When was the last time you were surprised by something you learned or realized? How often do you think "How could I live without knowing this"? When was the last time you were surprised by yourself?

Why should you ask yourself these questions? I use them to gauge the pace of my personal development and learnings. It can also be a metric of performance if applied to employees. Contrary to the coding principle of least surprise.

If you chart this out for yourself, there is probably something off. Factors negatively influencing this metric can be:

  • Low mental energy
  • Routine and little variety in life which kill curiosity
  • A fixed mindset

Curiosity and mental energy through sport and work-life balance make this chart fluctuate more which indicates a development. Great sources of surprises are books and great places on the web.