Throughout life, we all make decisions, big and small.
With every decision, there’s a clear trade-off… I picture this “trade-off” through a simple analogy. Imagine standing in front of a forest with multiple trails you can take, knowing that once you’ve started down one path, you’re most likely sticking with it thanks to our friendly cognitive bias called “Sunk Cost Fallacy”. And yes… I realize this is not always the case, but most of us humans struggle to explore other paths. Sadly, the largest decisions are made when we’re the least ready to make them, especially careers.
Every one of my co-workers, friends, & family members has either stumbled into their careers or pursued a career someone (usually parents) else told them was “stable”. This is “reactive” – we’re all reacting to what we’re given, without questioning the source. But why would we be reactive to something as important as what we spend our careers on…? That’s a question I’ve asked myself constantly over the past 6+ months. I’m tired of reacting.
With that said, I’ve decided to take a step back from my career and “proactively” “wander” down many paths through a project I’m calling “The Road Less Traveled”. Each path (or road) I explore, will be linked to a meaningful problem that interests me.
My end goal is to discover a problem area that I can eventually transition my career focus towards, joining an industry, company, group, or individual trying to solve that problem…
Over the next 4+ months, I’ll focus on big problems that matter to me, spending a week at a time digging deeper into each. At the end of every week, I’ll create two things…
- A “Path” Post – Each post will be my attempt at answering the burning questions I have about these major problem areas (e.g. industry growth, technology, economics, policy, etc.). Important side note: This is a personal journey and for my education, so the posts are going to be anything, but serious. You should expect silly memes, graphics, and analogies throughout. Now… Now… Even though the way this information is communicated isn’t serious, the insights will be. These insights should be useful for more than just me (A.K.A. You!).
- A “Path” video summary – In addition to the “Path” post, I’m going to create short 10 – 15 minute videos sharing the main takeaways. These will be for the people without the time or attention to read the actual post. Hopefully, these videos are entertaining enough to get the uninterested people, interested in a specific path I’ve decided to wander down during that one-week period. And YES! These videos (like the post) will be nowhere near serious, but they will be useful.
For those of you interested in the paths that I’m considering, here’s a little sneak peek into a much bigger list I’m creating…
Climate Change
- The funding/economics in the renewable energy industry
- The “storage problem” with renewables
- Nuclear energy – misconceptions, current technology, and scaling issues
- The current state of battery science
- Subsidies + Divestment/Investment – Renewables vs. Fossil fuels
Space Colonization
- Diving into the Starlink project + its impact on society
- The satellite industry – technology, economics, and sub-sector growth
- The overall private space industry – following the money… Which sub-sectors are receiving the most funding today and possibly tomorrow?
Other possible areas I might dive into are…
- Life longevity Research
- … And many, many more …
With all of that said, I hope that some of you are inspired by my project of “wandering” down many paths and decide to do some exploring of your own. 😊
To stay updated on my random findings make sure to follow me on LinkedIn, and Instagram, and subscribe to “The Road Less Traveled” newsletter.
See you soon my fellow Wanderers!