Mar 01, 2021

Transforming experiences

Landmark #3 is transforming experiences. It can be one or more of these that test you and if you rise to the occasion, you will experience a profound shift in self-belief.

Within business, there are three patterns of transforming experiences:

1. Start to experiment with your ideas while still employed by someone else
2. Go off on your own and take the leap into carving your own path
3. Experience near-failure and be transformed by it

The first option is the best, the second is amazing but rare, and the third is incredibly painful.

Your best bet is to be like Jeff Bezos. He was employed at D. E. Shaw when he came up his idea for “The Everything Store” and didn’t leave until he felt he had a safety net to fall back on if the venture had not worked out. If you are seeking to recreate this path, find a company to work for that is growing fast and doing interesting things to learn from.

Following a conventional path may lead to success but unreasonable success will only follow from unique insights from transforming experiences so seek these out.