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Tracking Wonder: Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity
Beyond grit, focus, and 10,000 hours lies a surprising advantage that all creatives have-- wonder . Far from child's play, wonder is the one radical quality that has led exemplary people from all walks of life to move toward the fruition of their deepest dreams and wildest endeavors--and it can do so for you, too. Wonder is a quiet disruptor of unseen biases, writes Jeffrey Davis. It dissolves our habitual ways of seeing and thinking so that we may glimpse anew the beauty of what is real, true, and possible. Rich with wisdom, inspiring stories, and practical tools, Tracking Wonder opens a pathway for you to fertilize your creativity, sustain your motivation to pursue big ideas, navigate uncertainty and crises with resilience and fortitude, unbox other people to deepen true connections, and enjoy a greater sense of purpose through the lost art of cultivating wonder. A refreshing counter-voice to the exhausting narrative of hyper-productivity, Tracking Wonder is a welcome guide for experiencing more meaning and joy in the present moment as you bring your greatest contributions to life.
1 pages, Audio CD
Published November 16, 2021
34 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Davis
53 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 19, 2021
The winner of the most scintillating subtitle. Reading this book is akin to walking the 135 mile Adirondack Trail with the most serene, appreciative tour guide. Spend time reflecting on feeling wonder, awe, hope, openness, and admiration. There's a metaphor on p. 96 that captures the thought-provoking nature of this book, "Imagine your mind like a house with many windowed rooms. If you keep stuffing that house with more boxes of knowledge to prop yourself up like an expert in disguise, soon those windows will get blocked. You won't be able to look out toward a horizon of possibility." What a visceral treat. Now imagine 250 pages of this. Eat it up.
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May 21, 2022How accessing wonder can be a means of getting in touch with that curious, open child version of yourself that can help you reach new heights as an adult. By learning how to track four facets of wonder - curiosity, openness, hope, and admiration - you can aspire to better relationships and expressions of your own creativity.
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Bringing wonder into our lives can lead to rich fulfillment, creative expression, and better relationships.
Let’s start our exploration of wonder in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream game reserve.
It’s a place known for its lush rainforests and gorgeous lake views, but it’s most famous for being the place where Jane Goodall made groundbreaking discoveries about chimpanzees, like how they use tools and have many social behaviors similar to humans.
Some time later, another scientist observed something else extraordinary about chimps— something not as well known, but perhaps equally compelling.It all started when a particular chimp caught the attention of evolutionary biologist Harold Bauer. This mature male chimp had detoured away from the food-foraging area and wandered through thick forest to a 25-foot waterfall. It was magnificent to behold, spraying mist for seventy feet in the dense green forest. There, the chimp sat, simply staring. Suddenly, he leaped up to pound his fists on the trees and hoot.
The next day, he did it all again—and again the next day. He’d sit and gaze, run up to the waterfall, sometimes rock back and forth, and hoot.
The chimpanzee’s behavior was puzzling. After all, the waterfall didn’t provide food, and it wasn’t a main source of water either. In fact, it was completely out of the way from their food sources. What was going on with this ape?
It appeared that, since the waterfall provided no material value to the chimp, that it was like doing nothing more than contemplating the waterfall’s beauty. Soon the researchers noticed other chimps marveling at the waterfall as well.
Renowned anthropologist Marcus Konner posits that these behaviors in chimpanzees suggest that our own tendency to wonder at the beauty of life is something ancient and fundamental, something deeply hardwired into what it means to be human.
When we contemplate a sight of power and beauty, like a 25-foot waterfall, it can lift us out of ourselves and into a higher, and objectively better, state of mind. And that state of mind is a sense of wonder.
Like the chimpanzee’s mysterious connection to the waterfall, your own sense of wonder might not have any outwardly practical use. But, as we’ll find, pausing work to make time for wonder can paradoxically make you more productive by opening you up to approach challenges creatively.
Let’s get into how exactly we do that, by “tracking” our wonder. It’s the practice of tapping into our innate capacity for wonder by developing its facets: openness, curiosity, hope, and admiration.
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The curiosity facet of wonder opens us up to new possibilities.
Like openness, curiosity is a facet of wonder that we had no trouble accessing when we were children. But curiosity is another facet of wonder that’s often squashed. As adults, we’re taught that curiosity killed the cat, and that it’s often better to not ask questions.
But psychologist Todd Kashdan points out that people with more curiosity have higher levels of “life satisfaction, wellbeing, and meaning.” And Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, observed that those who read literary short stories with ambiguous endings have minds that stay more open, presumably because they have to use their curiosity to speculate about a variety of possible outcomes.
Questioning the everyday is an accessible way we can all tap into our capacity for wonder. But it works best when curiosity is deployed for its own sake and not in a transactional way. Some of the most successful businesses and life-altering scientific discoveries happened just this way, because someone asked why, or how, or how come— not “what can I get out of this?”
So how do we go about cultivating our curiosity? In a notebook, write “Today I am curious about…” and reflect on what has recently “rung a bell” of curiosity within you. Write or draw it!
Or start collecting unusual objects that spark wonder within you. In sixteenth-century Europe, people had cabinets of curiosities in which they put things like peacock feathers, exotic beetles, and other things that fascinated them that they had collected from far and near. Create a curiosity cabinet for yourself. It doesn’t have to be an actual cabinet; a bulletin board or a tray on which you deposit your own curiosities can serve just as well to help you unlock the facet of curiosity within you.
---
Bringing wonder into our lives can lead to rich fulfillment, creative expression, and better relationships.
Let’s start our exploration of wonder in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream game reserve.
It’s a place known for its lush rainforests and gorgeous lake views, but it’s most famous for being the place where Jane Goodall made groundbreaking discoveries about chimpanzees, like how they use tools and have many social behaviors similar to humans.
Some time later, another scientist observed something else extraordinary about chimps— something not as well known, but perhaps equally compelling.It all started when a particular chimp caught the attention of evolutionary biologist Harold Bauer. This mature male chimp had detoured away from the food-foraging area and wandered through thick forest to a 25-foot waterfall. It was magnificent to behold, spraying mist for seventy feet in the dense green forest. There, the chimp sat, simply staring. Suddenly, he leaped up to pound his fists on the trees and hoot.
The next day, he did it all again—and again the next day. He’d sit and gaze, run up to the waterfall, sometimes rock back and forth, and hoot.
The chimpanzee’s behavior was puzzling. After all, the waterfall didn’t provide food, and it wasn’t a main source of water either. In fact, it was completely out of the way from their food sources. What was going on with this ape?
It appeared that, since the waterfall provided no material value to the chimp, that it was like doing nothing more than contemplating the waterfall’s beauty. Soon the researchers noticed other chimps marveling at the waterfall as well.
Renowned anthropologist Marcus Konner posits that these behaviors in chimpanzees suggest that our own tendency to wonder at the beauty of life is something ancient and fundamental, something deeply hardwired into what it means to be human.
When we contemplate a sight of power and beauty, like a 25-foot waterfall, it can lift us out of ourselves and into a higher, and objectively better, state of mind. And that state of mind is a sense of wonder.
Like the chimpanzee’s mysterious connection to the waterfall, your own sense of wonder might not have any outwardly practical use. But, as we’ll find, pausing work to make time for wonder can paradoxically make you more productive by opening you up to approach challenges creatively.
Let’s get into how exactly we do that, by “tracking” our wonder. It’s the practice of tapping into our innate capacity for wonder by developing its facets: openness, curiosity, hope, and admiration.
---
The curiosity facet of wonder opens us up to new possibilities.
Like openness, curiosity is a facet of wonder that we had no trouble accessing when we were children. But curiosity is another facet of wonder that’s often squashed. As adults, we’re taught that curiosity killed the cat, and that it’s often better to not ask questions.
But psychologist Todd Kashdan points out that people with more curiosity have higher levels of “life satisfaction, wellbeing, and meaning.” And Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, observed that those who read literary short stories with ambiguous endings have minds that stay more open, presumably because they have to use their curiosity to speculate about a variety of possible outcomes.
Questioning the everyday is an accessible way we can all tap into our capacity for wonder. But it works best when curiosity is deployed for its own sake and not in a transactional way. Some of the most successful businesses and life-altering scientific discoveries happened just this way, because someone asked why, or how, or how come— not “what can I get out of this?”
So how do we go about cultivating our curiosity? In a notebook, write “Today I am curious about…” and reflect on what has recently “rung a bell” of curiosity within you. Write or draw it!
Or start collecting unusual objects that spark wonder within you. In sixteenth-century Europe, people had cabinets of curiosities in which they put things like peacock feathers, exotic beetles, and other things that fascinated them that they had collected from far and near. Create a curiosity cabinet for yourself. It doesn’t have to be an actual cabinet; a bulletin board or a tray on which you deposit your own curiosities can serve just as well to help you unlock the facet of curiosity within you.
March 3, 2022
Tracking Wonder is a unique book that forces you to stop and smell the roses - to take the ordinary and find what is truly wondrous within it. Chances are, if you’re looking, you’ll see it’s not so ordinary after all, and even small things can have a big impact on your sense of wonder.
The author does acknowledge he’s writing from his own perspective and discusses his identity in the beginning. Despite this, I couldn’t help but see some of the suggestions and exercises to be inherently privileged. People experiencing hardship, while certainly capable of experiencing wonder, just have less opportunity to do so. Wonder experiences aren’t exactly equal opportunity. It felt like this book was written for people like the author, with enough resources and a life comfortable enough to allow you to dive in to wonder.
Furthermore, there was not enough scientific evidence for me. Research was cited from prominent social psychologists, which I thought was great, but some of the book’s main teachings were simply ideas of the author. An example being the facets of wonder. These facets weren’t extrapolated from a scientific study nor factor analysis. For readers more grounded in evidence and research, these teachings could be harder to buy. This doesn’t make the ideas useless, though. Just more aspirational in nature.
Overall, Jeffrey Davis is a superb writer and the book was enlightening.
The author does acknowledge he’s writing from his own perspective and discusses his identity in the beginning. Despite this, I couldn’t help but see some of the suggestions and exercises to be inherently privileged. People experiencing hardship, while certainly capable of experiencing wonder, just have less opportunity to do so. Wonder experiences aren’t exactly equal opportunity. It felt like this book was written for people like the author, with enough resources and a life comfortable enough to allow you to dive in to wonder.
Furthermore, there was not enough scientific evidence for me. Research was cited from prominent social psychologists, which I thought was great, but some of the book’s main teachings were simply ideas of the author. An example being the facets of wonder. These facets weren’t extrapolated from a scientific study nor factor analysis. For readers more grounded in evidence and research, these teachings could be harder to buy. This doesn’t make the ideas useless, though. Just more aspirational in nature.
Overall, Jeffrey Davis is a superb writer and the book was enlightening.
December 4, 2022
This book would have been right up my alley when I was in my 20s and 30s and reading lots of light self-help type titles. Now there just wasn’t enough research or depth. It was a snack, not a meal.
January 25, 2024
This book offered a practical guide to tapping into the creativity and awe of wonder in work, relationships, and all facets of everyday life. At times it felt a little too prescriptive, but the author also included lots of stories and examples of the ways wonder make life richer and more purposeful.
August 14, 2023
I did not like this book. It’s definitely possible that I liked it less because of difficult things going on in my life, but I still wouldn’t have liked it on a normal day. This is just another one of your typical woo-woo nonsense books from a guy who makes money giving pep talks at corporate events. He draws arbitrary, subjective distinctions between things like wonder and curiosity and has practices for people to do.
It’s an extremely cheesy, non-scientific book. So, if you’re someone who loves random self-help books, then this book’s for you.
It’s an extremely cheesy, non-scientific book. So, if you’re someone who loves random self-help books, then this book’s for you.
February 10, 2022
I wanted to love this, and the premise had many possibilities, but the book didn't click with me.
July 28, 2022
How getting to ponder can be a method for reaching out to that inquisitive, open kid variant of yourself that can assist you with arriving at new levels as an adult.Tracking Wonder is a remarkable book that compels you to pause and enjoy the scenery - to take the standard and find what is genuinely wondrous inside it. https://protrackinghub.com/
Chances are, assuming that you're looking, you'll see it's not really customary all things considered, and, surprisingly, little things can immensely affect your feeling of wonder.By figuring out how to follow four features of marvel - interest, receptiveness, trust, and adoration - you can try to better connections and articulations of your own imagination.
Chances are, assuming that you're looking, you'll see it's not really customary all things considered, and, surprisingly, little things can immensely affect your feeling of wonder.By figuring out how to follow four features of marvel - interest, receptiveness, trust, and adoration - you can try to better connections and articulations of your own imagination.
March 28, 2023
Jeffrey Davis introduces the reader to a wealth of entrepreneurs whose stories inspired me. I have known Jeffrey Davis and have been part of his Tracking Wonder Quest for nine years. This book takes me beyond the inspiring relationships in the Quest into Jeffrey's inner circle. The book is designed with incredible freshness. I have gifted this book to others and encourage gifting it to new graduates, all generations, even those, especially those seeking to change professions and considering entrepreneurship.
December 15, 2023
I really appreciate the message in Tracking Wonder. I find many of the suggestions helpful. But the writing style is a bit...smarmy? It felt a bit like I was being sold a corporate retreat package. Which is too bad because I can completely get behind the idea we all need to prioritize wonder in our lives. If you don't mind the occasional sales pitchy ick, the actual content is fantastic. This would make a great New Year's read with friends. The ideas are clearly presented with practical ways to work them into any life.
January 31, 2024
I probably would have thought less of this book had I not seen a ladybug crawling along in January - in Colorado! The sighting caused me to stop...and recognize and wonder, and instantly see the value of what a pause to wonder can do.
Not what I expected, but overall ok for a business book (or self enrichment). Productivity be damned.
Not what I expected, but overall ok for a business book (or self enrichment). Productivity be damned.
October 5, 2022
this was okay, but not exactly what I was hoping. It was a little too much 'if you reclaim wonder, you will be successful" for me. But I like how he codifies the different components of wonder in our lives.
January 28, 2023
Has a very similar tone and focus similar to The Artist's Way. Would be helpful to review questions and stories should I ever teach a class again.
Favorite quote: "How will you let wonder intervene this week?"
Favorite quote: "How will you let wonder intervene this week?"
May 23, 2022
How to nurture your creative spirit and potential. Read it.
June 29, 2022
Absolutely awesome book! Will be returning to it often for ideas and inspiration. I can't wait to interview Jeffrey Davis for The Ripple Effect Podcast.
May 25, 2023
This was pretty great! As always, I just ate up the research pieces, and I thought the author did a nice job sort of cataloguing the strategies for responding to the data. Shelve this one right between the Heath brothers’ The Power of Moments and Catherine Price’s The Power of Fun. I highlighted quite a few passages in this one, and I made a lot of them public if you want a sample!
September 26, 2022
I read this book twice. The first time, straight through without completing the exercises in a Tracking Wonder notebook I set up using a spiral (however, penciling in “NB” where there were exercises to complete). The second reading I did note the items I had marked “NB,” I completed the exercises, and I found them enormously helpful in generating renewed creativity.
My own writing had become rather stale. I couldn’t seem to get out of my rut. Davis helps readers develop a refreshed awareness of the world. Perhaps the most helpful feature that Davis generated for me is the concept of our “young genius,” the child-like persons we all were at age seven. Few rules governed us considering our creativity; we didn’t edit (poo poo) our ideas. It is this Young Genius that Davis’s book seeks to unleash in every reader (or participant in his workshops). His ideas can free that young genius inside each of us, whether we are a writer or artist or CEO or manager of a retail store. There are always more creative ways to do things or work or live our lives without worrying about being “obsessed with productivity.” A must-read for anyone who wants to freshen up their personal or professional lives.
My own writing had become rather stale. I couldn’t seem to get out of my rut. Davis helps readers develop a refreshed awareness of the world. Perhaps the most helpful feature that Davis generated for me is the concept of our “young genius,” the child-like persons we all were at age seven. Few rules governed us considering our creativity; we didn’t edit (poo poo) our ideas. It is this Young Genius that Davis’s book seeks to unleash in every reader (or participant in his workshops). His ideas can free that young genius inside each of us, whether we are a writer or artist or CEO or manager of a retail store. There are always more creative ways to do things or work or live our lives without worrying about being “obsessed with productivity.” A must-read for anyone who wants to freshen up their personal or professional lives.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews