The 10 Year Method - Finding Purpose & Direction

For the first half of my career I was directionless.

Out of college I desperately needed a job, so I took a gig at the first company that'd take me. I stayed at that company for 5 years and followed the growth path they had laid out for me. This got me pretty far. I got promoted a few times.

But it didn't get me to where I wanted to be.

Instead, at the age of 27, I found myself burnt out and unfulfilled. It was during this self-proclaimed "quarter life career crisis" that I was forced to go deeper. I was forced to think about, for the first time, what I really wanted in my career and in my life.

Emotionally and psychologically, this was one of the most difficult chapters in my young life. Most days I felt confused or flat-out lost. But, looking back now, it was that year, 2017, that I experienced tremendous personal growth and developed a life vision that I still work towards today.

That year I took up journaling and meditation. I started this blog. And I began unearthing a career plan that would excite me for the longterm. This inner work I did back in 2017 is ultimately what led me to become a coach, a professional speaker, and help launch two businesses (shoutout to my wife, Pema ). I've managed to do all this while traveling between New York City, Mexico City, Costa Rica, Paris and other spots.

Sometimes, when I can step away from my work and look at my life from a birds-eye-view I wonder how all this happened. And when I think deeply enough I can pinpoint it to a cold day in Boston back in the winter of 2017.

That day I went to a coffee shop with the sole intention of completing a journaling exercise I had heard on a podcast a few days prior. The podcast, hosted by Tim Ferriss, featured famed brand marketer and author, Debbie Millman. Debbie shared with the audience a simple, yet powerful, exercise that she had used herself and to assist her students in creating a longterm life vision.

After settling into my chair and taking a sip of my cortado, I flipped open my journal and wrote Debbie's prompt at the top of the page:

Debbie Millman's 10-Year Vision Prompt:

If you could do anything you wanted, without fear of failure, what would a day in your life look like 10 years from now?

For the next 15 minutes, I wrote feverishly on my pad, creating this farfetched dream life that was impossible to believe then.

I conjured up a day in my imaginary life 10 years in the future, January 30th, 2027. The day started with me waking up next to my wife (I was single at the time), in a beautiful Brooklyn apartment (I was currently living in Boston), being the owner of a business (I had no business experience), and being the author of a best-selling book (I had only written a few blog posts).

I wrote 5+ pages of this dream life that felt like someone else's - not mine. But I took the prompt seriously and thought even if it didn't work, no harm done. I then put the journal away and set a reminder on my phone to re-read it once a month.

Although most (or all) of the things I wrote down seemed impossible to achieve, I had for the first time, my north star. It was a life and career vision that genuinely excited me. And, I thought, if I could just accomplish 25% of this life, I'd be happy. So, I started slowly striving towards it.

Here's what happened...

Within three months, I got a job that moved from Boston to Brooklyn.

Within one year, I met my future wife.

Within two years, I got laid off and got to start my own coaching business.

Within three years, I landed my first paid speaking gig.

Within four years, my wife joined me in the business.

Within six years, we got a publishing deal to work on our first book (working on that now ??)

And today, I write to you from Brooklyn, still striving for all the goals I laid out in my 10 year vision, which by the way is now due in just 3 years.

I'm not sharing my story to brag.

Debbie wasn't either.

I'm sharing this valuable exercise with the hope that it can help you too.

If you feel lost, directionless, or unfulfilled...

Go to a coffee shop alone, take out your pen, and give Debbie's exercise a shot.

What's the worst that can happen?

Or, more accurately...

What's the best that can happen?

...