You’re in Robert Frost’s shoes, standing at the juncture of two roads, and you choose the one that is less traveled. The one without all the engineers, lawyers, doctors, and every other professional everybody desperately pushed you to become. But this wasn’t even the hardest part, was it? It’s the daunting question – “what comes next?” Unlike the ones who took the other road, your path is not outlined for you, which is why you decided to walk on it in the first place, but this also means, you could either profit from your passion or become a lost soul in the crowd nobody talks about. The path is perilous, but if you reach the destination, you’d be at the peak of fulfillment.
So what do you do? Here are 3 fool-proof steps to make this journey a lot less intimidating.
1. Mind Mapping your way through the Why, How & What.
After taking the decision of which road you want to travel on, the first stepping stone is knowing the directions of this journey yourself, before someone else asks you. You’re accompanied by former google coach and job strategist Jenny Blake for this one, who is asking you to mind mapping the life that you envision. (P.S – It was a secret ingredient that allowed her to transform the career graph for over a thousand individuals. Begin with putting down the reason you decided to opt for the unconventional path, your passion, and then go ahead and draw arrows that lead you to every milestone to achieve that goal. If you are a lawyer planning to open the next door restaurant, keep asking yourself what is important to you, and what does success look like in each of these aspects of having a restaurant, as Blake would recommend. And since we are walking down a road, with absolutely no access to electronic devices, go old school with this one and do it with a pen and paper. Once you have surpassed these three important questions, you have a map in your had to walk the journey ahead.
2. Convincing someone to give you a ride ahead – Marketing yourself as the brand.
Now that you know the direction ahead, it’s time to convince others around you to come onboard. From convincing your relatives that you are no longer giving that entrance exam they almost paid the fee for, to make sure your investment is funding you. You and your business just have 7 seconds to make an everlasting impression, and thus, you need to morph you and your brand as one identity. Your aid to the rescue for this one is Richard Newman, who is the director of BodyTalk UK, ensuring success through your body language and your words. Questions always arise from a place of personal concern, and thus, you need to start thinking from a third party perspective every time you engage in conversation. Think about them, and what you would want your audience to experience. Your parents are looking to feel reassured that you will be able to put bread and butter on your table for the rest of your life, but investors are looking at ensuring that their investment does not cost them their bread and butter. At this point, you need to tap into the emotional needs to the respective individual, by avoiding all those heavy details, and just answer the big basic questions. Newman would also strongly recommend remembering every iPhone launch you diligently watched because Jobs was a master at the above skill. It’s probably why we understood the workings of a phone as well the maker’s of it did.
3. Enjoying the journey before the destination – Prioritising the experience.
The hustle of being on this road has a rush of its own, but if you are struggling to walk instead of enjoying it, you are back to the starting point. This means staying authentic to doing all things unconventional, from risky decisions to changing environments. A-Pro Tip will be to ask yourself every 30 days if you are comfortable being where you are? And if the answer is yes, know that it’s your time for another challenge.
By the time you reach your destination, looking back, the road might seem easier, but it’s you who just got better at profiting from walking it.
