Jeffrey Davis > Quotes

“OPENNESS, the wide-sky facet, is a wide-eyed wonder among us grown-ups. It is the capacity to perceive a subject or situation anew while pursuing new knowledge or launching and even executing an endeavor. If you hunger to taste more than vanilla, then tracking this facet can boost your creative approach to life and work.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Surprises are learning opportunities. Because our brains process novel information and sensory input and then file a way memories in the same region, we actually pay more attention to and remember what surprises us.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Keeping yourself lit up and alive, renewed and ready is not easy. Cave had to work at reclaiming wonder, in a sense. He wrote at home instead of at his office, and he allowed for a stream of thoughts, images, and ideas to accumulate. “I found with some practice,” he said, “the imagination could propel itself beyond the personal into a state of wonder. In doing so the color came back to things with a renewed intensity and the world seemed clear and bright and new.” Note here that he said that it came with some practice.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Openness primes us to tolerate uncertain outcomes. To take risks creatively doesn’t mean you gamble your life savings on a marketing scheme. It means you’re willing to invest time, resources, and cognitive energy into a dream that has an uncertain outcome.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“That’s because wonder momentarily dissolves our habitual ways of seeing, relating, and thinking so we can glimpse again what is real and true, beautiful and possible”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“What Singer calls positive-constructive daydreaming is the sweet spot, where we find benefits to daydreaming. Neither fantastical escape nor catastrophic thinking, this playful, artful approach engages your imagination to explore your possibilities for a better future, however distant or near. This kind of daydreaming leads to making plans and solving problems in a way that complements Lopez’s research on setting your sights on a meaningful goal or two. A component of hope is that you begin to envision actions that will lead to your ultimate aim.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“This is something I’ve heard from many entrepreneurs, professionals, and first-time authors—people who venture into terra incognito. Their lack of knowledge—their ignorance of the hurdles they would face in business or in creative pursuits was to their advantage. Why? Because they did not know what to fear, so they simply approached every step along the way with fresh eyes. Let me reiterate that discovery: Sometimes not knowing what to fear is advantageous.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“CURIOSITY, the rebel facet, is the proactive, playful, and creative mindset that comes out of wonder’s more receptive nature. Curiosity lets us pursue discovery, honor the quirky things that interest us, and keep learning by doing so we live in more wondrous questions than definitive answers”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Adversity and uncertainty can spur a crisis of identity and of creativity. In such confusion, with little view of the future, you can slip into despair. You can feel as if you’re dropping down that rabbit hole with no control. “Who are you?” the caterpillar asks Alice in Wonderland, and she doesn’t know. From that dark and low place, your creativity seems shattered, just at a time when you need hope and openness to create something new. After my house burned, I could have remained in that hole. But wonder showed me a way out. Wonder lets us receive the uncertainty rather than flee to the next easy answer.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“You can pause long enough to be more curious than distressed.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“That is, it’s our very capacity to be in wonder toward another human being—without desire for gain from that person—that allows us to connect without shields and armor. If we can orient our days around authentically connecting with others—in our work, within our families, while we are out on a trail in the woods—we boost our capacity to deepen our relationships and our collective potential.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“A similar principle is true of committing to a specific endeavor or a creative life in general. It’s one thing to fall in love with a fantasy you’ve conjured. It’s another more abiding thing to stand in wonder with a dream you’re devoted”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Remember that father I envied and said to myself, “I want to be like that?” When you catch yourself thinking in this potentially downer pattern, identify the “that.” Then turn the mirror back to yourself and own up to what you already have within you to be more of your genius self instead of trying to be more like someone else.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“When fear or self-doubt holds you back from pursuing a meaningful dream or endeavor, then this facet can be an important ally. Why? It is the talent of knowing when and how to suspend biases, to dare to un-know, and to be receptive to possibilities instead of immediately judging them. I also call this facet intelligent naiveté”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“If you’re a manager whose company has experienced setbacks and duress, focus on one small way you could bring a little joy to company meetings.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“I call this creative approach “fertile confusion” because we can use confusion to see ourselves anew and to redefine aspects of our lives or who we are through creative experiments. When you fertilize confusion, you can till the soil of your soul. Fertile confusion is a state in which you refrain from seeking easy solutions or reverting to old patterns long enough to transform your worldview, yourself, or your approach to a complex endeavor”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“You might recall that one of my early adult insights about wonder came by studying the philosophical book the Siva Sutras. This philosophy references a Sanskrit name for that subtle space between two thoughts, two actions, or two breaths. It is called unmesa, and in this tradition when you contemplate this space, you might glimpse the nature of consciousness—for a second. In this breathing practice, you keep your attention on the pause between your easeful exhalation and your easeful inhalation. I invite you to think of this practice this way: When you exhale and your heartbeat slows down, you expel what was no longer flourishing. You let go. When you inhale and your heartbeat speeds up, you take in the possibility of this moment, a breathing in of what could be. Breathe out: Who were you? Pause. Breathe in: Who could you become? Breathe out: What was? Pause. Breathe in: What could be?”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“having experiences of elevation, gratitude, and admiration “draws people out of themselves.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“This book begins with this simple premise: when we look at visionaries, artists, scientists, and inspirational figures, we see that some of them have indeed practiced the proverbial ten thousand hours or demonstrated remarkable grit and focus in order to manifest their great work and fulfilled lives. But even more of them have a surprising advantage: they’ve kept alive an abiding sense of wonder. We now have increasing scientific evidence that experiences of wonder play a big role in sparking innovation, motivating us, and allowing us to derive meaning from what we create and experience.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“You likely have had your own version of house fires and tick bites—perhaps much more dire than this account—and if you have, I am truly sorry. We each construct a home of beliefs and values, relationships and work that makes up our reality. When the one you’ve made burns, how do you respond? How do you navigate these times when you’re just starting a new dream or in the middle of one? Is the highest aim merely to get through the day as unscathed as possible? If you view life as a quest, as I do, then you acknowledge that challenges are part and parcel of what to expect on this path you’ve chosen. But, whoa!—and woe!—when those challenges are relentless, accumulative, and seemingly personal.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“A dream endeavor often will stretch you beyond your comfort zone, demanding a lot of you psychologically and emotionally. To keep the dream in motion, you’ll meet a series of challenges and need to work with one or more people.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Approach everything you pursue hypothetically and bravely test your assumptions. Get messy and enjoy the discoveries. And above all else, embrace experimenting over perfectionism and over-planning. Conducting little experiments with your endeavors reframes your work as part scientific method, part creative process, and—if relevant to you—part entrepreneurial risk-taking.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“For your tracking wonder journey, you can take the opportunity to breathe into your fear reactions, retrain your brain to react to surprise with more creativity and less reactivity, and harness the power of fertile confusion to reshape your creative identity.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Devotion. It’s an appropriate word for what’s required to cross the threshold from witnessing fleeting moments of wonder to standing in wonder. Devotion reaches more deeply than shortlived passion; it does not flee challenges but instead meets them as opportunities to go deeper.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“To wonder, the action, is more like questioning, but wonder is not curiosity. Curiosity propels us to investigate, to pick apart a clock’s cogs and wires, whereas wonder surprises and delights, receives and conceives. Yet, as we’ll see in later chapters, wonder often incites curiosity. Yes, wonder can incite wondering. Wonder is a heightened state of consciousness and emotion brought about by something unexpected. While it is a perceptual experience that happens in the mind, it can radiate through your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is the opposite of the fight-or-flight response, helping you to relax and open to insight and possibility.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Admiration, we could say, is to experience a surprising love for someone else’s excellence that can awaken us to become better at what we do and how we do it.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Those of us prone to feel admiration are also susceptible to envy, which can lead to sadness, fear, or shame. Admiration feels good, but envy feels bad. Akin to admiration, envy is the negative aspect of how we might initially respond to another’s superior skills, accomplishments, or status. Envy occurs when you compare yourself to someone else whom you believe has a superior quality, skill, or achievement, and you subsequently find yourself lacking. It can be a classic case of compare-and-despair.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Cultivate a curiosity habit to make every day a quest of discovery. In this way, your life is not bifurcated between something that lights you up and “the other stuff” you must tend to on any given day. “Create in integrity, not in battle,” we often say at Tracking Wonder. Your day might become a flow in which your curiosities gain traction from your increased self-motivating questioning and reflection.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“In fact, neuroscientists have measured people’s brains in conversation. The better the communication, the better the sync in a speaker’s brain waves and a listener’s brain waves.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity

“Practices of connection teach us that we are often better when we do it together, open up in the face of bias against others, and gather supportive packs around us to support our creative lives.”
― Jeffrey Davis, Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity