How to embrace uncertainty and redefine success by taking a “pathless path”

“The pathless path is an embrace of uncertainty and discomfort. It’s a call to adventure in a world that tells us to conform.”  –Paul Millerd

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Paul talk about American ideas of success, what these ideas mean, and how certain kinds of success don’t improve one’s life-path (1:30); how Paul used travel and overseas living to reinvent his relationship to time and help put himself on the pathless path (16:30); how we instinctively sense when we’re on a wrong path, and what to do when we feel this way (30:00); and Paul’s ten principles for embracing the pathless path (40:00).

Paul Millerd (@p_millerd) is a strategy consultant, and the author of The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life.

Notable Links:

• Wu wei (Taoist concept of inaction)
• Joseph Campbell (comparative mythologist)
• Søren Kierkegaard (philosopher)
• Jerry Colonna (financier)
• Seth Godin (author)
• Tim Ferriss (author and podcaster)
• Commonplace book (method of compiling knowledge)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (writer)

Ten ways to embrace the pathless path:

1) Question the default
2) Reflect
3) Figure out what you have to offer
4) Pause and disconnect
5) Go make a friend
6) Go make something
7) Give generously
8) Experiment
9) Commit
10) Be patient

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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