PASSION OR CURIOSITY ~ Which is Best for Your Academic and Career Success?

by Willette Coleman

Curiosity.  The dictionary defines the noun as “a strong desire to know or learn something.”  Curiosity evokes one, if not all of the questions:  Who, What, When, Where and How.  For me, curiosity is like solving a mystery (a favorite among my reading genres; preferably historical, such as renown authors, Beverly Jenkins’ historical-based, romance mystery Midnight and Penny Mickelbury’s Carol Ann Gibson’s mysteries).  A good mystery stimulates our curiosity as we follow a protagonist’s investigation of clues that lead to solving a problem (usually a murder or locating a treasure).         

My curiosity was recently aroused as I read a job advice column’s headline: Why Curiosity is More Useful than Passion.  An Internet search revealed hundreds of articles on curiosity for academic and career success.  A Pennsylvania based workplace solutions company, Boyer Management, queried whether “curiosity is the new career super power” and listed Five Reasons Why Curious People Have Better Careers.  These narratives, though valuable, tend to favor curiosity over passion.  

Passion historically, has been the Queen of traits to possess for success in life.  It’s “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something” according to Webster’s definition, which corroborates the often-heard statement that “passion is when you enjoy doing something so much you’d rather do that than anything else, even if you don’t get paid.”  The University of Virginia Barden School of Business MBA subway ads in Washington, DC alert readers to “Advance a Passion.  Advance a Position.”  And, business consulting firm, Deloitte, presented a plan for Passion at work on its website.    

My experience is that curiosity and passion are twins, on many levels.  Creativity is one.  Chefs, for example, have a passion for cooking and curiosity inspires them to invent/create imaginative, healthy, mouth watering, award winning recipes (some with surprising ingredients).  Another is that passion and curiosity embody enthusiasm.  Employers as well as customers are delighted with enthusiastic workers.  Neither passion nor curiosity discriminates.  There’s no racism, gender-ism or age-ism; doesn’t matter if you’re 9 months, 9 years, 19, 90 or 900.  The age stereotype, by the way, is that we only have passion in our youth; that older adults lack passion.  That “fake news” has impacted people’s narrow attitude towards older people for decades.  Forbes magazine, Debunking Myths About Worker Passion, reported that a Deloitte’s Center for the Edge confirmed that older workers are just as likely to be as passionate (and curious) as younger workers.  And, according to the senior living blog, APlaceformon.com, “Passionate workers are not concentrated in any age group.”

Yet, as every family knows, twins have differences, even when we can’t tell them apart.  One of the differences is that passion is more of a learned trait while curiosity is instinctive.  The root of that instinct “…can be linked to a trait of the human species call[ed] neoteny,” Tom Stafford wrote in his article, Why we are curious.  He added that “This is a term from evolutionary theory that means the ‘retention of juvenile characteristics’,” into adulthood.  In other words… our inner child.  Another difference is sustainability.  While each possesses sustainable powers, passion for a particular person, place or thing, over time, might wane when we no longer feel that special music that makes our insides dance.  And, although passion is akin to curiosity, curiosity is not always linked to passion.  We say to ourselves or to someone, “I’m just curious.”  Once our curiosity is satisfied, we have no passion to invest time and thought-energy into the subject.   

 One other thing, unlike passion, curiosity crosses species (which confirms its “instinct” status).  Training dogs to sniff out contraband is preferred among law enforcers because, along with their superior sense of smell, dogs are curious.  

Of course, cats take center stage among curious animals.  While the age old saying goes:  “Curiosity killed the cat,” curiosity can awaken hidden talents, as it did for me, enhancing my passion for writing.

One day, long ago, I was introduced to Steenbeck.  There it stood (yes, it, not he) in a dimly lit room.  The steel gray table showed off four shiny metal plates that would spin when it was “on.”  Its small screen sat in the center of the machine, like a mirror on a vanity table.  My curious inner child shouted:  “WOW.  WHAT IS THAT THING AND WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT??!!”  Curiosity led me to learning how to edit 16mm film with audio tracks (now, with digital editing, the machine is considered “old school”); becoming one of maybe four African American women who were members of the Motion Picture Editors’ Union in New York (circa 1970s), and later producing a couple of documentaries.  (The Movieola was another “curious” machine I learned to master.)  Today, I apply the skills I learned - organizing and editing story/picture, and scene and dialogue transition and continuity – to my blog, essays, grant proposals, children’s books and ghostwriting.

Recently, the twins helped young learners experience their own awakening in an inter-generational, career-focused Project Based Learning endeavor I facilitated.  The fifth graders started out with a passion to “learn,” to “know” about careers and scholarships.  After each of the 15 students was divided into 3 groups, each group selected a career of interest.  To satisfy their curiosity about what tasks people perform in those jobs, how a job is different from a career, what education and training they needed to prepare for the career, and where to get the money to pay for the education or training, they did Internet searches at sites like the Department of Labor and Payscale.com; interviewed career veterans from diverse professions; organized notes, and immersed themselves in technological sensory input by creating a PowerPoint presentation that they showcased for their community, peers, teachers, administrators and stakeholders.   

The project challenged the students in “critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills….,” as mandated in Common Core ELA Standards, as well as planning, organizing facts and information from reading complex texts, interviewing techniques and public speaking.  The students also concluded that the difference between a job and a career is that “you choose a job; a career chooses you.”  They assessed, however, that sometimes a job can turn into a career. The outcome is that each student will be able to use these measurable and interminable skills throughout their personal and professional experiences as they go forward as teenagers and adults. 

Passion and Curiosity also awakened a hidden talent in a few of the students.  One said she was thinking about working with animals as a marine biologist, veterinarian or zookeeper.  She already had a passion for caring for animals having once restored the health of a baby bird that had fallen from its nest in a tree in her backyard.  She told me that she scooped it up just in time; a neighborhood cat was approaching.  Another student had a passion for reading.  Instead of talking and laughing with the other students on the bus ride on field trips, he always read a book.  He was curious about the different kinds of writing genres and whether writers made a good living.  ((I hesitated to tell him that writing can be intense, even frustrating, and while passionate writers are rewarded emotionally (its cathartic) and viscerally, many have suffered financially.))  When the time comes, the fifth graders will be able to apply for an unlimited number of scholarships at Fastweb.com and College.USAtoday.com to get education and training for their passion.  

So, what do you think?  Which is best for academic and career success?  Passion, curiosity, or both?  Thanks for reading.  Thanks for sharing. 

Magic, Miracles & Blessings,

P.S.  Remember, scholarships are also available for students studying in disciplines that don’t require a college degree.  I’ve listed some in my post I DON’T WANNA GO TO COLLEGE.  See more scholarships at my post FORGET LOANS!  Get Free Money!