Keep about a dozen open questions in your head, Feynman-style. Being interesting starts with being curious.
The idea
Richard Feynman, one of the most important scientists of the past 100 years, had a practice of keeping around 12 open questions in his head. Being interesting starts with being curious: ask questions, seek new experiences and never stop learning. It's one of three prompts I took from Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, one of my favorite books, which asks whether you're living a life worth telling a story about. (Every time I reread it, I torch my to-do list.)
How to do it
Ask yourself what you're interested in, and develop your own list of open questions, around 12.
Share your stories, successes and failures both. Drop the vanilla professional facade.
Be authentic. Stay true to your own interests and passions instead of sounding like everyone else.
Example
In June 2024, one of mine was: "How can I understand people whose political views are the complete opposite of mine?" A list like that pairs well with a quarterly "what's going on in my life" update, which you can start with just the book you read recently (even if, like me, you keep reading the same page every night as you fall asleep).
The Follow-Up Question: Find the most interesting thing about someone that they don't lead with, ask about it, then ask a follow-up. Don't pivot to yourself.
Curate, Don't Just Consume: Feel boring? Pick one or two interests, go deep 30 minutes a week, and answer "What's new?" with the interest instead of your job.
Be Worth Knowing: Share your own take and what you're into; industry jargon makes you invisible, while personality and stories make you memorable.
Be a Dot Collector: Collect varied experiences, people and projects now without knowing how they'll connect, then review the collection for surprising combinations.