Blog

“The longer you spend on a path that isn’t yours, the longer it takes to find a path that is.” – Paul Millerd

Yesterday, we spoke about the first step in developing your Life Strategy from age 18 – 35:

Figuring out what the hell you want.

In other words:

What actually matters to you?

The most honest answer, in most cases, is:

“I have no idea.”

Which brings us to our second principle:

2. Cast a wide net.

“Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” – Steven Pressfield

What you have right now is energy and freedom, what you need is wisdom and self-understanding, which can only be earned through life experience.

Here’s how to get it:

• Travel, ideally a lot…

…Not to check destinations off your bucket list, but to learn about the world and about yourself, by your reflection in it.

(and, to figure out where you actually want to live, instead of settling for where you were born)

• Have a variety of relationships with a variety of partners to learn what you’re looking for, and not looking for…

…And, to develop the critical relationship skills necessary for making a long-term partnership work.

• Expand your social life and maximize opportunities to meet new people, while deepening your connection with your current social circle.
• Satisfy your lower desires (responsibly) — party, chase girls, spend money on dumb sh*t if you’re so inclined, even seek status and validation if you absolutely must.

If it’s in your system, burn through it so you can comfortably move on to higher purposes later on, without regrets.

(also; wear condoms, pull out, don’t get addicted to anything, and stay out of jail — being not-stupid is more important than being smart)

• Collect data on what you like, what you don’t like, and especially, and what you love.
• As you learn more about yourself, slowly narrow your focus until your life is full of things you love and (mostly) free of things you don’t.

Meanwhile…

3. Develop your skill set.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein

Sounds obvious, I know — but what’s not so obvious is what you’ll realize ten years from now:

Learning new skills is vastly easier when you’re young.

Your mind is far more flexible, more adaptable, and more willing to suck for extended periods of time until you get good — which is critical to the learning process, because everyone sucks at everything, at first.

The trick, of course, is knowing which skills to focus on.

(think of the poor bastards who spent four years and tens of thousands of dollars learning HTML, only to be wiped out by modern no-code software and instant-code AI…)

Here are some reliable guidelines…

• Master your communication skills, both through study and a sh*tton of real-world interactions.

(we’ll be doing a deep dive on communication at the retreat this year — recording coming to The Path soon…)

• Sharpen your thinking skills. Make a study of biases and self-deceptions, and observe them at work within your own mind. Build a network of reliable mental models to run your thinking through; turn your mind into a precision tool.

(this will be another retreat deep dive — Path members get ready…)

• Study human behaviour, persuasion, and marketing — this is a skill set that can produce income in any business environment.
• Learn to write and/or speak, and find your unique voice.
• Start building — the business, the product, the idea in your head. You’ll learn much more, much faster, through doing than through study.
• Make it your mission to tackle challenges you don’t know how to overcome. Then, overcome them.
• Optimize for learning and growth over short-term gain; this will lead to much larger gains over the long-term.
• Keep a keen eye out for skills you feel naturally gifted at, and work you feel naturally inspired towards. Nature leaves clues.

Finito.

Three more tomorrow…

• T

P.S. Here’s Part 1, if you missed it.

There are days where we struggle through the spiritual meatgrinder we call life.

When the world’s got you down, and your soul feels like it’s been put through a cheese grater, that’s when you need a dollop of Alan Watts’ philosophy.

So on days where I want to clock out early and just be…

Here are 5 things I reflect on often:

Reality check: Watts reminds us that we’re all just fancy mud playing dress-up in a universe-sized sandbox. His philosophy slaps you with the cosmic truth that your problems, while valid, are about as significant as a flea’s hiccup in the grand scheme of things. Oddly comforting, right?

Mind-bending perspective shift: Watts’ ideas are like mental gymnastics for your brain. They flip your worldview upside down, inside out, and sideways. Suddenly, your troubles look different – maybe even manageable – when you’re seeing the world through Watts-tinted glasses.

Ego deflation station: Feeling full of yourself? Watts’ philosophy is the pin to your balloon of self-importance. It reminds you that you’re part of something bigger, interconnected, and wildly beautiful. Your ego shrinks, but your sense of wonder explodes like a supernova.

Laughter in the face of absurdity: Watts had a knack for pointing out the ridiculous circus that is human existence. His philosophy helps you see the universes wild joke, and guess what?

You’re the punchline. But so is everyone else, so might as well laugh about it.

Freedom from the hamster wheel: Watts challenges the rat race mentality that’s got us all running in circles. His ideas are like bolt cutters for the mental chains of societal expectations.

Once you grasp his concepts, you might just find yourself doing a happy dance in the rubble of your former preconceptions.
If you drop his name into the search bar in Youtube. There are hundreds, if not thousands of audios, full talks and compilations you can inject into your earholes.

Get off of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit and open up your soul to a little philosophical loving.

Stephen Walker

You want the truth about creativity?

It’s not some mystical bullshit where you dance naked under a full moon and wait for the muse to French kiss your brain.

It’s not about finding the perfect artisanal coffee shop with just the right amount of hipster ambiance and pretentious baristas.

It’s about planting your ass in a chair and staying there until your fingers bleed alphabet soup.

You think 23,748 words is impressive? That’s cute. That’s what happens when you stop making excuses and treat writing like the soul-crushing, mind-numbing job it really is.

You lock yourself in a room at 9 AM like you’re cosplaying as a hostage in your own personal word dungeon.

You don’t come out until the work is done or you’ve forgotten how doors work. 
(This actually happened cause I had to escape for a little break to refuel on spite and caffeine)

No excuses? Damn straight.

Your dog ate your laptop? Write on its back with a Sharpie.

Alien invasion? Better hope those probes come with a word processor.

The apocalypse? Well, congratu-fucking-lations, now you’ve got plenty of material.

Distractions? Ha! The only distraction you’re allowed is the occasional bout of existential dread or the burning desire to headbutt your keyboard until it spells out a bestseller.

Your phone? Throw it out the window.

Social media? Block that shit harder than your ex trying to friend request you after ghosting for three years.

The writing got done because you stapled your ass to that chair and told your brain, “Listen here, you lazy bag of neurons, we’re not leaving until we’ve vomited words onto this page like a freshman after their first keg stand.

“There’s nothing romantic about it, kids. It’s not about inspiration striking like lightning.

It’s about grabbing inspiration by the throat and forcing it to do your bidding like some demented puppet master.

You think Hemingway waited for the perfect moment? Hell no. He wrote drunk, edited sober, and probably insulted a few people in between.

So, all you aspiring wordsmiths and various flavours of creatives out there, here’s the cold, hard truth:

The muse is a fickle bitch who’ll leave you high and dry faster than a date who realises you can’t afford the fancy restaurant.

Waiting for inspiration is like waiting for your cat to appreciate you – it ain’t happening.

Not knowing what to write about? Welcome to the club. We meet at the bar of perpetual despair every night.

What matters, what really fucking matters, is putting your ass in that seat and getting to work.

You write when you’re tired. You write when you’re hungover.

You write when you’d rather be doing literally anything else, including giving yourself a root canal with a rusty spoon.

And yeah, after puking out 23,748 words, you’re gonna feel like your brain’s been put through a wood chipper and reassembled by a drunk toddler.

Your editor’s gonna look at that mess tomorrow and wonder if you’ve been possessed by a demon with a grudge against the English language.

But you know what? You did it. You showed up. You faced the blank page and told it who’s boss.

And tomorrow? You’re gonna do it all over again, because that’s what writers do. We’re not artists, we’re word factories running on caffeine, self-loathing, and the faint hope that maybe, just maybe, we’ll write something that doesn’t make us want to set fire to our laptops.

So strap in, It’s gonna be a long, bumpy ride on the Creative-Express, and the only stops are Writer’s Block City and Carpel Tunnel Junction. But hey, at least you’re moving forward, one painful word at a time.

Now get back to work, stop reading this email. Those words aren’t gonna torture themselves onto the page.
Stephen Walker