The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life

However, this is the whole point of embracing the gift mindset and practicing generosity. It exposes our default scripts about how we think the world should work and opens us up to new possibilities.

It might surprise you that in Greece, during the time of Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago, work was simply considered a necessary evil. The prime aim of life according to philosophers was “Eudaimonia,” which translates literally as “happiness,” but is better expressed as “flourishing.” In Aristotle’s words, “the more contemplation, the more happ

Researchers Dorthe Berntsen and David Rubin study what they call “life scripts,” which they describe as “culturally shared expectations as to the order and timing of life events in a prototypical life course.”⁠2 Their research found remarkable consistency across countries with regard to the events that people expect to occur in their lives. Most of

I now have between eight and ten different ways of making money

He had created a cocoon of human activities – conversation, interaction, affection – and it filled his life like an overflowing soup bowl.⁠

People are very aware of the absurdity of much of what you have to do to succeed in different companies and institutions, but still often gaslight themselves by starting off their own complaints with, “I know I should be grateful, but…”.

Embracing the pathless path can be a slow and frustrating journey, one that happens at a different speed for everyone. It took me years to build up the courage to quit my job and then several more years to find a mix of work, people, and a way of orienting in the world that felt like it was a path I was meant to be on. Don’t rush things. Remember:

No money is worth it if it undermines your desire to stay on the journey.

In 2019, Gallup surveyed Americans about success. In response to the question, “How do you personally define success?”, 97% agreed with the following statement: A person is successful if they have followed their own interests and talents to become the best they can be at what they care about most. In response to the question, “How do you think othe