The Path Less Travelled

Testing. Testing. Is this thing on? Apologies for the radio silence. Since moving into the new studio it’s taken the old grey matter a while to adjust to the change in writing environment.?

Nothing a good walk, in good company, with lots to talk about couldn’t fix (cheers James Wong ).

I often find that a small shift of perspective and wandering off the beaten path helps. And that’s exactly what we did today. Went on a route on a path I’ve traveled hundreds of times before and with the tiniest detour discovered something beautiful and new.

I mean look at that fox mural. If that isn't a sign we were on the right path I don't know what is!

It reminds me of my favourite Robert Frost poem.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

It got me thinking about all the things that have happened in my life that I thought had no interconnectedness, but really do because I went round the houses. (Something I wholeheartedly encourage every young person to do by the way).

You’ll eventually figure yourself out, but sample and try as many things as you can along the route and take detours on purpose!

Here are some of mine.

My childhood - a love of all things fantasy (I was a very bookish kid) and disappearing into fantasy worlds. Allowed me to world build a digital community from scratch and combine that with my love of video games to gamify the process.

My stint as a mental health nursing assistant - gives me empathy and understanding for others perspective. Useful for sales calls and moving clients through phases were they might be lost in the growth and are stuggling.

My role as a mentor - gives me the listening tools and I’ve been here before mindset to listen, create connection and build bridges with others through vulnerability. Extremely useful I might add when coaching clients.

My career in video - a love of film as a kid and a desire to create those moving pictures lead me down the path of video. Where I discovered editing, motion graphic design, camera work, lighting, directing and producing. Pretty darn useful in the current age and useful to share my knowledge in that field as a video consultant and content creator.

My love of social media - Having a platform to build an audience and share what I learn with them is a gift. So thanks for that LinkedIn

It’s helped me feed my family and meet some amazing people along the road.

They all look fairly disconnected don’t they and each time I took a less travelled route and maybe I couldn’t see the path whilst I was walking it, looking back it seems to me clear as day.

So listen to that advice if you want from friends or family. But following your intuition (if you’re naturally curious) will allow you to really drill down into the things that excite you the most.

In his book Mastery Robert Greene describes it like this?

"You possess a kind of inner force that seeks to guide you toward your Life’s Task— what you are meant to accomplish in the time that you have to live. In childhood this force was clear to you. It directed you toward activities and subjects that fit your natural inclinations, that sparked a curiosity that was deep and primal. In the intervening years, the force tends to fade in and out as you listen more to parents and peers, to the daily anxieties that wear away at you. This can be the source of your unhappiness— your lack of connection to who you are and what makes you unique. The first move toward mastery is always inward— learning who you really are and reconnecting with that innate force. Knowing it with clarity, you will find your way to the proper career path and everything else will fall into place. It is never too late to start this process.”

To find your life task he defines it as having 5 components.

1. Return to your origins: for many of the masters, their inclination presented itself clearly during childhood. What were you obsessed with when you were younger?

2. Occupy the perfect niche: Find where your interests align in a field to identify a particular niche that you can dominate.

3. Avoid the false path: We’ll all be attracted to fields for the wrong reasons: money, fame, parental influence. We have to rebel against these forces and be honest about what our interests are.

4. Let go of the past: Avoid the sunk cost fallacy, if something is wrong for you, abandon it. You’re not wedded to your past choices. Don’t feel like you have to rigidly stick with a plan that you set before.

5. Find your way back: You’ll be tempted to deviate from the path throughout your pursuit of mastery, even if you do mistakenly veer away, you can always come back.

So I encourage you who might be reading this that are maybe of a younger persuasion to embrace the path less travelled.

Who knows where you’ll end up. But one things for sure.

It’ll be a grand adventure.

I’ll leave you with my favourite poem from the Hobbit by Tolkien.

Roads go ever ever on,

Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

By streams that never find the sea;

Over snow by winter sown,

And through the merry flowers of June,

Over grass and over stone,

And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar.

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

Look at last on meadows green

And trees and hills they long have known.