Discover Your Own Path

Only you really know what's best for you

I used to routinely wake up early in the morning and have time for self-reflection and writing. I’ve been sleeping more lately and it’s made it harder to find quality writing time. I suppose it’s good, overall. But I’m resolved to find time to write.

I’m quite active on LinkedIn, finding it to be more interesting as a social network with mostly business talk - a topic I love. There used to be a trend of people just hopping on to share good news about work - awards, promotions, etc. It’s fun to celebrate with people, but if it’s the only reason they show up I find it less interesting. I want to hear the struggles with the successes.

Now there seem to be many more people trying to be thought leaders. The unfortunate consequence is that they try to share advice and what you should/should not be doing. This chases me off the site faster than anything. Nobody knows what you “will regret” in ten years (run fast if you see these posts). Nobody knows what will bring you joy and fulfillment except you. Every Puzzle is unique and finding what works for us requires work.

The only shortcuts are finding tools that help you discover your own path. The Puzzle is one such tool and it has worked for me when all other tools eventually fail. Most tools for self-discovery that I have tried were processes that had a goal at the end. From the shallow “recipe for success” tools to the more rigorous spiritual and philosophical system they mostly claim you should arrive somewhere instead of continuing self-discovery. Some were meant to open the mind, but just kinda drop you in the void.

The Puzzle is a practice you can return to anytime. We Puzzlemakers never finish our work. Our Puzzles will not be complete until long past when we stop laying our own pieces - the memories of us still help create pieces for others, which deepen our own. Our Puzzles are connected to so many other Puzzles, it doesn’t take too many jumps to connect all of the Puzzles in the world into The Collective Puzzle. We’re all vibrations of the same energy. The same stuff, but unique iterations.

For me, self-expression is the North Star. The Puzzle is my map. Presence is my sail. Self-reflection is my rudder. I am the boat floating in an infinite sea with everyone. We’re all in our own boats. I don’t know how to steer yours and you don’t know how to steer mine. Be weary of people who say they know where you should go. You might end up helping them build their Puzzle instead of building your own.

Now, I certainly look for case studies anytime I’m unsure if I’m pointing in the right direction. “Who has done this before and gotten the result I want?” I want to hear their path. But my path is still my own and will be different than theirs. Discovering our own paths is never-ending because we’re always at the front of the path, looking out at an infinite sea.