The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life (The Pathless Path Collection Book 1)

by Paul Millerd

In his view, prestige is “a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy.”⁠6

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.

What was I living for? What did I really want? How did I want to look back on my life when it was my time to go?

This is the hardest thing about being sick. It isn’t like a breakup when people tell you it will get better and you know they’re right. When you’re sick, you have to believe you will get better even though your body is telling you you’re crazy to think that.

In Weber’s view, a “traditionalist” view of work is one where people work as much as they need to maintain their current lifestyle, and once that aim is achieved, they stop working.

This kind of approach, focused not on being brave, but instead on eliminating risk, is common for people who take unconventional paths.

On the pathless path, the goal is not to find a job, make money, build a business, or achieve any other metric. It’s to actively and consciously search for the work that you want to keep doing.

With this approach, it doesn’t make sense to chase any financial opportunity if you can’t be sure that you will like the work. What does make sense is experimenting with different kinds of work, and once you find something worth doing, working backward to build a life around being able to keep doing it.

I was slow to realize this, but I know it now. The work I get paid for may shift over time, and it may or may not involve the things that I want to keep doing. But what I want to keep doing, such as mentoring young people, writing, teaching, sharing ideas, connecting people, and having meaningful conversations, is worth fighting for.

In sum, the goal of being on this path is: Being able to get to a state of being where I can spend almost all my time helping, supporting, and inspiring others to do great things with their lives.

First, question the default.

Second, reflect. When

Third, figure out what you have to offer. In

Fourth, pause and disconnect.

Fifth, go make a friend.

Sixth, go make something.

Seventh, give generously.

Eighth, experiment.

Ninth, commit.

Finally, be patient.