“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs
Behind my office desk, sitting on a shelf, is a small wooden picture with the quote, “Not all who wander are lost.” by J.R.R. Tolkien. I keep it there as a constant reminder. The ability to wander is so important. The willingness to buck social norms and follow your curiosity is one I hope to instill in everyone I work with.
The mistake so many make is thinking there’s an age when they should have it all figured out. Life doesn’t work like that. It’s fluid–constantly evolving. People change. Circumstances shift. Experiences teach. We don’t all develop on the same timeline. The world will try to convince you otherwise, but you don’t have to buy into it. After many coaching conversations with people across the spectrum of age and experience, I’ve come to understand that no one has it all figured out. There isn’t some universal timeline that dictates when you should know exactly who you are or what you want. Life is lived in seasons, and just like the seasons, your heart will transition.
You’ll know you’ve found the work that truly matters to you when you answer, “What’s the work someone couldn’t pay me to stop doing?” For me, that’s teaching, training, coaching, and writing. You could offer me a billion dollars to quit, and I’d have to turn it down — because without it, part of me would die. That’s what I want for you: to find the thing that fuels you so deeply that no amount of money could take it away.
The world is in a hurry to tell you what you should do: what age you should be married, what career you should pursue, what house you should own.
Ignore that noise.
You are the one who gets to decide what to do with your one wild and precious life.
And whatever path you choose — however far you wander — please know home is not a place, but the certainty that you are walking your own path.
Now go wander and live free.
– Jordan
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