When You Stop Trusting the Path

When the work still matters - but the way you’re chasing it doesn’t.

I spent at least four hours this week optimizing my home network. It wasn’t broken. It wasn’t even slow. But there I was, buying new mesh nodes, running speed tests, rearranging cables, and screwing with network settings like it was mission-critical work.

I also browsed Black Friday sales for things I don’t need and don’t even really want to buy. Tinkered with AI tools I have no immediate use for, just to explore. Spent time mindlessly flipping through my X feed.

What I didn’t do: my weekly planning ritual. Move the needle on my big goals. Go for a walk. Read. Think.

You know — the stuff that actually moves my life forward.

It’s not that I don’t know what matters. (I do.)

It’s not that I didn’t have time. (I did.)

So what the hell was I doing?

I ran through the usual suspects.

Laziness? I wasn’t lying on the couch. I was busy — just with the wrong things.

Lack of discipline? I’ve got systems. Rituals.

Fear? I don’t think so. I’m not afraid of the work.

So I sat with the question. Opened Things 3 and scrolled through my to-do list, eyes glazing over. None of the tasks spoke to me. I just… didn’t want to.

And the honest answer surfaced: I’m not sure any of this matters.

Not the vision; I believe in that. The life I’m building, the work I want to do in the world — that still lights me up.

But the tasks? The day-to-day work that’s supposed to get me there?

Some days I look at my to-do list and wonder: Does anyone actually care? Is this moving the needle, or am I just performing productivity?

I think there’s a big difference between doubting yourself and doubting the path.

One is fear. The other might be intelligence.

What do you do when you believe in the destination but stop trusting the road?

I think a lot of us are here right now.

You’ve done the work. Clarified the vision. Set the goals. Built the systems.

You know what you want, and you know what it will take to get it. You’re committed.

And yet — you find yourself reorganizing your sock drawer instead of doing the thing.

It’s easy to diagnose this as a discipline problem. To beat yourself up. To add another layer of accountability or download another productivity app.

But what if it’s not a discipline problem at all?

What if it’s your gut asking a question you haven’t answered yet?

I’m supposed to be the Soulwork Architect who helps people navigate this type of thing. I write about it every week. And yet I’m writing this from inside the fog.

I don’t have a tidy framework to offer you today. No five-step solution. Just this thought:

Maybe the path needs revisiting. Maybe I need to try a different route. Maybe “doing the work” sometimes means stopping to ask whether it’s the right work.

Or maybe this is just what building something looks like — long stretches where you operate on faith, without much evidence, wondering if it’s going to work out.

I don’t know yet.

So here’s where I’m landing — not as an answer, but as a next step:

I’m not abandoning the vision. The work of helping people build lives that actually fit them — that still matters to me. Deeply.

But I might need to question the path.

Not blow it up. Just… hold it more loosely. Ask whether the tasks I’ve been grinding on are actually the right ones, or just the ones I picked once and never revisited.

This week, I’m not adding more discipline. I’m adding more questions.

• What would I do differently if I trusted myself more?
• Where might an alternative path already exist that I haven’t allowed myself to consider?
• Which of these “must-dos” are actually must-dos?
• What am I avoiding — and what is that avoidance trying to tell me?

I don’t have the answer yet. But I know that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop producing and start listening.

Maybe you’re in a similar place. And I don’t think the answer is to push harder. The answer is to pause.

Here is the one action I want you to take right now:

Question the Road

I’m not asking you to blow up your life. I’m asking you to carve out 15 minutes this week and answer one question honestly:

What might an alternative path look like if I trusted myself more than I trusted the plan I wrote down six months ago?

Don’t answer it for your boss, your partner, or your coach. Answer it for yourself.

I’m on the hook to answer the same question.

Hit ‘Reply’ and tell me what one “must-do” you are going to put on pause this week to make room for listening.

Quotation I’ve Been Pondering

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Journal Prompt

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