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I took a look down every single one of the 90+ people in our group program, and here’s what I see across the board:

• They are unusually smart - in a lateral thinking + skills way (and high EQ to go along with it), and unusually talented at several things.
• Eclectic life experiences
• Worldwide from… let’s see here… 6 continents looks like (anyone know anyone in Antarctica might be interested in my work?),
• And are, to a one, out there with some version of work-boots on and sleeves rolled up trying to make the world a kinder and better place. They would inspire you, for sure.

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They have a LOT of ideas, interests & talents, and get tangled up trying to choose between them in order to move forward with something...

They are very renaissance - or multi-potentialite as they say now - these folks have more interests and passions than you can shake a stick at - which has run them up against the problem of ’choosing’. They are asking ‘wtf am I doing with my life (next)?’ but then assume that the only way to answer that question is to PICK ONE THING AND RUN WITH IT. And so they try this, multiple times, and it doesn’t go well. For some people out there, this is a good strategy. For my folks - nope. It’s exactly the wrong strategy.

Some dead-ends or fizzle-outs have led them to frustration & hand-wringing, then deep disappointment and worrying on the pillow at night that maybe there’s something wrong with them. And all the while, they sense they’re here to do SOMETHING gawdammit, and time is ticking. They’re not getting any younger. I had a new client from Australia tell me this week that her greatest fear is “never figuring out the 'WTF am I doing with my life' question”. Our chat may have helped a good deal with that.

This confusing conundrum is exactly the thing that leads most people into my work. - where they learn that for someone like them - they don’t HAVE to choose - and probably SHOULDN’T - that’s precisely why things have been tough. For the benefit of not just them, but the world they wish to contribute to, they can - and should - combine several of their ideas into the ONE THING. I offer them a template to fill in which tends to make all that work.

The essential paradigm shift is that most of them - no, all of them - are Experience Designers not specialists - which is why the ‘choosing’ model was exactly what they shouldn’t do and why they got tripped up for years / decades. Imagine the person creating a new coffee shop that everyone in town will soon call their favourite - and they’re talking to the bank manager about a loan. “Now, are you selling coffee? Or tea? - you gotta pick one to make this business work.” For experience designers, they are not ‘pickers’, they are creators - and will fill that coffee shop with fantastic experiences of a varied nature - and THAT’s why it works - not because they chose coffee over tea.

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And perhaps some words now about their personalities.

They are, for sure, very unique and different from each other - perhaps moreso than your average sample-set, but… a few things are the same for all of them…

They are ferociously independent, I find. They blaze their own trail in life, and it DEFINITELY doesn’t look like the average around them. They are wierd - in a good way. And f***ing determined - they KNOW they’re here to do something, no matter what anyone says about how they should just ‘settle’. They are hell bent to figure it out, and by holy god when they DO figure it out, you can’t get them stopped. You’ve never seen such intrinsically motivated people.

That, and mainstream formulas don’t work well at all for this bunch - because they are here to innovate and change things - but a solid structure with lots of freedom in it, and questions to help them figure out their own unique path, does.

Oh, and though they look all peaceful and some even kinda spiritual at first blush, woe betide the hapless chump who accidentally waxes dictatorial to one of these folks. You’d best step back. They will take your f***ing head off. Maverick to an individual. They’re very open to suggestions, and allergic to un-earned or un-merited authority.

Basically - it’s like herding cats in here - and I like it a lot.

I find it great fun.

And I also generally feel like the least amazing person in the room. I’ve surrounded myself with cool giants. And that’s not me being self-deprecating. It’s by design. It’s what I wanted for my own life - to be able to spend my working days with people like this. This is what lights me up. The minute I start preferring sycophants to visionaries who impress me … well… as they say… ‘take me out back.’

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But there's one more thing... the spark...

But there is one more thing that every. single. one of them has in common - a thing that stands out beyond anything else. It’s a thing I can’t ever find the words for, but I know it when it’s there… It’s some kind of energy - or… presence, I guess. A glint to their eye. It’s like some combination of: aliveness meets mischief meets badass.

Impossible as it is to put into words, I have no trouble feeling it. I can ‘sense’ it in the first email they ever send me - before I even meet them. I often know in a micro-second if we’re going to be a good fit to work together. It’s some kind of twinkle… something that winks out from between their words, like irrepressible sunshine poking out from between clouds.

When that ‘feel’ is there, it brings me a kind of familiarity feeling, like I’ve known them all my life. I feel comfort, curiosity about them, and some kind of belonging that can only be discerned by ‘feel’ and not words.

It’s the thing that will never fit neatly into a business plan, but the #1 energy that the entire Big Dream Program runs on. And the #1 reason I like it.

When you're figuring out your work in this world - and your brain is tired from weighing the options - it can be an idea to think of the kinds of people that make you feel this way, and then start changing everything this week - to work more with them. You will find your way.

Cheers, and thanks for listening to my ramble.

And thank you for supporting my work.

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~Alex