2025-02-13 08:32:06
Welcome to this edition of our Tools for Thought series, where we interview founders on a mission to help be more productive and more creative without sacrificing our mental health. This week, we talked to David Tedaldi, CEO of Morgen, the founder of Morgen, an AI-powered app for daily planning.
In this interview, we talked about smart prioritization based on a complete picture of how you spend your time, how to fight task overload and interruptions, how to mindfully manage competing tasks, how to balance focus and flexibility, and much more. Enjoy the read!
Hi David, thanks for agreeing to this interview! Let’s start with the big question: there are countless planners out there. What inspired you to create another one?
You’re right, there are more tools than ever designed to help us make sense of our time. I think there’s a growing realization that our most valuable resource is time and yet, most people I speak with are dissatisfied with how their time is spent.
I see a real opportunity to help people feel more intentional. This isn’t about optimizing every minute or always needing to feel productive. Rather, it’s helping people move from passively going through their days to deliberately choosing how they’ll devote their hours.
We approach this in two ways – the first is making it easier to align their time with their priorities and the second is to design a schedule that reflects how they work best.
Part of the prioritization problem lies in just how dreadfully complicated time management has become. Most professionals I speak with manage their time across 5+ apps. They have personal and work calendars, shared family to-do lists, a project management tool, a habit tracker, and a scattering of task lists across their PKMs.
How can anyone make sense of how to spend their time when they’re forever jumping between so many tools? How do you adjust your work plans when personal and work collide, like unexpectedly bringing Fido to the vet in the middle of the day? How do you create space for passion projects or the things that give you energy?
We see a massive opportunity to break away from siloed time management. Instead of treating our professional and personal lives as discrete areas, Morgen provides a holistic view of your time. It brings all those scattered tools and calendars together so you have visibility into everything on your plate.
Once you have this picture, it truly unlocks prioritization. It’s easy to spot where your time is over-indexing on things that don’t move the needle and to start protecting time for the things that matter.
When planning in this unified view, it’s also far easier to start being deliberate about when to work on different types of tasks. We help people create the template for their time, designing days that align their tasks with their energy levels.
It’s truly amazing how transformative this approach to planning can be, and that is how we stand out from the other planners on the market.
How did Morgen come to be, and when did you decide to fully commit and bring Morgen to market? What was that moment like?
Well before we started working on Morgen, Marco, my eventual co-founder, and I first became friends while trying our hand at a software venture right after high school. That venture didn’t go anywhere, but it revealed our shared passion for creating and experimenting… and we never really stopped.
Years later, we found ourselves living in the same apartment, still building projects alongside our 9-to-5 jobs. I was working in R&D for a major US tech company, and Marco was pursuing his PhD, focused on applying AI to scheduling. As part of his research, he developed a calendar app called MineTime to test his models with real users. In many ways, MineTime became the precursor to Morgen.
At the time, though, we didn’t throw ourselves into it completely. We were also exploring some health-tech ideas on the side. Then one day, while on vacation with friends in Sicily, we realized we were still obsessing over how to improve MineTime. We wanted a tool that would give us—and others—the confidence to manage complex workloads without missing a beat. We looked for existing solutions, but when nothing fit the bill, it became clear we had a unique chance to build what people truly needed.
So we did. We shut down the other project, quit our jobs, rebranded MineTime to Morgen, and evolved it far beyond what was once “just” a smart calendar.
How did you find your first users, and how did their feedback help shape and refine Morgen?
We attracted our first few thousand users from desperately under-served niches. We put Morgen on Linux (we were, and still are, the only planner on Linux), integrated with small CalDAVs, and went cross-platform to serve Windows and Android users.
While most competitors were layering their solutions over Google Calendar or were all in on the Mac ecosystem only, we connected with a base of people hungry for a solution compatible with their setup.
This obviously posed development challenges by introducing the complexity of being multi-platform and integrating with many calendar providers. But the upside was a user base who felt invested in our future and motivated to provide feedback on how they wanted to see the product evolve.
That early culture is still part of our community’s DNA. On our Discord, users are keen to share workflows and tips with others, Morgen Insiders actively test experimental features and early releases, and the level of activity on our public feature requests is continuous.
How do users typically interact with Morgen and what key features make it a valuable tool for managing their time and productivity?
Most people visually plan their time in Morgen, using their combined calendars as their canvas. Those who find the most value integrate other to-do and project tools with Morgen to schedule time for their tasks directly in their calendars.
Unlike time blocking in one’s Google Calendar, we’ve designed an experience that makes it easy to ensure those tasks taking space in your calendar are indeed the most important ones at that time. The top features that make this so seamless are:
Frames. We recently introduced Frames, a deep layer in the calendar. You can think of this as the template for how you want to spend your time. Each Frame can be devoted to the specific type of work you want to happen in that block–be it deep work, creative pursuits, learning objectives, or even, the inevitable admin work that creeps up. This added dimension guides users to plan their time, but they also direct the AI Planner for when to recommend which types of tasks.
Powerful task filters. One of the biggest challenges we hear is deciding what to prioritize when everything feels important. Even if you have tasks from multiple Notion databases, Todoist lists, and ClickUp projects, you can filter across sources to find the most important task now.
AI Planner. We’ve taken a different approach to AI planning. Users told us they want assistance scheduling their day while staying in control of their calendars. Morgen will recommend which tasks to schedule and when to schedule, and alert you when the plan needs to be adjusted, but ultimately, you decide which recommendations to take
Distinct due vs do dates. Due dates are visually distinctive from scheduled tasks in Morgen. Morgen will alert you when due dates are at risk, making it easy to schedule time in your calendar to do the work in advance.
Calendar management. What makes this all work, is that you can manage all your calendars from Morgen. Create events, send scheduling links, RSVP, etc. so you don’t need to keep jumping between apps.
We’ve also built micro-services that enrich planning, such as auto-scheduling travel and buffer time, syncing events across calendars, and booking pages that update in real-time. But it all starts with you and the things you have and want to do.
You’ve also introduced some smart automation and AI features. Can you share more about that?
Yes, this has been an exciting part of Morgen’s evolution. We’ve long wanted to offer an AI Planner, but we wanted it to enhance rather than derail that earlier mission I mentioned: helping people be intentional about how they spend their time. Talking with Morgen users, we heard a lot of excitement about having help planning their days, while also a fear of leaving their plans entirely in the hands of AI.
We committed to three key principles when we designed the AI Planner: Users retain control of their schedule; recommendations are highly personalized; it creates achievable plans. This combination helped us shape an entirely different AI planning experience.
First, we acknowledge that no algorithm knows how you should spend your time better than you do. That’s why we approached the AI Planner to be an assistant, not an autopilot. It does all the “auto-magic” exactly as you’d expect, but instead of presumptuously scheduling tasks in your calendar it provides recommendations.
You preview the recommended daily plans, adjust as needed, and then confirm when you’re ready for it to be scheduled. Second, the planner goes beyond simply assessing your capacity and then recommending tasks that fit. It takes guidance from Frames, prioritizing the right types of tasks during each Frame.
For example, I have a simple structure Framed for my workdays: my mornings are devoted to deep work when I want to tackle energy-intensive tasks, whereas my afternoons are devoted to thematically grouped tasks. Monday and Wednesday afternoons are for product and onboarding tasks, Tuesdays for partners, and Thursdays and Fridays are for support and admin. This is templated in Frames so the planner schedules those categories of tasks at the appropriate time, working around my meetings.
The cool part is you can specify what you want to do using all the data you import into Morgen. For instance, I assign energy levels to tasks in my Notion projects so Frames can filter between a hard task that requires focused energy versus an easy task that can be squeezed between meetings. I also reserve Monday afternoons for product onboarding because I get a lot of energy talking to new Morgen users. It helps me start the week strong with something I love.
You can also create Frames in your personal calendars for your life to-dos, creative projects, and more, making this a personal solution that goes beyond 9-5.
Finally, we want to help people create achievable plans. This isn’t about squeezing tasks in wherever they fit. Each person can set the frequency of breaks, choose to have the AI Planner round up time estimates to combat the common tendency to underestimate how long a task with take, and define when a task should be broken into multiple work sessions. We believe achievable plans are far more important than cramming everything in.
One thing that stands out about Morgen is the attention to detail you’ve put into its features. What are some examples of small but powerful features that you’re particularly proud of?
Thanks for noticing. Our team is deeply committed to creating an intuitive and fast experience. That’s why we built a keyboard-first experience on desktop, where virtually any operation has a shortcut. It’s as easy to create a scheduling link as it is to create a meeting. There are also little touches like a button to quickly join the next meeting, or the ability to set recurrence rules using plain English.
On the other hand, we’re also committed to giving users tools to efficiently navigate and manage the massive volume of information they can import into Morgen. Things like merging events from multiple calendars to make it less cluttered, having customizable shortcuts to jump between calendars, and custom task filtering are the unsung heroes that make holistic planning in Morgen seamless. Oh, and the confetti. But I’ll leave you to discover that for yourself.
What kind of people use Morgen, and how do they typically use it?
I was recently on a call with Mike, a CEO and long-time Morgen user, and I’ll borrow his words for this one. He said, “Morgen is for anyone fighting task overload and unexpected interruptions.”
I love this articulation. It perfectly captures a reality that so many people feel, whether they’re software developers, consultants, founders, marketers, freelancers, academics, etc. We see this reflected in the diversity of roles in the Morgen community.
The common thread is people who operate daily with the tension between devoting time to important meetings and time with their clients or team, alongside the need for uninterrupted focused time to work on big challenging tasks.
We also hear from a high proportion of our users who tell us they have ADHD and rely on planning in Morgen to make sense of the task overload. We understand that Morgen’s minimalistic experience, free of unnecessary frills, is important to maintain.
Finally, since launching the AI Planner, we have also seen an increase in the CEOs, VCs, and team leads, who are juggling a large task list with frequent changes to their schedule and last-minute meetings. The AI Planner helps on both fronts: it prioritizes tasks around meetings and adapts plans swiftly whenever disruptions occur.
What about you? How do you use Morgen?
I depend on the AI Planner daily for my planning (and re-planning, when things come up). Most of my work is mapped in Linear where we manage our projects as a team. I use the AI Planner to schedule and prioritize these tasks. I have my Frames set up to ensure I balance my energy and time across product work, partnerships, investors, and supporting the team.
But then there’s a whole range of tasks that I refer to as my “forbidden tasks.” These aren’t part of shared projects. These are the most dangerous tasks because the list sits entirely with me, and in the past, they tended to creep out of control.
I was once in a bar after a long day of work lamenting about these forbidden tasks to a friend, Sarah, who is also a successful founder and investor in the Bay Area. She responded directly with, “Get used to it, if the business goes well, at the end of every day your task list will be longer than it was in the morning.”
My fix is to ditch the list of forbidden tasks and instead schedule them directly in my calendar. This puts a hard limit on these tasks – my time. If it doesn’t fit, either something else needs to be reprioritized or it’s not that important.
I’m also a heavy user of Morgen’s open invites for external meetings. An open invite is essentially a scheduling link dedicated to a specific event, with a specific person, offering only a few alternative time slots. I find it far more professional (and caring) than a generic Calendly link. I think these details matter when you want to build a relationship.
And finally… What’s next for Morgen?
We want everyone to work, plan, and spend their time as if they had an executive assistant adapting and reacting to each person’s style and shifting priorities. There’s so much more to unlock.
We’re already working on the next generation of our AI Assistance. I can’t share much just yet, but imagine the perfect blend of an executive assistant and a productivity coach. We’re onboarding the first alpha testers, so if you’re interested, please reach out.
Thank you so much for your time, David! Where can people learn more about Morgen?
You can learn more at our website, follow on Youtube, LinkedIn and X, and join our community on Discord.
The post Master Your Time and Productivity with David Tedaldi, CEO of Morgen appeared first on Ness Labs.
2025-02-10 18:07:00
When I was younger, I badly wanted to live in Japan. Japan is a country with very strict immigration laws, but my university had an exchange program where you could go spend a semester and study in another country.
There was only one problem: the Japanese university they had a partnership with was one of the most selective in the country. I remember thinking: “There’s no way I’ll get accepted.”
I told my mom about my doubts.
“It’s not your decision to make,” she said.
And, as often, she was right. We constantly limit our options by deciding for others. All I had to do was apply, and it then became the university’s job to accept my application or not.
You’ve probably seen this pattern in yourself and others. It’s far easier not to fail when you haven’t tried. It’s far easier to not be wrong when you’re not putting yourself out there. But when we avoid trying because of fear, we also avoid growth.
Fear of failure starts in early childhood. We are social animals and feel the need to be accepted by others, which begins with the acceptance and love of our parents.
In a study looking at the relationship between young athletes and their parents, researchers found a correlation between the parents’ high expectations for achievement and the children’s fear of failure. The more the parents showed a negative reaction to what they perceived as a failure from their kid, the more the kid would fear the consequences of “failing.”
In some people, this can turn into atychiphobia, an irrational and paralyzing fear of failure, often accompanied by an intense feeling of panic or anxiety, and physical symptoms such as difficulty breathing, an unusually fast heart rate, and sweating.
For most people, though, fear of failure manifests itself in a much more subtle way, mainly self-doubt that prevents us from exploring uncertain paths:
But the good news is that nobody is hoping for you to fail. Most people you know would be happy to see you succeed, and the ones who don’t know you don’t care. So how do we shift our perception and turn our fears into experiments?
When you start reading a novel, you rarely expect to finish it in one go. Instead, you will probably read a few chapters, then a few more, until you’re done with the book.
Yet when it comes to personal growth, we often abandon this incremental approach. We design big, hairy, audacious goals then freeze because they feel unreachable.
But just like in science, we can reshape our perception of what’s possible by breaking our journey down into smaller experiments.
“Smaller” doesn’t mean something where you’re certain of succeeding, but rather something small enough that there’s no excuse not to try.
Let’s say you have a fear of public speaking and tell yourself that, in any case, nobody has ever invited you to speak at a conference. Instead of seeing this as an immovable obstacle, turn this big fear into a tiny experiment. A low-stakes pact could be applying to five local meetups to give a talk over the next five days. While speaking in public may sound terrifying, filling out an online form is manageable.
Similarly, if you fear being judged for the quality of your writing, writing a book is a daunting task that is easy to hide behind (“I’d love to write a book, but I don’t have the time”). But writing a series of blog posts? That’s just a tiny experiment.
If you see life as a series of experiments – where the only purpose is to explore, learn, and grow – failure stops being something to fear and instead becomes a necessary part of discovery. In the words of Seth Godin: “The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.”
Scientists often repeat experiments thousands of times to get a conclusive answer. And more often than not, the answer they get is that their initial hypothesis was wrong. Not performing the experiment would have allowed them to stay in a cozy limbo of being not wrong and they’d never learn anything.
Approaching failure like a scientist is powerful because it reframes the outcome: no matter what happens, you gain new information. The real failure isn’t making mistakes – it’s refusing to run the experiment in the first place.
By making decisions that will let you learn something new, you are guaranteed to be successful – where success is learning, evolving, and growing as a human being. Failing becomes a way to cultivate aliveness.
Another way to approach your fears is to think like a child. Children tend to experiment just for the sake of it: What will happen if I press this button? How does it feel to touch this thing?
Similarly, reconnecting with your inner child is a great way to overcome your fears as an adult. For example: What will happen if I publish this post? How does it feel to speak my mind?
Instead of imagining all the ways you may fail, turn your doubts into questions. Maybe nothing good will happen… but a child would certaintly not take the answer for granted.
Start with something small, then move on to another iteration—a bigger growth loop. With time, your mind will become increasingly comfortable with trying new things and constantly expanding your horizons.
Practically, here is how you can start applying this approach of deliberate experimentation right now:
You may feel some anxiety or discomfort along the way, but addressing your fears and trying new things you care about is the best way to avoid another feeling that’s much harder to manage: regret.
The post Turning Big Fears into Tiny Experiments appeared first on Ness Labs.
2025-02-06 23:33:17
Have you ever opened a bag of chips, telling yourself you’d just have a handful, only to look down and realize the entire thing is gone? It’s why dieticians recommend keeping healthy snacks at home – because what’s within reach is what we end up consuming.
Curiosity works the same way. We all know the feeling: you Google something random, one link leads to another, and suddenly, an hour has disappeared.
Sometimes, these rabbit holes lead to fascinating insights. Other times, you resurface from a click spiral with nothing useful, wondering why you just spent twenty minutes reading about celebrity feuds.
Just like with food, curiosity can be either nourishing or junk. And just like with food, we can design our environment to encourage the right kind of curiosity.
What I call “curiosity snacks” are small, intentional nudges that guide our impulsive curiosity toward learning, creativity, and meaningful discovery rather than mindless scrolling.
Curiosity and impulsivity might seem like opposites. One is celebrated as a driver of knowledge and innovation; the other is blamed for distraction and poor decisions.
But neuroscience tells a different story: these two forces are deeply connected. Studies show that curiosity and impulsivity share common neural mechanisms, particularly in the brain’s reward system.
When we feel an urge to know something, the same circuits that respond to food, money, and other rewards light up. This is why curiosity can feel irresistible: we’re wired to seek information just as we seek pleasure.
The problem is that not all information is equally valuable. Our curiosity can be hijacked by junk content such as viral social media posts, sensationalist headlines, and endless video recommendations on your feed.
But once you understand that your curiosity can operate like a craving, you can use this knowledge to reshape what you consume. Just like a well-stocked kitchen makes it easier to eat well, designing your environment to include healthy curiosity snacks can help you develop better intellectual habits.
So, we know that curiosity can be impulsive. But the smartest strategy isn’t to fight it – instead, it’s to channel it. Small tweaks to your environment can make a huge difference in what you end up consuming.
Here are a five simple strategies to redirect your impulse to know:
These tweaks work for the same reason healthy eating strategies do: they don’t rely on willpower. They make the default option the better one.
However, keep in mind that what works for someone else may not work for you. The key is to experiment: try different curiosity snacks, observe what works and what doesn’t, and adjust accordingly.
It’s hard to control our impulses, but we can gently redirect them. By designing our environment to encourage learning and exploration, you can turn your curiosity into an asset rather than a distraction. So, what curiosity snack are you in the mood for today?
The post Curiosity Snacks: How to Redirect Your Impulse to Know appeared first on Ness Labs.
2025-02-01 07:09:28
When you think about people conducting experiments at home, you might picture scenes from old horror movies – a wild-haired scientist in a dark basement, mysterious bubbling potions, and mad declarations along the lines of “It’s alive!”
Fortunately, the reality of personal science isn’t so dramatic. It can be as simple as a few careful observations about our own lives: noticing how different foods affect our energy, tracking what helps us sleep better, or documenting changes in our mood.
This kind of self-study has been around for as long as humans have been curious about how their minds and bodies work. Let’s explore the origins of personal science and how you can practice it in your daily life and work.
Throughout history, humans have studied themselves to understand how their bodies and minds work. Ancient healers documented the effects of different remedies. Philosophers kept detailed records of their thoughts.
These weren’t just random observations – they were early examples of self-experimentation. One of the most remarkable examples comes from the psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. In the 1880s, he conducted extensive memory experiments on himself, methodically testing how quickly he learned and forgot nonsense syllables. His findings about memory and learning are still relevant today.
The term “personal science” itself is relatively new. Psychologist Seth Roberts defined it as “using science to solve your own problems.” When the concept first appeared in academic literature in 2016, researchers described it as “an interest in collecting data about their own bodies or lives in order to obtain insights into their everyday health or performance.”
Technology has transformed how we study ourselves. What started as the quantified self movement – a small group of enthusiasts using technology to track their activities – has become mainstream. Today, millions of people use smartphone apps and wearables to monitor everything from steps to sleep patterns.
But while these tools are useful, they’re just one part of a much bigger picture. Personal science isn’t just about collecting numbers – it’s about understanding our individual experiences and making meaningful improvements to our lives.
The rise of fitness trackers and health apps has made personal data collection easier than ever. But this focus on numbers and metrics can obscure that not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything we measure matters.
As sociologist Jenny Davis notes, “self-quantifiers don’t just use data to learn about themselves, but rather, use data to construct the stories that they tell themselves about themselves.”
That’s why the qualified self is as important as the quantified self. Whether it’s an athlete documenting how different warm-up routines affect their performance, or a salesperson tracking their energy levels throughout the day… Some of the most valuable self-knowledge comes from qualitative observation.
And long before digital tracking became popular, people were documenting their lives in rich, qualitative ways. They would record detailed observations about their daily experiences, relationships, and inner lives.
Personal science done well combines both measurement and meaning-making: when we track aspects of our lives across several dimensions, we can make sense of how we live. Our personal records become tools for self-discovery.
This is what sociologist Deborah Lupton calls the “reflexive monitoring self” – a practice where we continuously observe and reflect on our experiences, creating a feedback loop to develop a deeper awareness of our patterns, whether it’s habits or responses to different situations. This reflexive process helps us make more informed decisions about our work, health, and relationships.
The beauty of personal science is that you don’t need expensive equipment or complex protocols to get started. Here are some effective tools that anyone can use:
Personal science isn’t about creating monsters or magical potions. It’s about systematic curiosity and the desire to understand ourselves better. We’re all scientists of our own lives, conducting the most important experiments of all: discovering what helps us live better, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.
The post Personal Science: Self-Experimentation from Quantified Self to Qualified Self appeared first on Ness Labs.
2025-01-24 00:21:29
We all want certainty. It’s natural – after all, our ancestors needed to know where to find food and how to avoid danger. The more information they had, the better their chances of survival.
But today’s world is different. When the pace of change keeps accelerating and we need to adapt to constant technological, social, and economic shifts, our instinct for certainty can hold us back.
While our ancestors thrived on seeking certainty, our survival now depends on embracing uncertainty rather than avoiding it. So how can we befriend and even leverage uncertainty?
When you’re uncertain, your brain activates two key regions. Your amygdala, the emotional center, treats uncertainty as a potential threat. It releases stress hormones and prepares your body for danger. At the same time, your prefrontal cortex tries to analyze the situation and plan a logical response.
These regions don’t work in isolation. The thalamus connects them, creating a dialogue between your emotional and rational responses. This teaches us something important: handling uncertainty isn’t about suppressing emotions in favor of logic. Instead, it’s about coordinating both parts of yourself to respond more effectively.
Research suggests that this integration of thinking and feeling leads to better decisions under uncertainty. When we work with our brain’s natural responses rather than fighting them, we navigate uncertain situations more successfully.
Unfortunately, many of us fall into predictable traps when facing uncertainty. We fall prey to analysis paralysis, trying to gather every piece of information before acting, or binary thinking where we see only best/worst outcomes rather than the spectrum of possibilities.
We might experience emotional avoidance, attempting to think our way out of uncertainty without processing our emotions first. Often, we try to handle everything alone instead of leveraging social support.
Instead of trying to control everything and go back to an illusory place of certainty, the key to thriving in uncertainty is developing an experimental mindset. Instead of seeing uncertain situations as problems to solve, we can view them as opportunities to run experiments.
This mental shift can have profound effects on your brain:
So next time you face uncertainty, don’t ask “What’s the right answer?” Instead, try approaching the question like a scientist, asking: What could I learn from this experience?
This simple reframe – the willingness to step into the unknown – will help transform anxiety into curiosity. That’s the power of an experimental mindset.
While we can’t eliminate uncertainty, we can develop better ways to handle it. Here are three evidence-based strategies that work with your brain’s natural responses to uncertainty. You can think of them as three interlocking “gears” working together.
Uncertainty creates space for growth and discovery. Through metacognition, emotional regulation, and social connection, understanding and adapting your brain’s automatic response will help you work with uncertainty rather than against it.
Your brain might prefer certainty, but it’s fully equipped to handle the unknown. The real question isn’t whether you can handle uncertainty – it’s what you’ll discover when you approach it with an experimental mindset.
The post Your Brain on Uncertainty appeared first on Ness Labs.
2025-01-15 20:16:49
At his school in ancient Athens, Aristotle encouraged everyone to walk through the gardens while discussing ideas, rather than sitting quietly for lectures. Teachers and students would explore questions, challenge each other’s thinking, and build on each other’s insights.
This tradition of walking and wondering together became so successful that it continued for centuries, influencing how knowledge was shared throughout the ancient world.
Yet today we rarely create space for such collective curiosity. While we have unprecedented access to information, we’re often too busy, too distracted, or too preoccupied with immediate results to engage in shared exploration. Plus, our education and workplaces usually prioritize individual achievement over collaborative discovery.
This is unfortunate, as exploring together can lead to remarkable outcomes. When you share your questions with others, you can create new possibilities that none of you could have imagined alone. Let’s explore why this happens and how you can make it work for you.
History often paints a romantic picture of the lone genius – the solitary inventor in their workshop, the isolated scientist in their lab, the writer alone in their garret… This narrative is compelling but incomplete: individual brilliance is rarely enough for breakthrough innovation.
The Wright brothers didn’t invent flight in isolation; they extensively corresponded with fellow aviation enthusiasts. The Human Genome Project, which successfully mapped our genetic code, wasn’t the work of a single brilliant mind, but rather a massive collaborative effort where thousands of scientists shared their questions, challenges, and discoveries.
Collective curiosity is the practice of exploring questions and discovering answers together, where we build on each other’s insights and create an environment that encourages open inquiry and shared learning.
When you practice collective curiosity, you will:
Many resist collective curiosity for understandable reasons. In competitive workplaces, admitting uncertainty can feel risky. Time pressures push us toward quick solutions. You might worry that asking questions might make you seem indecisive. Yet, those who embrace a shared, generative state of unknowing often find it leads to better outcomes.
Better ideas, stronger relationships, more enjoyable work… While the benefits of collective curiosity are clear, creating an environment where people feel comfortable exploring together takes some thought and effort.
But the payoff is worth the investment. Fortunately, there are practical ways to get started. Here are five ways you can start unlocking these benefits:
1. Mapping the unknown. Many breakthroughs start when someone admits “I don’t understand why…” Sit down with your colleagues and explicitly write down what you don’t know or understand about a topic. This turns knowledge gaps into shared opportunities for discovery.
2. Multilevel metacognition. Question your assumptions together as a form of self-anthropology. Have your team trace back their assumptions to their origins. Start with any current practice and ask “Why do we do this?” For each answer, ask “Why do we believe that?” This metacognitive practice helps uncover hidden assumptions that might be limiting better solutions.
3. Wonder walks. Take walks with colleagues where you share what you’re working on and what questions you’re wrestling with. You can try this one-on-one or in small groups. The informal setting and movement often lead to more open conversations and unexpected connections.
4. Tiny experiments. Try a new meeting format for a week or test a different approach with three customers. Keep experiments small enough that failure feels safe – this encourages bolder questions and sometimes the most interesting discoveries come from experiments that don’t work as planned.
5. Learning in public. Start a newsletter about what you’re learning or host “Curiosity Hour” sessions where people share their work in progress. When we openly share our uncertainties, it creates psychological safety for others to do the same. It also creates opportunities for unexpected paths as others can spot patterns you might have missed.
The greatest breakthroughs in human history haven’t come from lone geniuses but from communities of curious minds, each building upon each other’s questions and insights.
When we practice collective curiosity, every conversation becomes a chance to learn something new. So let me ask: which questions will you and your team explore today, together?
The post The Multiplier Effect of Collective Curiosity appeared first on Ness Labs.