, and author of Happier Hour with Einstein — Another Round, and Michael Appelgren PsyD, a licensed psychologist, private practice owner, and executive functioning and parent management coach. Together, we explore the roots of curiosity, some of the obstacles that stand in the way of actualizing it, and the benefits of increasing and leveraging it.

My guest in this episode is Dennis Pitocco. Dennis is Chief Reimaginator of 360° Nation, an organization and approach to life that includes the award-winning BIZCATALYST 360°; Real Voices 360°, and GoodWorks 360°. Everything Dennis and his team do is "for good" versus for-profit and founded upon their quest to rediscover humanity at its very best.

My guest in this episode is Sarah Elkins. Sarah is a storyteller, the podcast host and author of "Your Stories Don't Define You. How You Tell Them Will," and a Gallup certified StrengthsFinder coach. In this episode, Sarah focuses on the role curiosity plays in informing our identity and how we define the relevance of our lives. And through that focus, Sarah has laid bare the bedrock of emotional intelligence because our personal identity and relevance are two key drivers of our behaviors toward others.