I Wonder, I Wander

Jeremy Victor on June 5, 2025

On curiosity, movement, and meeting the next idea halfway

I’m preparing for my trip to Las Vegas for Customer Contact Week and something simple keeps looping through my mind:

I wonder, I wander.

Two verbs … separated by a single letter … that deserve more attention in an AI-first always-on world.

Wonder: Mindful Curiosity

When my flight lifts off from Philadelphia on Sunday, I’ll stare down at the folding patchwork of farms, rivers, and rooftop solar panels and feel the same pull I did as a kid pressed against a school-bus window: What’s happening in that house? Are there trout in that stream? Who’s walked that trail?

Wonder is a beginner’s mindset that sharpens our attention to our surroundings. It’s how we diagnose what’s broken and re-imagine what could be better. It’s also the first “M” in the MORE framework—Mindfulness and Mastery. We can’t master what we never pause to notice.

Wander: Intentional Movement

But wonder without motion is a daydream. So I wander. I trade comfort for curiosity, routine for runway. Whether it’s a red-eye to CCW or a 45-pound ruck through Princeton at dawn, moving through space changes my thinking. New sidewalks create new synapses; new faces create new empathy.

Wandering embodies the ‘O’ pillar—Optimism and Opportunity. It’s a vote that something useful waits out there—if we’re willing to walk toward it.

Where Wonder Meets Wander

Experience Manufacturing™ teaches that every interaction is a design decision. The same applies to journeys. Tomorrow’s airport lines, hotel lobbies, and conference hallways are my laboratory. I’ll ask: What emotions live here? Where is trust earned or eroded? Those answers become raw material for the Human Code and, ultimately, for smarter AI that amplifies—not replaces—our humanity.

A Pocket Guide for Fellow Travelers

  1. Pack three questions, not just three shirts.
    1. What am I here to learn?
    2. Who can teach me?
    3. How will I pay that lesson forward?
  2. Leave one corner of your schedule blank. Serendipity needs whitespace.
  3. Record micro-moments. A barista’s greeting, a stranger’s gratitude—tiny signals of emotional equity that compound when we notice them.
  4. Return different. If your return flight lands you back in the exact same perspective, you didn’t truly travel.

Why This Matters Now

We live in an AI-first, always-on economy where attention is currency and time feels scarce. Wonder slows us down long enough to see; wander speeds us up just enough to act. Together they create momentum—the “E” pillar of Execution and Effectiveness—without breaking people or processes along the way.

An Invitation

This week, whether you’re crossing time zones or crossing the office floor, ask yourself:

Where can I see the wonder of the world and wander toward it?

Then share what changes. If you see me in Vegas—in the hallway huddle after my CCW session or wandering the Expo floor— say “hello.” Tell me what you noticed traveling. That exchange is the More Effect in action: two humans choosing kindness, curiosity, generosity, and growth—together.

You get one life. How you spend your time is all you have.

Let’s spend a few miles of it becoming more.

In a bit of serendipity, a fraternity brother shared Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam” with me this morning, written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Read the lyrics as if they were a poem. Wander. Wonder.

About Jeremy
Jeremy Victor is a father, coach, and senior executive in the digital health industry. He writes about leadership, emotional intelligence, and the modernization of work in the AI-first, always-on economy. His mission: help people—and the systems they work in—Become More. Join Jeremy online at his Substack: Business at the Speed of AI, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, OneMORE Minute.