Todd Kashdan, Curious

Todd Kashdan, a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at George Mason University  is also the author of a new book, a fantastic book called Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life. And when you check it out, you’ll see that it has got one of the best cover designs ever. It’s just a yellow cover with a single word on it, “curious” in big black bold typed with a question mark. I love it when the medium is the message, because you can’t help but look at that book and go, “Okay, I am curious. What is this book about?” And then when you flip it over to the back, it says simply again, “embrace uncertainty, attract love and abundance, master your life.” What a wonderful call to do more Great Work.

In our conversation we chat about:

• Why the quest for happiness is overrated
• How Todd ended up where he is today, having been a Wall Street trader and a clerk in a law firm
• How the shift in focus from scary to curious changed everything
• The link between anxiety and curiosity
• The importance of sadness, worry and anger in a well-lived life.

You can follow Todd at Twitter at @toddkashdan and learn more about his work at www.ToddKashdan.com

Listen to my interview with Todd Kashdan

0:16 Michael introduces Todd Kashdan

0:28 Todd’s book called Curious

2:18 How Todd ended up where he is today, having been a Wall Street trader and a clerk in a law firm

3:04 How the shift in focus from scary to curious changed everything

6:30 The link between anxiety and curiosity

8:14 Why the quest for happiness is overrated

11:54 The importance of sadness, worry and anger in a well-lived life.

22:42 Todd’s advice on doing Great Work

24:40 How to find out more about Todd Kashdan

25:10 Michael closes the interview

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