The easiest skill to deprioritize (and the most important one right now)

Happy new year! Came downstairs today feeling ready to tackle January (aka have the kids go back to school), and then I looked over to our fridge calendar. Let’s just say it was a more accurate depiction of my mental state coming into 2026! 😅 Anyone else?!

Today’s Sticky Situation may help with this overwhelming feeling! It is directly from my last workshop on The 5 Skills to Be a Top Performer in the AI Era. A new skill that entered the top 5 list in 2025 was “Curiosity.” Being curious was always important to stand out as a top performer, but didn’t hit the top 5 until AI hit the scene. No one was surprised (are you?), but the reactions weren’t what I expected.

My Take

“I know I should be more curious… I just don’t have time.”

People said things like:

“I’m curious, I just don’t have time to dig into things or play around with new stuff, especially if I don’t know if it’ll be worth it.”

“I feel behind already—there’s so much out there.”

“I don’t even know where to start with all the AI stuff.”

There’s no lack of interest. It was that curiosity is becoming one of the most important skills—and also the easiest one to deprioritize when workloads are heavy and expectations are high.

Curiosity Is a Skill (Not a Personality Trait)

We often treat curiosity like something you either have or don’t. But in reality, curiosity is a practice—and top performers treat it like one. In fast-changing environments (hello, AI), curiosity is how you:

• spot opportunities early

• ask better questions

• connect dots others miss

• stay relevant instead of reactive

The people who get ahead aren’t the ones who know everything. They’re the ones who stay curious and keep learning as the world around them changes.