I’m more than a little concerned that there is an overbearing expectation that in order to be successful in one’s career, they must find and follow some form of a roadmap.
I see this desire for a guidebook often when I am having a conversation with a new model, or a young photographer or really anyone looking to do something new to them.
They want a step-by-step instructional guide which details to them where they need to start, what precise things they need to do and where they can expect to end up if they complete this checklist.
“I’m just not sure where I start,” I hear.
The trust is, anything that is truly worth doing has no roadmap. Vice versa, if there is a roadmap, it is probably not worth doing.
So, let’s examine briefly why there is no roadmap.
First, everyone will have their own unique journey. What may have worked for one person will probably not work exactly the same for you.
Secondly if you just copy exactly what someone else does verbatim, then at best you’ll only be able to be as good as they were at that time. You would not be able to be any better. And isn’t your goal to be better?
If you look around you long enough you are going to find a bevy of examples of people doing amazing things first, before there was a map charted. They did it without a how-to guide, without a dummies book.
So before you hesitate on taking action with a statement like “I’m not sure what comes next” or “I have no idea how to get going on this” I want you to stop and realize that the successful people whom you admire in your industry didn’t know either. The difference is, they took action anyway. Look at where they are now.
JP
portfoliopatrick.com
