Minerva Lab: A Journey of Curiosity, Learning, and Prototyping

Minerva Lab is the culmination of my learning experiences, curiosity, and desire for continuous growth. It embodies two core ideas: learning through the interdisciplinary methods of liberal arts and testing ideas and hypotheses as one would in a lab.

My journey in the liberal arts began as both a student and teacher at the University of Chicago. I earned my PhD in History, focusing on the contradictions of 20th-century democracy, particularly the failure of democracy in Pakistan. Growing up in Pakistan, I was preoccupied with one question: Why was Pakistan in perpetual crisis? Despite being part of intellectual circles and scholarly groups where the political and social situation of Pakistan was regularly debated, I found no satisfactory answer to this question. It was only at the University of Chicago—where I immersed myself in disciplines such as history, philosophy, social-critical theory, literature, and languages (Persian, Arabic, French)—that I began to unpack this question in all its complexities, eventually addressing it through the rigorous process of writing my dissertation. Though the journey was arduous and often disheartening, the satisfaction of gradually building a firm argument was deeply rewarding.

As a graduate student, I was also trained to teach in the university’s undergraduate liberal arts curriculum, which was unrelated to my research focus. This presented a challenge: I had to simultaneously master an array of complex subjects—from political economy to social theory to psychoanalysis and the history of imperialism and decolonization—and teach these big ideas to undergraduates. This experience revealed how teaching enriches one’s understanding and equips one with the ability to communicate complex thoughts. Since then, I’ve believed that teaching is the most effective way to learn. This conviction led me to teach the great books curriculum, covering ancient philosophy, political theory, and Shakespeare at the University of Chicago’s Graham School. With this teaching experience, I felt I had finally rounded off my liberal arts education, filling some gaps in my intellectual development. Teaching these curricula revealed the power of big ideas to expand the mind, encouraging one to consider contradictory perspectives, polarizing ideas, and to think complex thoughts.

Armed with a doctoral degree and teaching experience, I was confident in securing an academic job of my choosing. I soon learned this was a mistaken belief. After repeated rejections, I found myself at a crossroads, uncertain of my next steps. In the midst of despair, I came across Bill Burnett’s and Dave Evans’ Designing Your Life, a New York Times bestseller that introduced me to the idea of "trying stuff." The concept intrigued me, but I wasn’t sure how to apply it.

That changed in the summer of 2018 when I attended Stanford’s Life Design Lab and trained as a Designing Your Life (DYL) facilitator. I spent a transformative week with people from around the world, immersed in a curriculum that encouraged us to embrace our present while designing a future shaped by curiosity and initiative. This experience ignited a deep commitment to the practice of prototyping—experimenting and learning with a bias toward action without over-investing time, money, or energy.

I returned to Chicago energized and eager to disseminate these ideas. I offered several DYL workshops at the University of Chicago, where I witnessed firsthand the curriculum’s powerful impact on others. DYL fosters a desire for self-discovery, and the tool of prototyping opened up new avenues of learning. If I’m candid, I must admit that many of my previous jobs were marked by boredom. And, boredom has the potential to be a vehicle for self-discovery. With the awareness of the design thinking framework, I reframed these monotonous conditions and oriented myself to exploring my surroundings and connecting with a diverse group of people. I began prototyping in fields I would never have considered under normal circumstances—urban planning, architecture and design, and French to name a few.

As I continued to offer workshops, it became clear that there was a growing demand for such a program. Many attendees shared that they felt stuck in their jobs or found their work devoid of meaning. This resonates with a historical and philosophical search: the quest for purpose and meaning is a constant challenge for us in the context of contemporary challenges. Often we encounter constraints that are beyond our control. These constraints can foster a sense of helplessness and despair, what the design thinking framework calls a "gravity problem"—a situation that feels inescapable. Nevertheless, the design thinking framework, among other tools (e.g., Lego Serious Play, self-awareness) provide a way to navigate these gravity problems, offering a path to work through feelings of being stuck and helplessness. One must give themselves the chance to try.

I am grateful to my Stanford DYL mentors for nurturing my curiosity and passion for life design. Their encouragement was instrumental in building a vibrant community of life designers in Chicago, which has significantly contributed to my growth as a workshop facilitator, interdisciplinary educator, and program designer.

My greatest learning has been that prototyping is not just a tool to try things; it creates unexpected opportunities and therefore confidence when it becomes ingrained as a mindset. Prototyping is one of the core values of Minerva Lab because “A  prototype a day, turns into a promising pathway.”

Minerva Lab is about fostering curiosity, overcoming fears, and engaging in deep learning with a prototyping mindset that drives self-transformation and excellence.