Have at least one close person to have conversations with about your journey - to help with ideas, engagement and maintaining curiosity.

Paul navigates the recruitment processes for various companies by attending networking events, landing interviews and ended up taking an offer with GE.Introduction: An exploration of the default path of success, what the pathless path really is about, and why it matters Non-duality doesn’t work the same as school, university, or your workplace. You can’t achieve or earn it, although you can learn about it. So the only practice is to let go, surrender, and learn more about non-duality – that’s why it’s called a “pathless path.”

To create your own culture on the pathless path you must identify the assumptions you make in your approach to life. Here are some of my assumptions, many of which have been sprinkled throughout this book: Many people are capable of more than they believe. Creativity is a real path to optimism, meaning, and connection. We don’t need permission to engage with the world and people around us. We are all creative, and it takes some people longer to figure that out. Leisure, or active contemplation, is one of the most important things in life, There are many ways to make money, and when an obvious path emerges, there is often a more interesting path not showing itself. Finding the work that matters to us is the real work of our lives. But the Church’s expectations had always provided a way to measure “goodness,” and for many, these benchmarks no longer applied. Change is always going to disrupt and interfere with our plans. Therefore it's important that we keep evolving with the times and taking the perpetual mindset of constant reinvention of ourselves to keep pace with change. The author interviewed multiple notable people in his book and found that each person worked hard to bring forth what was inside them - they worked hard to protect their time to focus on what mattered. We should be resolutely faithful to what we are.

One week before he departs to Asia on a month long trip, a freelance recruiting company calls Paul about an opportunity to build a consulting skills training program. Initially he is disappointed because he feels he may not be able to take the opportunity but instead he lists his terms of working 10-15 hours, double his normal rate with the ability to work from Asia. They accept his proposal!

We come to discover that we’re not our thoughts. We’re not our feelings. We’re not our preferences. We’re not our bodies. We’re not our experiences. Who we are is always shifting and evolving. Automation, remote work, consistent travel, entrepreneurship, being a brand, prioritizing experiences over possessions, grinding (sometimes), prioritizing mental health over the grind (other times). There were a lot of trends that emerged form this movement which persist to today. Tim Ferriss, with his book The Four Hour Work-Week, was one of the first high profile people to advocate for a lot of the things digital nomads aimed for. The tagline for that book was, " The 4-Hour Workweek is a new way of solving a very old problem: just how can we work to live and prevent our lives from being all about work? " (Sound familiar?)The only separation there apparently is has been constructed by the mind. This leads us to the next point: There is No Separate Self Paul looks at how the current generation enter the workforce with high expectations that we want work to be meaningful and fulfilling. It's high stakes when an entire generation of workers not only thinks that work should be the most important thing in their lives, but also that it should enable them to thrive in all aspects of their life. It’s a rare book in that it is tangentially about careers and being more focused and productive, but unlike almost every other book I have read about these topics, I finished this one and felt better about myself and my career.” As the name “non-duality” implies, there are not two different states of being – everything is connected to everything else. The thought of some future state of paradise or enlightenment solidifies a separate sense of self, a sense of “me” seeking for “that.” And as non-duality teacher Lisa Cairns says, “All suffering comes from seeking.”

In this episode I sit down for a conversation with Paul Millerd, a writer, creator, and consultant. A few years ago Paul had everything he thought he wanted from his corporate job at the most prestigious consulting firm in the world. But after realising he was on the wrong path in life, he decided to walk away and figure out how to live a life that actually mattered to him. In the conversation we talk about his book The Pathless Path, the ultimate companion for people struggling to figure out what to do with their lives, which traces his journey from certainty and tradition to uncertainty and fulfilment. So if you’re thinking about leaving your job, taking off on a new adventure or simply wanting to approach work and life with a little more curiosity, this episode is for you. Enjoy :) So with all this talk, how do we actually experience non-duality for ourselves? We’ll get to that soon, but first, a warning and disclaimer about non-duality: Dangers of Non-Duality Thought noting is a mindfulness meditation technique that helps you to become vividly aware of the thoughts running through your mind by noting them. It was this style of meditation that first helped me to see that I wasn’t in fact my thoughts – and in reality, I didn’t control them either, they just spontaneously arose and then faded away. Paul takes a leap of faith and follows Angie to Thailand but he emphasizes existing with the fears of no money, no stability and not having the answers to these prbolems. Rather than trying to tame or control them learn to accept they exist and co-exist and open up to the world. Chapter 8 - Redefine SuccessI generally consider books on three criteria, being how I felt when reading them, how I felt when finished, and what I take away from the book. For the first and third, I give the book top marks. Paul starts trying different jobs - interviewing people about Allbirds, helping a professor launch a non-profit in Boston. Paul moves to Boston to reduce his living expenses as NYC. Paul enjoys the newfound freedom and ownership over his life. The pathless path is an alternative to the default path. It is an embrace of uncertainty and discomfort. It’s a call to adventure in a world that tells us to conform. For me, it’s also a gentle reminder to laugh when things feel out of control and trusting that an uncertain future is not a problem to be solved. At what point can we finally rest? At what point can we finally find solace from the endless seeking, searching, and grasping?