“So if you are surrounded by people who are using the wrong true north, it’s quite likely you’re gonna be confused.” In a world where many young people (356 million to be exact, on Instagram alone) look up to the likes of Kim Kardashian, who famously instructed her followers to “get your f- ass up and work” while dripping in designer gear, Godin’s advice may seem too whimsical to be true.īeing in Silicon Valley, where “the compasses are completely distorted because there’s a magnetic north in the wrong direction,” he gets that. Most people, perhaps incorrectly, view success as a long-term metric to stride for. “The goal is, did you enjoy getting from here to wherever dead is? And you do that by having a compass, not a map.”īy knowing what inspires you and following your inner compass, Godin believes you could open yourself up to a more fulfilling and “thrilling” career than by following pre-planned steps that may not even lead to your dream job. Really, “the end is your dead”, he recently told LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky’s The Path newsletter.
The issue he takes with following a predetermined path is that the end of your journey isn’t actually when you step into the dream career you imagined for yourself when you were a teen or young adult. That early-life question dictates every career move you make, from the subjects you pick at school to the job titles you fight for-and it’s a complete waste of time.Ĭontrary to the adage saying that failing to plan is planning to fail, the millionaire entrepreneur and bestselling author Seth Godin wants aspirational people to rip up their career roadmaps and embrace going with the flow.