Most mornings I came into the office and sat there struggling to start my day. Everyone around me was always moving forward towards the next achievement.Ĭhasing achievements is what brought me to that New York City job working with CEOs, the final one before I decided to quit. Yet I opted into an identity that didn’t accept such complacency. When I made that amount for the first time at 27, I felt like I had more than I could ever need. Growing up, I thought making $100,000 a year made someone rich. Then put your head down and keep going, indefinitely. Study hard, get good grades, get a good job. This was the end result of an obsessive focus on getting ahead in my twenties. I was successful, and on my way to being even more successful.

I was working at a consulting firm making nearly $200,000 a year and working on projects for some of the most recognizable CEOs in the world. I was single, spending my time at work, eating out, partying with friends, dating, and constantly plotting ways to work less or escape work altogether. This would have been unimaginable to me five years earlier when I lived in New York City. It was the end of a three‑month period where I had felt completely alive, spending my time learning, creating, solving problems, and spending time exploring Taipei with my wife. It was the first time I had shared my story in another language, and as I finished, a calmness swept over my body. I shared the story of quitting my job, deciding to move to Taiwan, meeting the woman who would become my wife, starting an online business, and living in five different countries.

As the teacher of my semester-long Chinese language class called my name, my heart started to race. Where the journey leads is to the deepest truth in you. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher.

Paul Millerd The Pathless Path Imagining a New Story for Work and LifeĪll rights reserved.

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