Beginning a 10 year Vision: 3 Paths

The next 10 years is going to have one core theme: Risk

The question is not what to do but rather what risk is going to drive me forward as the one I’m willing to take.

The first is a lack of financial stability, seeking out a doctorate in design. It could lead to a career in academia, or it could lead to me living in a 600sf apartment. Furthermore, not only is getting into a program mean a lot of work, but survival inside that program. Then, from there, is the survival within the PhD program. It’s unclear that’s all I want for a career, since I desire to be directly engaged in massive social initiatives. In many ways the effort could support it, but it could also suck all the time I did have for that type of initiative away. There are so many unanswered questions, many of which I simply won’t be able to answer until I make the leap. 

The second is to start my own business. This entails leaving the security of my corporate position with an indeterminate body of costs that I might face. I have no idea just how hard those might be. Furthermore, I’m not versed in the financial language of startup culture, nor do I think I’m adequately prepared to manage the multitude of roles that face an entrepreneur. When I went to start a company after CCS, I shortly came to grips with the tension I felt of uncertainty in myself to perform what I said I wanted to do. There’s little to tell me the next 10 years will be different. 

The third is simply the unknown opportunities of the future, but in my case particularly for the issues and challenges that face humanity. I want to do “nobel-worthy” work. Right now I see that as a designer of new social systems. Which systems, what issues, and even what form those might take is unclear. Who knows if I’ll actually leave my safe roles to do that or what it would look like. Will my work take me to Africa or Asia? What would I do if an opportunity like that actually came my way. What would it take for me to up and go after something?

So, here I am in January 2016, overwhelmed by the unanswered thought about what I want to do, how I want to do it, or how I would succeed. What would you do? What will I do?