How To Develop Interest (1950)

[Music] what are your interest does photography interest you developing your own pictures some people make a very useful hobby out of this interest are you interested in music do you play some instruments do you like record if you're not interested you may be missing something are you interested in homes and architecture this interests many people does it interest you perhaps you're interested in chemistry or perhaps not but you might like to be can you develop an interest in a new subject can cliff Williams develop an interest in a new subject that's his problem Oh dad it's botany can't get interested in it why do we have to take that stuff anyway well I always thought that botany was rather important stuff what about the what about the development of hybrid corn that yields almost twice as much per acre what about Anna Stirling some of the other important medicines they're a part of botany oh I know I should be interested in that part well I'm just not and I can't seem to get interested I hope you'll get something out of that course cliff but that sort of attitude I don't know oh don't worry dad I'll do the homework later there's the meeting tonight anyway oh do you play cliff needs to develop interest in botany well what is interest after all interest is an attitude of willingness and a desire to focus attention on some subject look at the attention cliff is giving that newspaper he's really interested in tennis an attitude of willingness and desire to focus attention on some subject but he'll have to develop an interest in botany how can cliff develop an interest in botany as strong as his interest in tennis oh hi Tyler come on in Michael if you're ready to go no yes no it's part of a nature screenflow going to show to some of the fellows tonight their project for the crop hey cliff you know something about trees don't you what if you hook this over with me come on they're pictures of different weeds I've seen want a Hickory I think it is but no I don't think so it's hard to tell with just one late last month on a hike you know what tree no one else could name well that's different and I could see the whole tree how much do I know about Hickory means this one has such rough edges that isn't like Hickory is it wait a minute I'm taking a course at boxing I've got the book right here look it up I'd like to know myself here it is Hickory leaves are a lot smoother than black birch so that's probably a black birch leaf black birch I'll have to change the label hi quick you sure know a lot nah well come on let's go and let's take the brodny book along maybe we ought to check some of the other and so cliffs interest in botany has begun and in the days that follow cliff finds that one interest leads to another it's fun to collect leads and it's also fun to hunt for unusual plants and to identify them it's fun to study trees and plants in detail before long cliff is studying botany books with a great deal of interest yes interest can be developed and very simply but there are other things to know about interests and on another evening take that Oh cliff yes yeah the report cut this time shows a great improvement than bothame that's right I think math is great but some of your other subjects seem to have suffered what happened in commercial geography all those things don't matter botany is the stuff that's really interesting I hope you can manage to find time for a few other interest you'd better become interested in geography you have to pass that too you know I don't see how I'm supposed to get sister than that a few weeks ago you said the same thing about Bob me what happened how did you become so interested in botany Oh take it over you can figure out how you did that maybe you'll be able to develop other interests yes cliff needs to understand how to set about deliberately developing new interest for a person needs many interests to have a rich full life well cliff how do you develop a new interest let's see how did you get interested in botany it started the night Tyler asked about Hickory leaves and you said how much do I know about Hickory leaves yes that's how it started you asked yourself how much you knew about the subject now how much do you know about geography well you know a little about the products of different countries and climate olives for instance in what country do they grow olives need a long growing season and lots of Sun you know that from botany but the geography part is that olives are important products in Spain and Italy where there is good sunshine and a long season so that's part of how much you know about geography but there was something else that night oh yes you wanted to know if Hickory leaves had rough edges and you said I'll look it up I'd like to know myself yes you were beginning to understand you had to find out what you wanted to know about botany well what do you want to know about geography for one thing you want to know more about trees you know quite a bit about their structure from your botany course but you'd like to know something more about where they grow some countries rely heavily on their lumber industry how much of those products are exported and 2-player which country produces the most lumber when you know what you want to know the third step is simple ask yourself how you can find out yes cliff has learned how to develop interest geography is no longer dull to it and you'll be able to develop interest in other subjects too now you have you learned how to develop interest let's think over the three main steps suppose you want to develop interest in locomotive for some reason it's important that you do first ask yourself how much do I know about locomotive you may know that some locomotives burn coal to produce steam which drives the wheel probably you can identify many parts of a locomotive try it now that stepped one of developing interests how much do I know about the subject now ask yourself what do I want to know perhaps you'd like to know more about the differences between this diesel switch engine for example and this huge diesel engine for the mainline how does this locomotive differ from this electric locomotive would you like to know ask yourself what do I want to know and soon you'll think of many things then the third step is how can I find out well you can go to a freight yard and look around and ask questions you might visit a special exhibit of early locomotive from this you may develop an interest in model train by the time you've looked up a few books in the library the chances are you'll be interested you have developed a new interest do you remember the three steps to develop interest how much do I know what do I want to know how can I find out remember too that developing a wide range of interest will help you find a richer fuller life [Music]