6 | Meandering Through the Cone
I had a conversation with a friend who has dreams of a radical career change.
He had already started to converse with people in and around the industry. He had already started building up income and setting aside cash surplus. He had a recently developed understanding that it's a long race and the power of compounding applies to relationships, knowledge, and habits just like it applies to money.
After sharing what seemed like incredible progress, he asked, "What else should I do? What's next?"
Persist, my friend. I didn't know what else to say.
For 10+ years, I have been pursuing a new vision of helping people with money.
I have seen plenty of people do exceptional work helping people with money, but I have never seen my vision in practice.
Along the way, I have had...
Infinite conversations that had useful nuggets and useless nuggets.
Career changes that directly contributed to acquiring experience and included extra responsibilities that felt like a drag.
Continuing education that pushed me forward and felt like a waste of time.
Reading, tons of reading, much that felt relevant and much that felt totally worthless.
Writing that forced me to crystallize thoughts even when I felt like I had nothing to say or the ideas felt too abstract.
In the conversation with my friend, I described it as feeling like I was in a giant cone.
At the start, the vision had infinite inputs and outputs that all fit into the top of the cone.
As conversations, career changes, reading, and everything else happened, I began to "intentionally meander" into and through the cone.
I have never known my precise location in the cone, and I don't believe there is a bottom.
There is a no destination - only the refinement and clarity that comes from moving down the cone.
When it comes to desiring change and casting a vision, I think the most important thing is to get in the cone, stay in the cone, and see where it leads.
Helpful Perspectives
The lonely unicorn by Seth Godin