So, you have to define your personal runway. You are trying something new, chartering new territory for yourself, and diving into the unknown with the hope that you’ll come out on the other end richer – professionally, personally, and perhaps even financially. If you’ve just quit your job, are changing careers, or are going through some major transition, consider yourself a startup. ![]() ![]() In the startup world, “runway” is really just a fancy term for “the time you have until your ass is broke.” How to slow down, and give yourself enough time to embrace the unknown. It doesn’t always have to be three months, but that’s just what works for me. It’s helped me when quitting jobs, switching careers, or when I’ve simply reached a point where I have no idea “what’s next”, and perhaps it may be of similar help to you. When I reflect back on what’s allowed me to transition so frequently and find myself so comfortable with the unknown, it’s a personal strategy I’ve developed over the years that I call the three-month rule of transition. Like Chaos Theory, this approach is a formula rooted in time. Sure, we could just resign to the fact that we’ll never know what’s going to happen next in our lives. Every new day and every new decision – from what we have for breakfast to whom we marry – holds infinite realm of possibilities that become harder and harder to predict based on our initial condition.įacing such an insane amount of uncertainty can be daunting. To me, that’s our “initial condition”.Īs we move through life, even though we often feel more settled, the reality is the possibilities of what we can become are actually increasing. We are brought into this world with a foundation of values, beliefs, principles, experiences, and an innate inertia based off those elements. There are just too many variables and possibilities to account for along the way. It seems impossible to predict, but in theory it could be predicted. The Butterfly Effect is a perfect example – a butterfly flaps its wings in Wichita, and through a series of chain reactions it could cause a tornado in India years later. The further from the initial point or moment a “chaotic” system evolves, the more unpredictable the path becomes. Within their apparent randomness, there are always underlying patterns, feedback loops, and elements self-organization that are determined by an initial set of conditions or moment in time. While the apple fell pretty far from the tree in terms of my actual scientific understanding, I like to think that my life – and in fact many of our lives – follows a similar trajectory as Chaos Theory, a mathematical theory that attempts to explain how complex and seemingly unpredictable systems (like the universe and weather patterns) have behaviors that can, in principle, be predicted. There was nothing about it that fueled that fire of curiosity inside of me. A promotion, a corporate ladder, a pension. I gravitated away from traditional career paths not because I hate having a boss (though true), or because I can’t sit still in an office from 9-5 (also true), but mainly because I hated the idea of generally knowing where those paths could take me. I never wanted to be the best at anything I simply wanted to do things differently. I’ve sought a life rich in experience, high in expectations, and driven by a pursuit of understanding, not necessarily a singular outcome. I’ve worked as a foreign correspondent in conflict zones and an office manager cleaning toilets an employee at multiple startups to eventually founding a few of my own. I’ve switched careers, and often entire industries, every few years. It’s an addictive combination of dopamine and adrenaline-fueled curiosity that has driven most of my adult decisions.Īs a result, I’ve gone through my fair share of transitions in life. While I never ended up becoming an astronaut (it looked way too hard) or launching into space (yet), I still feel something light up inside of me every time I face, or even think, of a journey into the unknown. It helped that my father, who had worked on some of the early Apollo missions at NASA, knew a thing or two about the topic and was all too willing to indulge my curiosity with long tales of exploration. I was endlessly curious about the cosmos, and dreamed of being an astronaut. ![]() As a kid, I can remember hours spent listening to a tape my aunt had given me for my birthday that told the adventures of “Jonathan’s Space Odyssey”, some pre-recorded narrative that likely records thousands of kids names, and swaps them into a story of deep space exploration to make them feel unique. By: Jonathan Kalan, Co-founder of Unsettledįor as long as I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with the unknown.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |