September | 2023 | Listening to the Universe

“It’s so easy to think about what are the things I’m going to do to make my life better — what are the TO DOs I have to accomplish today — and it’s less natural to think about what are the things I have been doing that I should stop doing.” ~ Leidy Klotz

What if the best answer to a curious, generative question like, “What are all the ways we could…?” is actually just “Do less“?

UVA Engineering professor Leidy Klotz, author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less makes the case to consider subtraction as a viable, reliable, and all-too-oftenoverlooked strategy in a world that is biased to always add more.

And in a twist I definitely didn’t see coming, Leidy takes analogous thinking to a whole new level of subtraction. “Analogies,” he says, “are one of the only ways to remove wrong ideas.”

Analogies work because…the new [belief] partners up with some deeply entrenched thing that you already believe, to fight against another deeply entrenched thing that you believe. So now you’ve got a more fair fight, because the analogy is drawing a connection between what you already know and the new information.

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #204: Curiosity, Analogies & the Power of Less, with Leidy Klotz

Listen to Choose to be Curious #204: Curiosity, Analogies & the Power of Less, with Leidy Klotz

Check out Leidy Klotz, Subtract and UVA’s Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative.

Many thanks to Larry Robertson at Lighthouse Consulting for introducing me to Leidy and his work.

I think you’ll enjoy Robert Smartwood‘s anthology Hint Fiction — and, I promise, it’s a quick read!

Theme music by Sean Balick. “Hash Out” by Sunday at Slims, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts and now on Spotify.

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop!

” …The power of having something new in your hands, that you can use — it’s almost like a new sword that you can go and fight in the world. Almost a new source of information. A new everything!” ~ Veronika Darwell

As the new school year gets started, I’ve been thinking a lot about the important teachers in my life, the ones who left an indelible impression. Those special educators helped me see and, as importantly, they made me feel seen. They gave me tools with which to engage the world around me, exciting me about it — and me in it.

No surprise: Slovakian educator and author Veronika Darwell caught my eye when she popped up with When You Are Curious, a children’s picture book with delightful illustrations by Johnny Plasil.

What I didn’t expect was that our conversation would take us to how teaching finds us, the magic of learning multiple languages, and the importance of representation and inclusive design.

I wanted children to visualize themselves in the future, as well as identify as they are now. I wanted them to feel this book is going to be with them, wherever they go, that is like someone they can trust.