The PATH - An Introduction

Welcome to the PATH... where I will document and share weekly updates on my professional journey(1). 

What does PATH stand for? I don't know yet. Right now, I'm still trying to figure out how to brand and market myself. This whole month has pretty much been about that. 

For the past 4 years or so I've been using #pathofatrillionaire(2) to document my rags to riches story as it happens. But, while asking for feedback on my podcast(3), I had quite a few people comment about the trillionaire part… they were too hung up on the fact that I'm not a Trillionaire instead of realizing the Infinite Game I was playing by setting such an insane goal. 

So I want to rebrand my journey such that people don't get distracted from what is actually important: the journey. 

I want to change the world with Radically Ambitious Empathy(4). 

• That will involve utilizing the ideals of egoistic altruism to encourage people to do the right thing Because it's in their best interest to DTRT. 
• It will involve inventing and molding magical technology that inspire people to dream big and be able to back it up with action too.
• And it will involve creating and fostering communities, systems, and tools that empower people to solve important problems and live fulfilling lives. 

Every step of the way, I want to embody these principles. 

I guess that means the PATH stands for:

Positivity and Progress

Ambition

Transformation

Hope. Humanity. and Hip-hop(5)

Or something like that…I’ll figure it out as I go.

Anyways, here is what I did this past week:

• Reached out to people that work in positions I think I can do but need insight about, at companies doing impactful things.
• Researched interactive computer pioneer, Douglas Engelbart and his vision for the future. 
• Shared a few ideas I had for NoCode projects on Twitter.
• Renewed use of OKRs and process spreadsheets to maintain our excellent operations at the arcade.
• Connected my CEO with a very promising free roam VR company contact... 
• Edited my friend’s design portfolio projects.

Key Step on the PATH this week? (6)

I think the thing that will pay the most dividends later on and lead me ‘furthest’ down my path is starting this here blog. 

I really enjoyed writing on Medium, but I often felt like I was in an abyss... or a box with walls of impenetrable fog. I feel like LinkedIn will be a much better way for me to achieve my goal for writing: to document my life, thoughts, and journey in a way that other people may stumble upon value they never realized they could get. 

I will still get back to Medium one day, but today, I am looking forward to what may come of sharing here on LinkedIn. 

--

Thanks for reading.

Please feel free to let me know your thoughts and share your journey as well.

Notes, tangents, and shameless plugs (7):

1. As is obvious now, but this first (few?) blog(s) will not be very ‘professional’... they’re not polished or designed to be like what you may usually read on LinkedIn. I just don’t know how to create (or enjoy) that corporate feel on what is supposed to be a public journal. But I understand that LinkedIn has it’s own ‘feel’ to it.. So I’ll do my best to make these more contextual for the platform.
2. The links in (4) will provide background for #pathofatrillionaire. But my (still unsupported) Patreon has a good amount of context on this too…?? (Warning, this was created back in 2016)
3. I’ve put my podcast on hold for now as I prioritize more mission critical things, but feel free to listen to it here: Thoughts of a Trillionaire. I was competing in the Pioneer.App tournament, where I received weekly feedback from other people creating (much cooler) things.
4. If you want to learn more about my ambitions, please feel free to read my cumulative blog post about it here (from 2015): Ambition. Or even read my book here (from 2017): Ambition in the Face of Darkness
5. HipHop really stands for Hustle… because that’s what HipHop is really all about: The expression of struggle, success, and how to get it. I can probably do a whole series on this, but the point is that I think it’s important to include that into my PATH. I may even share some of my favorite songs of the week… but I’m not sure yet, because I’d have a lot of difficulty just picking one song… or maybe I could create weekly playlists…. ??
6. I think it’s fun to try and predict the future, I have no idea which step on my long journey will lead to what, but making the prediction now will allow me to reflect on my state of mind more accurately than if I retroactively decided which steps brought me here… This is a sort of preemptive antidote to the The Road Not Taken problem.
7. Don't worry, there will probably be far less shameless plugs in later posts...