In Pursuit of Latent Wonderfulness

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You read the job description twice. The plan looks fine on paper. Flat, but fine.

And somewhere in your chest, a quiet voice says, there’s more here.

Listen to that voice. It’s pointing at something real.

Latent Wonderfulness Is the Good Stuff Hiding in Plain Sight

Latent wonderfulness is the hidden potential in a job, a relationship, or a life that you only discover by getting curious and getting close. The phrase comes from Designing Your Life by Stanford’s Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. You pursue it through conversations, small experiments, and paying attention to what gives you energy.

Real talk. The best parts of any path live outside the brochure.

They show up in the hallway conversation. The side project. The person who says, “Oh, you’d love what we’re building over here.”

Wonderful things are already sitting inside your life and your options. Latent means present and waiting. Your job is to go find them.

Stanford Turned Life Design Into a Class

Bill Burnett and Dave Evans run the design program at Stanford. In 2010 they launched a course that applied design thinking to the biggest project any of us will ever work on. Our own lives.

It took off. At one point, 17% of Stanford undergraduates were enrolled, and the 2016 book that grew out of it became a New York Times bestseller, according to its history.

The big idea is simple. Build your life the way designers build a great product. Get curious. Try stuff. Talk to people. Learn. Repeat.

Pursuing latent wonderfulness lives right in the middle of that loop. The book’s own discussion guide asks readers to define it for themselves. So I’ll offer mine.

It’s choosing to believe that the next chapter of your life holds more good than you can currently see. Then going out and proving it.

Curiosity Is the Engine

Your brain is built for this pursuit.

In a 2014 study published in Neuron, UC Davis researchers Matthias Gruber and Charan Ranganath found that curiosity lights up the brain’s dopamine reward circuit and strengthens the hippocampus, the region that builds memories. Curious people learned the answers they wanted, and they also remembered unrelated information better, even a day later, according to the study’s summary.

Curiosity may put the brain in a state that allows it to learn and retain any kind of information.

Dr. Matthias Gruber, UC Davis, via ScienceDaily, 2014

Translation. When you get curious, your whole brain leans in. You notice more. You remember more. You find more.

So instead of asking what’s the right path for me, try asking what am I curious about right now.

People Are the Doorways

Most of the wonderful stuff is hiding inside other people’s heads. Their stories. Their workdays. What they love about where they are.

Burnett and Evans call these prototype conversations. Simple, curious chats with people already living a version of the life you’re wondering about. You ask for their story, and you listen.

Joseph Campbell saw the same thing decades earlier, talking with Bill Moyers.

When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you.

Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers

People open doors. Every time. If you want to get better at attracting the right people, read my breakdown of Angela Duckworth’s Situated and the part about becoming a mentor magnet.

Four Ways to Pursue Latent Wonderfulness This Week

Let’s get practical. Pick one. Start today.

1. Keep a Good Time Journal

For one week, jot down what you did each day and how alive it made you feel. Note what gave you energy and what pulled you in. Patterns show up fast. Your energy is a compass pointing straight at your hidden wonderful.

2. Sketch Three Lives

Write three different five-year versions of your life. The one you’re on. The one you’d choose if this path disappeared. The one you’d pick if money and opinions were off the table. The Stanford course calls these Odyssey Plans. Each one reveals possibilities you were carrying all along.

3. Have One Curiosity Conversation

Find someone doing something that fascinates you. Ask for twenty minutes. Say, “I’d love to hear your story.” Then listen. Ask what surprised them. Ask what they love about it. Thank them.

4. Run One Tiny Experiment

Curious about pottery? Take one class. Thinking about a new career? Shadow someone for a day. Small tests, real data, low stakes. Every experiment uncovers a little more of what’s waiting for you.

If curiosity feels rusty, warm it up with 7 Days of Wild Attention.

Stay Hungry, Stay a Little Foolish

In 2005, standing in front of Stanford’s graduating class, Steve Jobs closed his speech with a line from the farewell issue of the Whole Earth Catalog.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

Hungry means you keep reaching. Foolish means you’re willing to look a little silly while you try. That’s the whole posture of someone pursuing latent wonderfulness.

And when the pursuit gets hard, remember what stands in the way becomes the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does latent wonderfulness mean?

Latent wonderfulness is the hidden potential in a job, relationship, or life path that you discover through curiosity, conversations, and experiments. The phrase comes from Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

What is Designing Your Life about?

Designing Your Life is a 2016 bestseller by Stanford design program leaders Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It applies design thinking to life and career, using curiosity, prototyping, conversations, and experiments to help readers build a joyful, well-lived life.

What are Odyssey Plans?

Odyssey Plans are three different five-year versions of your life that you sketch side by side. The exercise comes from the Stanford Designing Your Life course and helps you see more possibilities for your future.

How do I find what I’m passionate about?

Follow your curiosity and your energy. Track what energizes you in a daily journal, talk with people whose lives fascinate you, and run small experiments to test new interests in real life.

Does curiosity really help you learn?

Yes. A 2014 UC Davis study in Neuron found that curiosity activates the brain’s dopamine reward circuit and strengthens the hippocampus, helping people learn and remember more, even information unrelated to what they were curious about.

Read It Again, With Curious Eyes

Go back to that job description. That plan. That life that looks fine on paper.

Read it again with curious eyes. Then go talk to someone. Try one small thing. Write down what lights you up.

The wonderful is in there, friend. It’s been waiting for you the whole time. Start early. Start curious. Start today.

Complement this with Make Hard Things Easier, the Big Idea Behind Angela Duckworth’s Situated, How Your Environment Shapes the Trajectory of Your Life, and 7 Days of Wild Attention.

Carry this into tomorrow morning. A curious morning starts with a still one, and that’s why we built Hold Until Sunrise. Your alarm becomes a moment of stillness. You hold your phone, rest with one affirmation, and let the sunrise welcome you into the day.

We’d love to keep you company every morning. Join us here for a daily dose of good, straight to your inbox.

With love, Paolo

Sources

• Designing Your Life, worksheets and discussion questions
• Designing Your Life, publication and course history
• Gruber MJ, Gelman BD, Ranganath C. States of Curiosity Modulate Hippocampus-Dependent Learning via the Dopaminergic Circuit. Neuron, 2014, via ScienceDaily
• Joseph Campbell Foundation, Follow Your Bliss
• Stanford News, Steve Jobs Commencement Address, 2005