There’s a difference between exploration and research. Research comes with a lens; an interpretation, a purpose. Before you even realize it, you’re filtering everything you find though the purpose for which you set out.
If you go out looking for gold, you may find gold. But you’ll miss a lot of really, really awesome stuff that doesn’t obviously get you closer to gold when you first see it. But if you explore – if you just set out, not to find gold specifically, but to see what’s out there to find – you discover magic.
You might be slightly less likely to find gold. But you’re far more likely to find a whole host of other amazing things. And especially if you’re not even sure if gold is what you want yet, that’s a much better proposition.
Don’t always look for something. Often, just look.
The Opportunity Machine 