The heat rises to my cheeks as my bags smash to the floor.

Everyone in the airport security queue stares at me.

“This goddamn bag,” I mumble to myself, picking up the rucksack.

It’s 3 weeks ago. I’m about to fly from Vancouver to the UK after 9 months of nomading. The toggle on my bag snapped 4 months before, as I climbed the beautiful peaks of Argentina’s Patagonia.

I knew it needed fixing, but in my laziness, I pushed the plastic back together and hoped for the best.

I was now paying the price.

After being unnecessarily blasted by radiation, I picked up my bag again only to have it snap one more time. Perhaps the airport environment makes me hyper-critical, but as I walked through duty-free, carrying my bag like a baby, I couldn’t stop thinking: “holy shit how can you be so stupid?”

I knew the bag was broken, yet I continued to use it because I could not be bothered to change.

This idiocy is a common pattern in my life.

I rarely deal with problems as they arise. I have a lethal cocktail of focus, avoidant behaviour, and stoicism that makes bad things brush off me like water off a duck. Or so I used to believe. Actually, these problems lurk and linger beneath the carpet, bubbling away until something explodes.

The problem with ignoring these signals is that you throw away life’s gift of data. Most people do not get what they want not because they did not try, but because they did not respond to reality.

I am, of course, talking about deeper things than bag straps.

When you stay on the wrong path

When I started studying dentistry, there wasn’t a bone in my body that was excited by it. My friends and I mainly spoke about how nice it would be to make good money. I spent five years at university learning something I did not find interesting. Thankfully, we were more focused on partying and having a good time.

We achieved this goal with flying colours.

But after graduating, I did not pause to consider my path.

I had a chip on my shoulder and a point to prove, so I only wanted to run it faster.

I took on two jobs, worked 6-7 days a week, and began specialising in cosmetics. I was doing well, but the work left me anxious and exhausted: What I thought was a symptom of success.

“If only I could win more, it will all be worth it.” I’d tell myself, overdosing on positive self-help audiobooks on the drive to work.

But my mind and body were f**ked.

Dentistry is emotionally and physically intense. Almost every dentist I know has a bad back and neck, and I have had 20 hours of surgery on my spine, so I was playing with fire.

The suffering would be worth it if I were passionate about the work, but I wasn’t. Instead, I was winning at a game that I did not enjoy. A good sign of misplaced ambition.

I was ignoring every negative signal because I was blinded by fear.

Fear of not being enough.

Fear of admitting I had picked the wrong career.

Fear of throwing away a good thing.

Fear of stepping into the unknown.

Fear has killed more dreams than failure ever has. It stops you from thinking clearly and seeing life as it is: a beautiful gift to experience. Our monkey minds would prefer us to stay safe because at least the status quo is known.

But your mind is screaming at you to pay attention to signals.

Not just negative ones. Positive too.

Follow your curiosity

I continued plodding along the default path for 3 years, waiting for a miracle. It never arrived, but COVID did. I couldn’t treat patients for 3 months, and the space I finally had to think was terrifying. 30 years old was looming around the corner, and I was hurtling down a path I hated.

The fear of wasting my life overcame the fear of looking stupid within it, so I asked myself what would be a cool job if money weren’t real.

I didn’t decide to write.

I decided to be a stand-up comedian.

Turns out, I wasn't very funny. And as Covid loosened its claws, I realised I hated the idea of going to clubs every night. But I spent three months obsessed with this goal.

Why, I asked myself?

That question revealed the signal that changed my life:

It was the mornings I woke up to write.

I was so excited to start my day sipping tea, tapping away at the keyboard while the city slept. No matter how tired I was, writing would fill me with energy. Even as I had to return to work, sometimes completing 12-hour shifts, I would always write the three to four hours in the morning.

Almost six years later, I can count how many days I've missed with my hands.

That’s a signal.

And curiosity is how you create it.

Everything is an evolution

You might not have found your thing yet, but I guarantee the data is there. The shit that drains you and fills you with dread. The activities that fill you with joy and anticipation.

You get one shot at this life, so you might as well focus on the things you love.

Your job is to be brave enough to listen to signals, then act.

And not just once, but always.

We are in a constant state of evolution, and the environment is an endless stream of feedback. We complicate success, but really, it is simple: do more of what works and less of what does not. The mistake is forgetting to keep curious. Instead, we close up, thinking that we have arrived at a non-existent destination.

But we’re playing an infinite game out here. The only end is in the coffin (and even then, who you impact lives on: death is less drastic when you make the most of life).

This email is an example of a signal.

The fact that you are still reading is a blessing. Almost everyone else has stopped, but something I am saying is singing to your soul. There is a reason. Story-driven, philosophical long-form content makes me feel alive.

And writing is simply a transfer of emotion:

How you feel seeps through into the page.

And yet, I ignored this signal too.

Last September, I ran a 12-week essay experiment. It was probably the strongest signal of the past 5 years. I told my friends it felt like I was starting my day with cocaine, and that's not because I moved to South America.

But I got busy writing my book and building my business, and let this signal die down.

It was only when Corey Wilks asked me a critical question that I realised I was making the same old mistake of ignoring signals:

When did you last feel most alive in your business?

My mind leapt back to my first months in Paraguay. Now my book is almost done, I’m picking that signal back up and doubling down on the writing style I love most. I don’t know where it will lead, but it doesn’t really matter: I am having a tonne of fun in the process.

(I’d recommend reading Corey’s newsletter: he is a true source of wisdom).

An experiment for you

If you want to carve your own path, you need to do two things:

1. Increase your sensitivity to the signal
2. Build a bias for action

But I am not suggesting you burn things down tomorrow because there are things you are unhappy with. Thinking in binaries is just another sign of fear. Instead, it is about adjusting direction to open up new opportunities.

I only quit dentistry after 13 months of writing every morning: every day, the signal got stronger.

You need to create more feedback.

We do this with experiments. Experiments are important because they remove pressure from results. You cannot win or lose an experiment. You're simply gathering data on what works and what does not.

When I work 1-1 with clients in my Partnership Program, the first thing we do is get clear on what the goal is. This is the North Star. Then, we begin running experiments to make it happen: through removing bottlenecks and giving more time to what is important.

This creates the environment for the right results to bloom:

You are literally dragging a new reality into existence

So, let me ask you, my friend:

What would you like to achieve in 12 months' time?

Then look back on your previous month with an honest eye and ask yourself, "Am I on the correct path?"

• What negative signals show up? What feels like a "should" instead of a "want"? What causes your body to tense up?
• What positive signals have you found already? Where does execution feel effortless? Where do you feel the most excitement and curiosity?
• What 3 small experiments can you run for the next month?

Take this iterative approach to success, and you’ll be amazed at what life gives you. And you don’t need to be smart, you just need to be persistent and willing to adjust direction.

The path reveals itself the more you walk,

Kieran