“Who am I if not a worker?” That’s the question that Paul asked himself amid a health crisis after business school and one that kickstarted an almost decade-long journey of experiments, adventure, and self-reflection. The Pathless Path is a personal story, a deep dive into the history of work, and a bold proposal of a new story for thinking about how work fits into our lives. In his early 30’s Paul had a high-paying job consulting to CEOs in New York City. It was everything he thought he wanted. Yet when he asked himself hard questions about what he claimed to value, he realized he was not on the right path. He slowly builds up the courage to walk away from that job. Initially seeking to escape work and build a little more flexibility into his life, he quickly realizes that he is being pulled in a more interesting direction towards a different kind of life. Through creative experiments, living in different countries, and experimenting with extended breaks from work, he starts to realize that everything he thought he knew about work and how to live was wrong. This leads him on a rabbit hole through the history of work, where he discovers that for most of history, people did not see work as one of the most important things in life. He also discovers that many of our current ideas of work are outdated stories handed down from previous generations that were the byproduct of unique economic and demographic circumstances. These stories are no longer working for many. The Pathless Path is Paul Millerd’s earnest attempt a new story for thinking about work and life. It’s a shift from “getting ahead” to coming alive. It’s learning to develop a healthy relationship with fear, uncertainty, and discomfort. It’s also about unleashing inner creativity, finding the others, redefining success, and shifting from thinking about work as something that comes with a paycheck towards work as something that you want to commit to over the long-term.
