Genuine curiosity is a universal cure — it makes others feel valued, shifts your own mindset out of negative spirals, and solves problems that seem unrelated.
Shawn reflects on how the ultra-wealthy founder he met was genuinely curious about him and his silly ideas, which made Shawn feel great. This leads to the insight that curiosity is like a 'grandma's remedy' — it works for social connection, for pulling yourself out of sadness or shame, and for many problems where you wouldn't expect it to apply. ✦ AI generated
Shawn · My First Million · 2026-07-31 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 31:03
I've noticed that with a bunch of really successful people, the ones that I truly like, they are so curious. They are curious to the point that they will think about silly ideas very seriously and take them serious... be curious. If you're genuinely curious or interested in people, curiosity's like one of these grandma's remedies where it's like, 'Oh, I have pneumonia.' And it's like, 'Put some whiskey in the pancakes and that'll do it.' ... curiosity's kind of like that where almost all these unrelated problems can be solved with curiosity... when you're actually curious about somebody, you will appear interested in them because you are interested in them and then they feel interesting... This works with yourself, too... let's say I'm feeling bad about something. What most people try to do is they say, 'Don't feel bad. Feel good. It's okay.' ... Instead he just says like, 'Don't feel bad, just get curious.' ... as soon as you start getting curious, it's almost like the cloud moves away, the sun starts to peer through, and your brain literally shifts state into a more childlike curious state of mind, and it takes the edge off.
verbatim transcript · starts at 31:03
30:44insulting. I don't think he was acting. I I think that he like he made me he was maybe feel good. >> Well, he he had true true charisma then in that he was genuinely interested in other people, not based off of like, you know, some weird power rankings. And when you're interested in people, that makes them feel great. And that's a gift. That's a that's an amazing gift. I
31:03think it sounds so simple and very few people know how to do that. >> And I've noticed that with a bunch of really successful people, the ones that I truly like, they are so curious. They are curious to the point where they will uh think about silly ideas very seriously and take them serious. >> Yeah, uh I had a embarrassing like reduction the other day where I was like describing at
31:25we went to an event or we hosted an event and it was like, "Oh, there's all these different people. I like this person. Oh, I really like this guy. That Oh, she was really cool." And then I realized, "Oh, what's the common factor?" It's just like I think I like people who like me. And I was so embarrassed by that being true, but it was really like the
31:42I have a very hard time liking people who I don't feel like me. So, the opposite is more true than the than the first part, meaning like I don't love everybody who likes me, but I can't really like anybody if I feel like they don't like me. And I was I was like, "What kind of junior high mindset is this?" And I didn't know what to do with it, but I definitely had that
32:02awareness at least. And I was like, "I think I should not have that be the kind of the heaviest weight, >> [laughter] >> you know, factor in in this stuff." Do you Do you ever do that? It sounds so stupid as I said it aloud. >> No, I mean I don't think that's so stupid. I I think that Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People,
32:18he says, "The root of everything that you read from me is basically people want to feel important." And if you understand that, then like life's cream cheese. Like life's good. And if you make people feel important, then then that is how you win friends and influence people. And what's funny is this guy and I we left the uh the the event together. And we mistakenly took like a service elevator. And so we get
32:39lost in this building for like 25 minutes like trying to get out because we took the wrong and we couldn't figure out the signs. And I'm like >> Were you like, "Come on, genius. Get us out of here." [laughter] >> I was like, "How many billionaires does it take to find the exit?" >> Be Superman. Turn on the laser. >> [laughter] >> And and then at the end I was like
32:57I I know that like no one can find photos of you on the internet. I know that you purposely stay off the grid, but uh you know, like want to come on my First Million? And he like And he even dignified it with a "I'll consider it." There wasn't even like a like, "Are you insane? No, I I won't do this." And I just think that like to all the