Transcript

Wondering #1212 · From Chad

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Describe the tongue of the woodpecker.
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There's a story behind that. This is your daily message from
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Chad #12112 to upgrade your mental game today by telling
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yourself a better story. Because the most important story
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you hear is the story you tell yourself.
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This message is dedicated to Laurie Evans on her birthday.
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Happy birthday Laurie, here's the upgrade.
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You may think the greats had something you don't, but
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upgraded thing he knows you already have what they had.
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Here's the story in 15 O 8, Leonardo da Vinci made A to do
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list for the day. Most of it was ordinary stuff.
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Get forceps, get a scalpel, get a hold of a skull.
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And then in the middle of all that he wrote, describe the
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tongue of the woodpecker. For centuries people read that
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as just quirky, a genius being odd.
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Walter Isaacson, A biographer, didn't.
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He did what Leonardo would have done and went looking.
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It turns out a woodpecker's tongue is so long that wraps
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around the inside of the bird's skull, which helps stabilize its
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brain while it hammers a tree. It wasn't a random note.
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It was a frontier. Leonardo wanted to know why
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people yawn, how they walk on ice, what makes a heart valve
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close, why the edges of shadows blur.
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Nobody assigned him any of it. Isaacson opens the book with a
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line from Albert Einstein. Quote, I have no special talent.
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I am only passionately curious in quote.
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Curious comes from the Latin word cura that we get the word
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care. It's special interests are
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taking trouble. Leonardo had talent, so did
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Einstein, but talent wasn't what set them apart.
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Curiosity was it doesn't take a genius either.
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Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines.
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When his son studied physics, Herb started reading physics so
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they'd have something to talk about.
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Before a speech in Richmond, VA, he read a 300 page history of
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the city. At dinner that night, he was
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pointing out where the old battle works had stood, A
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colleague said he didn't do it to show off.
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He did it because he loves history.
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He put more care into it then was necessary.
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You can't predict what curiosity pays, you just know it pays.
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Talent gets you a head start, but curiosity keeps you ahead of
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the pack for a lifetime. Nobody has to make you work on
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what you're curious about. You'll get up early for it.
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You'll stay up late for it. You'll read 300 pages.
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The better story to tell yourself is I don't need more
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talent, I need more curiosity. You have what the greats have,
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but you don't always use it. They wondered.
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They stayed curious. It will take you farther than
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anyone else's talent will. Write your own version of a
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woodpecker tongue on today's list.
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One thing you want to know for no reason at all and then go
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find out. Tell me a story of something you
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got curious about to from chadsmith@gmail.com.
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Send someone a text and ask them.
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Just out of curiosity, what could you talk about for an hour
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without getting bored? You get a free copy of my book,
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The Most Powerful Story in the World by going to from
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chad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
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and hundreds of others are always available at
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www.fromchad.com.