What is the worst thing that you think somebody can call you? I think that one of the worst things, or at least one of the most painful things that somebody can call you is naive. When you say that someone's naive, what you mean is that they just don't understand, they don't get it in the same way or that they're Pollyanna.

They're overly optimistic, naively optimistic. And when somebody calls you naive, it can sting. And so the natural reaction of a lot of people is to go the opposite direction, which means to approach everything with skepticism or even worse snark and cynicism. But the problem is snark and cynicism are corrosive to the creative process, and they're certainly corrosive to our ability to collaborate with other people.

When we exhibit snark and cynicism, which by the way is the default position for a lot of people who don't want to be seen as naive, then it's destructive to our curiosity. Rather than asking questions about why something is the way it is, we immediately react against it.

So much of life is about your default, and if your default is towards snark and cynicism or even skepticism, then that often is a sign that you're operating from a position of self-defense rather than curiosity.

On today's episode, I share a few ideas for curbing snark and cynicism and recovering your creative passion and curiosity.

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