Whatever path you swore you’d never tread

There’s rarely only one way to do something.

All destinations have many paths.

The hard part is opening our minds to the complete possibility of what might be. Because that often means surrendering our preferences and our pride to get where we want to go.

Sometimes we have to take an alternate route to achieve the same goal.

I recently stumbled across a news story about a pigeon wearing a tiny makeshift backpack, meant for smuggling drugs into a corrections facility. The guards apprehended the clever sky rat carrying a package of crystal meth during their routine search. Its backpack was made from a prisoner’s cut up blue jeans.

My favorite part about this story is, it wasn’t even the first attempt. Apparently prisons deal with the smuggling issue on a regular basis. The union president commented:

“In the past, we have been dealing with drones dropping drugs, throw overs from friends and family, in addition to the more traditional forms of smuggling like body packing and rectal insertion. Now we have to deal with the wildlife aspect, which is a whole ballgame. But when the prisoners spend so much time inside like that, they get very creative on what they can make.“

Now that’s being open to the complete possibility of what might be. Even the drug dealers know that all destinations have many paths. I understand many of them are violent criminals who need to be off the streets, but maybe there’s something to be learned there.

Maybe the pigeons should unionize too.

Point being, there is rarely only one way to do something. Step one is surrendering our narrow perspective and accepting that principle to be true. We make the decision that we’re not going to unnecessary limit our journey.

This is simple but not easy. Doing so requires more intention and attention, and more humility and negotiation than most people are willing to commit. But it’s worth it if it gets us where we want to go.

And the good news is, once we give ourselves permission to broaden our search, it becomes a bit of a numbers game. It’s plug and chug. We figure which alternative routes are available, which ones we’re okay taking, and then execute.

Let’s use a concrete example. Changing jobs.

This can be a stressful, confusing and frustrating experience. The bureau of labor’s research shows that employees of all ages change jobs on average every four years, according to a recent report on employee tenure.

How can we make this process more fulfilling and less overwhelming?

By broadening our search. Opening ourselves to the complete possibility of what might be, and entertaining as many scenarios that excite me as possible.

When I first transitioned from freelance work to full time employment, my hiring pool was small. I only applied for jobs at local marketing and ad agencies. Every other opportunity was basically dead to me.

Now, there were hundreds of agencies to choose from in my city. But relatively speaking, compared to the number of non agency jobs available at the time, that was a very small percentage. I was seriously limiting myself.

No wonder filling out applications and going on interviews was such a goddamn slog. I quickly ran out of companies to apply for. I spent way too much time with my finger up my own ass, rather than being strategic about arriving at my destination in any way possible. Back then, I was still operating on the assumption that there was only one way to do things.

Fast forward to a decade later. After working in the corporate world for ten years, I realized that agency life was a toxic stew of competition, sabotage and poor boundaries. Not the healthiest environment for a recovering workaholic. And frankly, not the best use of my skills either.

What’s more, we were in the middle of a pandemic. Remote work had become normalized. Which meant that my hiring pool was an order of magnitude bigger than before.

And so, rather than applying for five jobs a day, I was now applying for a hundred jobs a day. At organizations I never would have considered in my first iteration of the search. years. Hell, I was doing interviews at companies of every size, shape, color, industry and culture. Even if there was only a smidgen of interest, I thought to myself:

Why not? What do I have to lose by being open to the complete possibility of what might be?

I may as well go see what’s out there. I already don’t have a job, so there’s no downside here. What is the company going to do, reject me? Fine. Go ahead. That just puts me back in the exact spot I was before, but with more market intelligence.

And for the record, one summer I did forty job interviews in thirty days. With dozens of wonderful organizations who worked in tech, healthcare, aerospace, human resources, cybersecurity, cloud automation, manufacturing, and more.

Now, did I find jobs? Damn right I did. I always do, and I always will. I am an experienced professional who trusts his abilities and believes in his earning potential.

But the accomplishment that I’m most proud of is the intention. I figured out which alternative routes were available, which ones I was okay taking, and then executed.

Do you still think there is only one way to do things? Or do you accept that all destinations have many paths?

As the old adage goes, there’s more than one way to sneak drugs into a prison.

It’s time to let the floodgates of imagination open up. Whatever openness has been conditioned out of you, either by your own preferences and pride, or by other people’s expectations, find a way to get it back.

If you see an opportunity that’s in alignment with your aspiration, take it.

If there’s a solution to a problem that your younger self would have avoided, try it.

Whatever path you swore you’d never tread, try dreaming bigger dreams instead.

How could broadening your search into a numbers game make the journey more fulfilling?