The Paved Road Conundrum

Don’t miss my exclusive news at the end.

Think of our lives as being on an ever advancing path, a road if you will. Our daily tasks beyond about the age of five are channeled through the education system. Kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school, often followed by college, and sometimes even a graduate or doctoral degree. We are one of many, with little variation, moving forward on the predestined path laid before us.

Once the formal education system route is complete, we move on to the professional, largely influenced by our education. The same education system that was adapted from the Prussian Model, designed to instill uniformity and obedience – one size fits all. “Go to school, get good grades, get a good job.” Buck the system or break the mold – punishment.

We therefore select our profession, a path that occupies a tremendous amount of our time and energy in our life, based on principles, ideas, and values that were passed to us from a system that has a near zero priority in the revelation and empowerment of the individual that lies within us all.

We are on the paved road of sameness, and we quickly find ourselves in a conundrum.

The individual within us has been beaten down since we were small children. But when the fun and games of school are over, most people realize that their lives are not what they want them to be. Worse – they know something is wrong, but can’t identify it.

Take me for example: I chose my college major because it was easy and mildly interesting, ensuring good grades for a scholarship to law school. Naturally one might think that my attending law school meant I wanted to be a lawyer – wrong. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I figured I would figure it out there.

Remarkable, truly. 

When I asked my fellow students why they'd chosen law, the majority of them gave me answers that had nothing to do with their interests or passions. They dedicated three years of their lives, and a significant sum of money (usually debt) to attend law school for one of these reasons – money, their parents, or they didn't know what else to do. 

Lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants, financiers, salesmen… these are examples of paved roads. People choose these professions directly or indirectly because they don't know what to do. These paved roads do not require creativity or real risk to be successful - they have been trodden by countless before, have carved in stone criteria on how to advance, and are plentiful in opportunities to practice given how common they are.

Even outside the “good” jobs, the majority of people that work are not doing something that they selected with intention, knowledge, and education on how to make the selection in the first place.

Because we have chosen a path that has nothing to do with us as a unique individual, we are likely to hate or dislike what we spend a significant portion of our life doing. The amount of time we spend doing something we have no interest in compounds. Misery, depression, and aimlessness ensue.

Many people, myself included, eventually realize they are on a paved road they do not wish to be on. At this point, we consider the alternative. Halting our march along the proverbial highway to hell, we pause, look to our side, and see a vastness stretching as far as we can see. We approach the edge now see it for what it is – a dense jungle, wilder than our imaginations could ever conjure. A colossal expanse of tangled green foliage, it pulses with humid life and towering trees, each breath of its steamy air heavy with the scent of earth, decay, and the unknown.

Our life, the one we were meant to live, is somewhere in there. It is the road unchartered – it is no road at all. If we want a path of our own, we have to create it. Our tools are a machete, our willpower, and a compass, our internal voice.

While the task may seem daunting and require of us that which we have never given, nor know how to give, it is one that will give us the things the paved road never will - purpose and freedom. We will toil carving this path, each inch made by us, in a way only we can fashion. It will test us in ways we cannot imagine.

It didn’t have to be that way. Five year old us could have been brought up in a system with a simple, yet consistently applied ethos – discover your passions and interests, and learn to provide value to others through them.

The path I described is the most difficult version of that scenario, it may come easier to others in their chosen direction. Whatever the cost, it will challenge us.

But if we are to truly live… 

"I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and impossible. The fact that something seems impossible shouldn’t be a reason to not pursue it. That’s exactly what makes it worth pursuing. Where would the courage in greatness be if success was certain and there was no risk. The only true failure is shrinking away from life’s challenges." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I promised you exclusive access to the details of my first ever group trip. Here they are: 

My favorite country in the world, Kenya – where I spent five weeks in last year. 

• Early November

• 8 nights/ 9 days

• Safari in the best location on the planet, the private conservancies in the Maasai Mara / Serengeti Ecosystem, followed by immersion into one of the most unique cultures in the world, via time in the UNESCO World Heritage Site ancient city of Mombasa, ending in relaxation in the most idyllic beach town you never knew existed, Watamu.  

• Currently six spots available.

• Prioritizing the formation of the most cohesive and aligned group possible, reservation is on an application basis. Further details to come next week, but if you know what’s good for you (confident, but accurate), shoot me an email to learn more and pre-reserve.

Cannot tell you how incredible this trip is going to be, can’t wait to meet the wise people that elect to go.

Hope you enjoyed today’s thoughts.

Sincerely,

Jacob

P.S. Book it.