follow your curiousity not your passion

This is a steal from blogger Darren Rowse but it hit a real chord so I'm passing it on.

I've always been uncomfortable with the 'follow your passion' mantra. Following things that make you curious is better advice to get yourself moving in new and interesting directions. When I wrote Micromastery the idea was to free myself and others up to 'have permission to be interested'. In other words- follow your curiousity.

When I write a book I find I need a real question that I don't know the final answer to as a spine to the book. If If I already know the answer why write the book? I need something I am genuinely interested in, properly curious about.

Take note of what makes you curious and follow it. Nurture such things and grown them into interests. Nurture those interests and they may provide a worthwhile hobby or even an income. 

Of course there is a downside. Curiousity killed the cat. And who hasn't wasted hours on an internet rabbit hole of no earthly use?

You have to define real and useful curiousity, functional curiousity from mere click-bait-manipulation.

One tip is that real curiousity isn't impatient, it has some staying power. If it is still there, hanging around in the background weeks, months or even years later, then honour that interest and explore further. I find that if I order a whole lot of books on impulse the interest usually burns out very quickly since the interest is mainly intellectual. If the interest involves buying gear or travelling somewhere- both with the aim of doing something, then maybe, just maybe we have a more solid area to be curious about.

Maybe ask yourself: what areas do I really want to explore more? Or, better, what areas do I NEED to explore more?