About a week ago, Aaron Hankins asked me "How can you utilize your great curiosity to encourage fellow students to level-up”?

He had me stumped. He had nailed insofar as I have great curiosity, but how do I use that to help others?Lets start at the beginning.

Hands up who is curious? I though so, everyone!

Inside the altMBA there are book lists, article lists, project deliverables, suggestions from altMBA'ers, playlists, websites, TED talks…the list goes on. In a short amount of time Slack has become a fantastic repository of curated wisdom.

However, hands up again who feels overwhelm? Thought so!

Do you surf the wave of information and knowledge coming your way every day (inside AND outside altMBA) or try and smash through every wave of recommendation that comes your way, attempting to understand fully before proceeding to the next thing? Bit of both? It’s tricky alright.

I used to suffer from it. And I mean suffer. I would start sentences in my head like "I should read…" and "When will I find the time to …" and most of that never happened. I think it was the grand-daddy of all red lights, fear, that made me think that way. I had fear of taking action, fear of progressing because I might be called out, I might be embarrassed or pointed at. Far easier to stay cosy and warm inside information.

But I woke up and I changed. I started to keep it at bay in a very simple way. It's a simple understanding but it’s taken me forever to learn and it requires constant vigilance in this infinitely connected and enormously full world. Here it is:

Getting to the end of the bottomless reading list isn't the goal.

The goal, as the altMBA teaches us, is to "…make change, and that happens once you are clear about what you want to happen, what you would choose to happen". So its not about the list, its not about the recommendations. They are useful and have their place but trust me, if you need it, it will come to you. Hands up if anyone has been stuck and thought to themselves "Why didn't I read that article/book/TED talk on this? It would tell me the answer!" Thought so. No hands up.

Life is about figuring it out. Books and articles might help, but it starts with cultivating the ability to Figure It Out™. So start at the beginning, think about the change you want to see first, and don't worry about the end.And always remember to ship. Take that information outside where it belongs.