Dear <<First Name>>
It’s the middle of the holiday season in the UK, but like many of you running businesses, we’re back in the office. And even if you’re not back in the office, you may well be checking your emails in that one spot you can get wi-fi - in the corner of the campsite, or at the top of the hill round the corner. It’s hard to switch off, right?
We’ve both had weeks away in stunningly beautiful places – Sonja spent a lot of time admiring the wild Agapanthus and watching oystercatchers in the Scillies; Sharon got a bit obsessed with butterflies in the salt marshes surrounding the New Forest (and particularly with the Cinnebar Moths, which aren’t butterflies at all, and which only eat the bright yellow ragwort plants that edge every country lane and field in late July.)
If you’re the kind of person who needs an excuse to let yourself go, then opening yourself up to curiosity has big business benefits, as well as invaluable feel good ones.
Slowing down, and letting yourself become overtaken by curiosity is undoubtedly a lovely thing.
It is the basis for the very best content too.
ACTIVE CURIOSITY FIRES THE BEST CONTENT
Curiosity fuels great questions. It opens your mind. It makes you watch and listen intently. Staring up at the stars is the best way to make you forget your own agenda and let your mind wander around the big questions. Patterns emerge and connections are forged.
When it comes to creating great content, curiosity is king. Our latest blog post shows you how to put it to work.
>> Read: How to use your natural curiosity to create content people can't ignore
STAYING CURIOUS (EVEN WHEN THE HOLIDAYS END)
So why are we sharing our holiday hippy thoughts in the middle of the holiday season?
We know how difficult it is to keep up that holiday feeling of relaxation once you’re back in the swing of work – however much you promise yourself that this year will be different, the reality is that come September it’s likely that you’ll get sucked back into old ways of behaving. It’s so easy to do.
But even as the suntan fades, it’s worth trying to make that holiday outlook of staying curious a permanent state of affairs. You can do this, whatever else is happening in your business.
Listening more, watching carefully, looking for connections, asking more questions, putting your own agenda onto the back burner and seeing things from a different perspective – all of these will help you write interesting content that connects.
Content created through a burning curiosity that prompts you to action - because you’re fascinated by the question and genuinely want to unravel the answers - lifts your writing.
Enthusiasm is infectious. Curiosity fires creativity. Put curiosity to work in your content when the holidays end.
Enjoy the rest of your summer. See you in September!
Sonja and Sharon
Valuable Content
STEAL IDEAS FROM VALUABLE CONTENT HEROES
- Curious crimes get washed up on the shores of the Scillies. This month’s Valuable Content Award goes to Sgt Colin Taylor of the Isles of Scilly police department. Big lessons in how to use social media for community engagement.
CURIOUS CONTENT FROM AROUND THE WEB
- The curious case for curiosity in selling - by Charles H. Green, author of the Trusted Advisor
- If you wanted to a push to help you put your curiosity into action, take a look at Matt Cutts’ Ted Talk, Try Something New For 30 Days.
- And finally, do read this. Gorgeous uplifting take on where being curious can take you - Letter to the 10 year old girl who applied for the Paris Summer Innovation Fellowship
