341: Pivoting from Prestigious Consulting Jobs to the Pathless Path with Paul Millerd
Sep 24, 2023
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Career transition expert, Paul Millerd, discusses the dangers of the achievement narrative and the trap of prestigious career paths. He emphasizes embracing the pathless path requires grappling with feeling like a bad egg.
Defining 'enough' for yourself is crucial to avoid getting caught in the achievement narrative and knowing when to say no.
Defaulting to prestigious career paths based on societal norms often prevents individuals from truly considering what they want to do with their lives.
Deep dives
Embracing the Pathless Path and Challenging Societal Norms
The podcast episode discusses the concept of the 'pathless path' and how it requires grappling with fears and insecurities outside of the default path. It explores how societal values and expectations often prioritize full-time employment and the pursuit of prestige. The episode highlights the importance of designing a path that aligns with personal values and preferences, even if it means taking a slower, unconventional route. The guest speaker shares personal experiences of leaving traditional employment to freelance and experiment, emphasizing the need to focus on what one truly enjoys and minimize unnecessary obligations. The conversation delves into the challenges of comparison and the pressure to conform, as well as the freedom and responsibility that come with building one's own path.
Navigating Fear and Uncertainty on the Pathless Path
The episode discusses the fears and uncertainties that arise when embarking on the pathless path. It explores the internal conflict of feeling like a 'bad egg' or deviating from societal norms. The guest speaker shares personal experiences of leaving a traditional job and facing negative reactions from others, highlighting the importance of trusting oneself and designing a path that aligns with personal values. The conversation touches upon the comparisons trap and the pressure to conform to others' expectations, emphasizing the need to prioritize personal well-being, freedom, and health over external measures of success. The episode encourages taking small experiments and quick actions to test and learn along the pathless path.
Overcoming the Achievement Narrative and Choosing Personal Fulfillment
The podcast episode explores the achievement narrative and the pressures to pursue prestige and external validation. The guest speaker shares insights into his personal journey of rejecting the achievement narrative and its gradual transition to the pathless path. They discuss the trap of prestigious career paths and the tendency to default to options admired by peers rather than focusing on personal fulfillment. The conversation highlights the importance of questioning societal rewards and aligning choices with individual values and desires. The episode encourages listeners to prioritize personal satisfaction and fulfillment over societal expectations and conventional markers of success.
Designing Your Own Path and Embracing Trade-offs
The episode emphasizes the importance of designing one's own path and embracing trade-offs. The guest speaker discusses the freedom and responsibility that come with building a path aligned with personal values and preferences. They share strategies for taking small experiments and quick actions to test different ventures. The conversation centers around prioritizing intentional decision-making, lowering expectations related to income, and minimizing obligations that drain energy. The episode encourages listeners to focus on what they truly enjoy and foster emotional resilience and self-awareness along their individual paths.
“I was in the wrong environment, playing the wrong game . . . so I started self-sabotaging.”
That’s how today’s guest, Paul Millerd, knew it was time to opt out of conventional thinking about his career, and turn slowly but deliberately in a new direction. In this conversation we talk about how important it is to define enough, develop an immunity to what other people are doing, and his mantra, “coming alive over getting ahead.”
Be wary of the achievement narrative: If you don’t define “enough” for yourself, it’s easy to default to more, which makes it impossible to understand when to say no.
The trap of prestigious career paths: Instead of thinking about what you want to do with your life, you default to the options, norms, and desires most admired by your peers.
Embracing the pathless path requires grappling with the feeling of being a bad egg
✅ Try This Next
Paul’s process for new ideas: ship, quit, and learn. What small experiments can you set up that you can quit quickly? How can you take action in the next week, and design it for quitting?
