Are you a got to or a get to?

There’s a story behind that.

This is your daily message from Chad number 1217 to upgrade your mental game today by telling yourself a better story, because the most important story you hear is the story you tell yourself. And this message is dedicated to Conan Clay Whitaker.

Here’s the upgrade:

You may think curiosity belongs to kids, but upgraded thinking knows curiosity is what keeps a grown person moving.

Here’s the story.

Our three-year-old grandson comes over and walks in the door with one request. “Mamie, let’s do peer-mints.”

That’s his word for experiments. Two syllables. Anything that bubbles, fizzes, or changes color is fair game. He loves mixing food dyes. He loves dumping one thing into another and waiting to see what happens.

Jamie started doing these with him and I love watching it. He doesn’t need the experiment to work. He needs the surprise. The element of surprise is what captivates him.

English novelist Ian McEwan put it this way: “The standard measure of how alive you are is your curiosity.” I think he’s right. There is nothing more powerful than a child’s curiosity and eagerness to learn. For some reason the desire to experiment wanes with age. Kids are excited about learning and trying something new.

Dr. Rob Gilbert has spent almost 50 years teaching at Montclair State University and written about this same contrast. He once described driving to campus on the first day of school. He passed a mom with her two boys on the sidewalk. The littler one was jumping up and down. He wasn’t excited to see Dr. Gilbert. He was excited because the big yellow school bus was right behind the car. After years of walking to the bus stop and watching his big brother climb aboard, it was finally his turn.

An hour later, Dr. Gilbert walked into his own first class. College students are more savvy and sophisticated than that little boy. But many of them have matured beyond the excitement to learn. They act like they’ve got to go to school. That little boy was eager to go to school. There’s a lot of energy in getting to and not much if you feel you’ve got to.

So here’s the question: when did you stop getting to do things and start feeling you had to? That little boy didn’t need a reason to be excited. He needed a chance to find out what was next. My grandson is the same way. So are you. The better story to tell yourself is, “I get to experiment with life.”

Tell me a story of something you got to do today to fromchadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and tell them, “What’s the last experiment you ran?” You can get a free copy of my book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to fromchad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message and hundreds of others are always available at http://www.fromchad.com.