Skip to main content

Pathless path

Pathless Path by Paul Millerd is a book that, as the title suggests encourages you to get off the beaten path. 

What worked for me?

The break down of the journey, what might one encounter, what are the freedoms one experiences and how to make the most it. What I liked about it was that I have experienced almost everything the author talks about during the time I pursued the pathless path. My frustrations, my coming to terms with it, my realising that I need to change my success parameters and finally to the point when I realised what I could do with it. Every single experience of mine resonated - and I feel proud in some way to have undertaken the journey, continue to undertake in some shape or form. This breakdown is something I have not seen anywhere else. 

What did not work for me?

It is a bit too self indulgent - the author talks a lot about himself and moving from a developed country to Asia is well, not exactly off the beaten path considering the hippies did it decades ago. The second thing, the book is fairly repetitive. And then - this is what I dont like - it quotes a lot from other books and authors - the unfamiliar ones are good - but the others are well, just from the circle from the US who talk to each other in TED talks, write and figure in each others books and are almost part of a rarefied social circle. 

Having said that, it is still a good book for someone contemplating to get off the beaten path. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...