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How to Walk the Path

January 13, 2009

From:  Gergen, C. & Vanourek, G. (2008).  Life entrepreneurs: ordinary people creating extraordinary lives.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.

A follow-on point about the (winding) path of the life entrepreneur is that walking on the path is only half the battle.  How we walk the path is just as important.  The mind-sets we adopt, approaches we take, and provisions we stuff into our rucksacks for the journey ahead are just as important as the steps themselves.  It is the combination of the path and how we walk it that determines the quality and character of our lives.

Life entrepreneurs are best served when they summon and employ the following on their journey:

* Authentic Integrity: integration of all aspects of our lives in a way that coheres with our true nature, flowing from our core identity (purpose and values)
* Deep Awareness: being alert to who we are and the changing needs, challenges, and opportunities that surround us
* Breakthrough Innovation: game-changing, applied creativity that helps us transcend the boundaries of the present
* Courage to Try: an openness to act in spite of our fears and a predisposition toward going for it
* Purposeful Spontaneity: a willingness to let go, improvise and seize new opportunities in a way that resonates with our deepest essence and reason for being
* Adaptive Persistence: an ethic of contribution as a defining feature of our lives (Gergen & Vanourek, 2008, p. 21).

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Created: 2009-01-13, Updated: 2009-09-05