Why its Bad to Have a Clear Path
For entrepreneurs, freelancers, and frustrated employees.
A clear path seems good. This is wrong.
A clear path is a signal that someone else owns it.
When someone else owns it, they can alter it. When they alter it, it could mean you no longer have a path.
Some examples:
Unforeseen government regulations shut-down your business and they can’t afford to pay you anymore. COVID.
A new technology does your job better than you can. Replaced.
Your performance isn’t up to new standards. Laid-off.
Why an Unknown Path is Better
An unknown path puts the steering wheel in your hands. At first its super difficult, then you’ll never want to look back.
When the path before you is unknown, you own it. You chart your own course.
Self-discipline, adaptability, and work-ethic naturally bubble out of you because of their necessity on the unknown path. You become stronger.
Instead of waiting for someone to tell you how to be valuable. You set out to create value in society so you can sustain yourself. You’re creative and you’re free.
Freedom isn’t easy. But, its better.
Experimentation + Bloom’s Taxonomy
Experimentation is the act of trying new things to see what the result is.
On the unknown path, experimentation is what makes the unknown path unknown, but it is also what creates its immense potential trajectory.
On the 5th tier of Bloom's Taxonomy is “Evaluation”. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchy of different learning methods.
When you evaluate knowledge, you determine its priority over other knowledge.
On the unknown path, you learn how to prioritize and act upon your knowledge. On a clear path you are told what knowledge is the best to be acting on, and there's no room for experimentation or iteration. You are a cog in a wheel that is conditioned to be predictable.
There’s also no room from “owned execution” in this state. Owned execution is the ownership of the process that produces the results. Instead of receiving the same paycheck, you receive back a percentage of your ownership. That’s exponential.
On the unknown path you must learn how to experiment in the right way in the right direction by prioritizing and acting upon knowledge. Its a simple equation, but hard to master.
Experimentation is Luck
When you test a theory, you are also testing your luck. Naturally, you’ll fail 99% of the time if you are truly innovating.
Luck is finding the things that people have not yet found. They exist, you just have to find them. First you must deeply understand what has been done, and how. Then you can begin picking up from where the last innovators fell off.
Where do you notice a gap?
Final Thoughts
Following the unknown path is an iterative process that takes time to master. And it starts with you breaking out and thinking and doing for yourself.
Is that you?