The Path Is Yours To Create
The Road Less Travelled, Setting Your Pace, Laying Bricks
Happy Friday — I hope it’s a joyful one!
Status Quo Buster Trivia: Before building a franchise that grossed over $1.5 billion in box office collections worldwide, this filmmaker and actor had $106 to their name.
Who do you think it is? Scroll down to find the answer 👀
Before you jump to the bottom, I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter which aims to get your wheels turning in the direction of paving your own way in life.
Curious
An idea from me to spark your curiosity about paving your own path:
Perhaps the appeal of the road less travelled isn’t that few have journeyed the path. Maybe it’s the absence of society telling you how you should be doing it.
As I was running last Friday, my mind drifted into reflection.
The road was quiet. Sounds consisted of birds chirping, the odd car passing by, my feet thudding on the tarmac, and my breath rhythmically moving in and out.
I was around 7 miles in when the idea popped up.
At the start of a horse race stewards round up the pack and herd them into the starting gate. A flag is waved, the gates burst open, and the jockeys bolt off on their horses in a race to the finish line.
All headed in the same direction, with the same goal and a singular focus on the endpoint.
Uncanny resemblance to how life is lived in the status quo.
From early on, you’re ushered into lanes with pre-determined milestones and are measured against the “norm”.
The pace is set. The direction is programmed. You do your best to keep up with the pack.
Like a horserace, the crowds celebrate when you do what is expected of you and lambast you when you don’t.
I love watching races for entertainment, but I certainly don’t love living my life like a race. A dash to the finish? The end will come. Why would I sprint to it?
From time to time, a jockey becomes unseated and the horse runs free.
Nobody pushing it in a fixed direction. Unshackled from the reigns. Running its own journey now. That’s what happens when you decide to take the path less travelled.
Watching a free horse gallop in the paddock is a beautiful sight. No rules. No outcome conditioning their movement. Making it up as they go.
People will tell you how to live through their conditioned lens. If you’re going to listen to others, listen to those who have journeyed a similar path to the one you are paving. Listen, but don’t rely on them either. There is no singular way to live.
Put your blinkers on. Block out the noise. Do it your way. Whatever feels natural, follow it. You must be ruthless in protecting what matters most to you.
If you reach a point where you want to change paths, lay a brick in a different direction and start paving a new one.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this idea.
Conscious
Writer, on consciously setting the pace of your own path:
“Doing less and slowing down is more difficult to do in our media-centric world. People are sharing in more places, more often, and in a greater variety of ways. It’s easy to look around and conclude this is something you are required to do. So often, we feel pressure to align to the energy level and pacing of others. I encourage you to set your own pace, and to feel good about it.” - Dan Blank
Source - Substack Notes
Change
A question to help clarify how you want to live:
Exercise: What does your path look like? What is one brick you can lay today to pave it?
Starting with the end in mind can bring real clarity to what matters most to you. In a previous post, ‘Why You Must Be Ruthless’, I outlined the 5-step exercise I used to change my path, and I’m glad I followed it!
Changing trajectories can be difficult. From my own experience, I’ve learned that you won’t have all the answers and it won’t always be clear where you’re going but it’s better than reluctantly going in a direction you don’t want to go.
Live Free,
Niall
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Status Quo Buster Trivia Answer
Sylvester Stallone.
“…You’ve got this poverty thing down. You really don’t need much to live on…I may be totally wrong, and I’m going to take a lot of people down with me, but I just believe in it.”
Sylvester was originally rejected to play ‘Rocky’ in his own movie script. He was offered $360,000 for the script but turned it down despite being broke. He muted what society was telling him to do and believed in himself. The quote above is a perfect example of paving your own path regardless of the conditions.
Source: Forbes
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This was so beautifully written and love the metaphor that runs through it. The path is yours to choose - and yours to embrace!
Love this analogy Niall. You paint the picture very vividly. I can see it and I agree.
But I'm not sure if most of us are sprinting, full force and full focus to the end goal. Some sprint, some go in draf, some walk and some go unleashed.
I think for many the end goal is vague, unclear and their just doing something...
You got me thinking! That's for sure 😊
Loved this edition!!