The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life

Though hard to define, prestige can be thought of as the attention you get when you do things that others see as impressive.

Some people inherit values and practices as a house they inhabit; some of us have to burn down that house, find our own ground, build from scratch, even as a psychological metamorphosis. REBECCA SOLNIT

I’ve realized that my case is closer to the norm and the people that are on the path they are meant to be on are more the exception than the rule.

This is the trap of prestigious career paths. Instead of thinking about what you want to do with your life, you default to the options most admired by your peers.

The problem is that our culture has engaged in a Faustian bargain, in which we trade our genius and artistry for apparent stability. – Seth Godin

Based on the experiences of others who leave the default path, this stage of contradiction is common. You take a last stand, doubling down on the existing path despite all evidence that it is no longer working.

Junger reflected, “humans don’t mind hardship, in fact, they thrive on it; what they mind is not feeling necessary.”⁠11 Junger argues that “modern society has perfected the art of making people not feel necessary.”

It’s hard to overstate how powerful this force has been in my life. Seth Godin argues that humans are wired “to become a member in good standing of the tribe” and on the default path this means we will tend to conform.113 On the pathless path, powered by digital communities, we can surround ourselves with people that inspire us and push us to impro

On the pathless path, once you open yourself up to possibilities and start experimenting with different ways of working and living, the biggest problem is the paradox of choice. There are too many interesting things worth doing and too many places to visit. To prioritize, developing a set of principles to help you make decisions is essential.