Happy high-achievers are curious.  They’re particularly curious about how other human beings think and live.  
 
The great 20th Century psychologist Abraham Maslow* specifically described them as having “more openess to experience” because this trait is more active than just being curious. 

Open your arms.  Open your heart.  Be open-minded to alternative ways of being.  To “experience” something is about stimulating your physical senses.  This is about feeling, smelling, tasting, fearing, loving… not just book learning.    
 
But Maslow means even more than sensory experimentation.  He means that the healthiest try on other ways of thinking, behaving and being.  They want to run on to the playing field.  They want to dive into other cultures, ethics and gods. They want to hear the languages, enter the buildings, wear the clothes, taste the cooking and most of all be with those who are different and foreign. Hungry for experience and always open to testing, measuring and even challenging their own ways, the best human beings enjoy subsuming their selves amidst what’s new, exotic and even strange. 
 
This is a growth and change mindset and like young, expanding minds, those who are more open to experience are more adaptable.
 
I think it’s most important to remember that being open to experience means taking action, about “being game” as the Aussies would say, and periodically having a bit of courage.  It’s also about being a willingness to test your belief systems, broadening your sense of beauty, honing your perception of what is lasting and true.  And take one step further -- it’s about swimming deeply in how and what you feel.
 
These individuals don’t just observe more and respond better to change they try on ideas and take actions to see how they themselves react.  This takes one out of thinking and into the realm of emotion.  We’ll learn again and again that to succeed at life, “Feeling is as important as thinking.”  This is a quote from Bill Bradley, the former Senator from New Jersey, who also spent the first half of his life feeling his way to dominance on the basketball court. The point here is -- that it’s one thing to watch someone ski down a mountain, get married or be interviewed on live television.  It’s quite another to do those experiences yourself. 
 
I’m sure you know people who actively avoid new experiences.  Someone I’ve known many, many years lives a couple of miles from where he grew up.  For 35 years he has performed the same job among many of the same people.  He takes the same vacations every year and even sits in the very same chair every time he’s in his home.  His life and his mindset are frozen.  His is a life of experiences missed.  

Don't do that!  

Donald Van De Mark series on the 19 Personality Traits of the Best Human Beings:

Introduction: The Good Among the Great: Personality Traits of the Best Human Beings

1. Superior Reality Recognition

The Clearer, More Efficient Perception of Reality

Andy Grove, founder of Intel absorbs reality

The Role of Reality and Choice in Your Destiny

Donald Van de Mark has interviewed hundreds of leaders in business and politics including: Andrew Weil, MD, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, Jack Welch, Starbucks' Howard Schultz and Intel's Andy Grove, in his nearly 3 decades as a correspondent and anchor at CNN, CNBC and public television. He integrates practical tips from these great leaders to provide a riveting motivational speech on the personality traits of successful people. Donald is also the host of the corporate training video, The Wisdom of Caring Leaders. 

Listen to Donald's upcoming webcast on Profiles of Successful Leadership with the American Management Association on September 2nd at Noon EST. 

*Abraham Maslow, was a renowned psychologist who focused more on health than disease.  Van de Mark reviews 19 traits that Maslow identified in the best people.