Forget the next logical step. What does curiosity tell you?

This is the second piece in my three-part series for unlocking the next step in your career through clarity, curiosity, and courage. If you haven't read the first piece on clarity, start here.
In this part, we're diving into curiosity; why we lose it, how to get it back, and what it can unlock in your career.

We're born curious. As children, curiosity is our main tool for learning about the world. We're like little scientists, testing everything, asking why constantly, exploring without needing permission or a specific reason. We follow our interests purely because they're interesting and fun.

But somewhere along the way, we lose this drive for exploration. We get socialized to consider only certain things valuable or worth pursuing. We develop ideas about what steps we need to follow in life in order to grow, gain status, or earn respect. In the framework of a career, the classic story says you need a stable, respectable job. Every so often you need a promotion that should always come with a raise, because your paycheck is somehow a reflection of your worth. The non-curious script says that as long as you have that linear growth, you should be satisfied and not ask yourself any other questions.

But following this non-curious path of moving through life is how we get stuck following outdated cognitive scripts. We stop asking what if and start asking what's expected of us. We stop experimenting and start optimising for what we already know works, either from our own earlier experience or, most often, from what our parents or other role models have done before us.

Often, as we lose this curiosity, we end up living according to rules we never consciously chose. Like terms and conditions we never read but agreed to anyway. When someone suggests being curious about what else might be out there, the immediate reaction is: I don't have time for that, I need to focus on practical next steps. Curiosity can feel like a waste of time, a distraction.

But I’m a big advocate for curiosity being a driving force for fulfillment. Here’s why.

I've seen this pattern constantly. Someone is frustrated with their job. They start looking around and land a new role with very little variation from the previous one. Similar company, similar industry, similar role. Same but different setup, yet it feels like a good enough change for now.

They've left the environment that depleted them and they're starting fresh somewhere new. Sounds like a safe move, right? It wasn't that hard to get this new job, and they might even feel validated for landing the new position. But six to twelve months into the new role, once the honeymoon phase passes, they start to feel the familiar ick that came up in the past when something wasn't quite right. And so the cycle begins again.

They stayed in their lane, took the next logical step, focused on what made sense on paper instead of what actually interested them. They haven't explored deeply enough what they want, so they just repeat the same patterns in a different setting.

Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff calls this the sequel script. It’s the assumption that the next chapter of your life must logically follow from the last.

These cognitive scripts are useful shortcuts for some situations. For instance, when you walk into a restaurant, you already know the script: wait to be seated, look at a menu, order food, pay.

The problem is you apply these same shortcuts to your career without realising it. You show up in similar ways because that's what worked before. You choose familiar options because they feel safer, and you repeat behaviour that was successful in the past because it's easier than trying something new and potentially failing. And that’s fine when you enjoy what you’re doing, but not so great when it lands you in places where you are unfulfilled.

If you delay being curious about what else might be possible for you, what you might enjoy more, what path you haven't considered, all you're doing is signing up for another round of same-but-different. You don't go big and bold in your next move, and most likely you'll regret not taking time to do this exploration now. Eventually, you will have to.

Escaping that loop requires more than switching jobs. It requires new perspectives, and that starts with curiosity.

Getting curious again is about reclaiming that sense of possibility and giving yourself permission to explore without committing to anything.

It's making space for the things that interest you and not shutting them down as distractions or a waste of time.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes about this in her book Tiny Experiments. Instead of setting rigid goals and executing a plan, you discover your ambitions through small personal experiments. You try something, you look at what happens, you see what you learn, and you adjust.

This is especially helpful if you find yourself idealising a different kind of life. Maybe you think you want to open a cafe, or become a consultant, or work in a completely different field. Before you quit your job and dive in, you can volunteer at a cafe for a few weeks. You can take on one consulting project. You run small experiments to test whether the reality matches the fantasy, and if it’s something that feels good in practice, not only in your head.

I worked with a client who was frustrated and bored in her job. She's an architect, and she'd been working in firms her entire career. She wanted to pursue her creativity more deeply and widely, but she had no idea if that meant leaving her job, starting her own studio, or something else entirely.

She didn't commit to any of that. Instead, she got curious about how she might explore her creative side more outside her job. She started sketching and designing one piece of furniture. Just one. She worked on it in the evenings and weekends, and when she was happy with it, she moved to prototyping. Then she showed some iterations to friends she trusted.

The feedback was good, so she continued. She designed another piece, then another. She started sharing her work more widely. Through this process of sketching, prototyping, and sharing, she learned things about herself and her practice along the way. What kind of work energised her versus drained her. What it felt like to get feedback on something she created independently. Whether she actually enjoyed the process or just the idea of it.

She still hasn't quit her job, but she's building something on the side that might become her next move, and she's doing it without the pressure of making it work immediately. She's exploring, gathering information, testing whether this path actually fits her life.

This is what curiosity looks like. It’s not a dramatic career or lifestyle change, but small experiments that give you information you didn't have before, and allow you to make informed, bold decisions.

But even with the promise of discovery, curiosity can be surprisingly hard to access, especially when you're overwhelmed.

When I work with people who are exhausted and burnt out, curiosity is the last thing on their mind. They need stability, income, and an exit from their current situation. And if you're in survival mode, curiosity might feel like a luxury you can't afford right now. But even small acts of curiosity, like a single conversation or one hour exploring an interest, can be possible without derailing your immediate need for stability.

If you have more emotional and financial buffer, you can take more time to explore possible options. You can explore your interests, talk to people in jobs you think you might want to do next, experiment with a few potential paths before committing to anything.

The resistance I see most often isn't actually about time or practicality. It's about fear. What if your interests lie in a very different area than what you currently focus your time on? What if curiosity reveals you need to make a massive change?

And it's also about vagueness. What does it mean to be curious? What do you do with that information once you have it? This is why the tiny experiments approach works. It gives structure to curiosity so it doesn't feel overwhelming or pointless.

Despite the hesitation, when you lean into curiosity, something powerful starts to happen.

When you give yourself permission to be curious, you stop echoing what worked for others and start finding your own voice. You realise that just because everyone else in your peer group is vigorously climbing the career ladder, doesn't mean it's automatically what you want.

You expand your understanding of what's possible beyond what's immediately visible in your current circles or industry. Linear career paths don't exist the way they used to, so following a proven template doesn't make sense when the template is outdated.

You discover problems you actually want to solve, not just whatever problems land on your desk.

And often, curiosity opens doors without you even trying. A conversation reveals an option you didn't know existed. Something you read shifts how you think about your skills. An interest you explore turns out to have a path that fits your life better than what you’re currently doing.

So if you're ready to move beyond default decisions, the question becomes: where do you begin?

You don’t need a detailed plan. What you need is to start paying closer attention to what genuinely draws your interest and allow yourself to explore it, even if it feels uncertain or unrelated to your current path.

Begin with one small, low-stakes experiment. Choose something you’ve been curious about and make space to try it out for a week. Let yourself see what unfolds without needing it to become anything more than information.

If you’re unsure where to begin, use one of these questions to open up your thinking:

Pick one question, spend time with it, and let it take you somewhere new. Even if the direction feels vague or impractical, follow it anyway. Take notes on how you feel doing this thing, and what insights you have.

Curiosity is how you stop operating on autopilot. It helps you step outside the narrow field of familiar options and discover a wider set of possibilities that reflect what actually matters to you. You don’t have to justify it or explain it. You just have to begin.

Next time, I'll share the final piece of this framework: courage. Because clarity and curiosity are powerful, but if they stay in your head, nothing changes. The only way forward is taking action, even when you're scared.

I help ambitious tech professionals navigate career transitions when the old playbook stops working. If you want structured support to work through clarity, curiosity, and courage together, check out the Career Clarity Sprint, my coaching program built around these three pillars.