There’s a prevailing attitude many people subscribe to where they shun topics they aren’t interested in simply because they are not curious to explore them. And to a degree, that makes sense. Why would someone actively seek out what doesn’t interest them? I hated mathematics growing up, and so I don’t do calculus in my spare time.

Another person may find history to be tearfully boring, and so they don’t spend free hours surfing the web for new facts about the Mongol Empire. But, they might enjoy watching a movie about the Mongol Empire, in the same way I enjoyed the math-themed movie Good Will Hunting.

Nine times out of 10, the reason people dislike a subject is not necessarily because of the subject itself, rather than the vessel through which the subject is introduced. Again, let’s look at the example of history. Imagine a boring professor with elbow patches and 3 PhDs lecturing you about Soviet irrigation systems. I’m getting bored just writing the sentence and I love history!

Now, imagine the same professor discussing the same topic but through the lens of how those systems caused an entire sea to disappear, for cities to become abandoned, and for the map of the world to change within the scope of a few short years. All of a sudden the subject becomes a little more captivating. And so I urge you, next time you find yourself thinking about how bored a certain subject makes you, try zooming out and looking at it from a different angle - you might surprise yourself!