Comments on: Desire Paths: The Unconventional Way to Live Your life

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 16:39:53 +0000

In reply to Rita.

Love it!! You found the hack and went for it :)

Reminds me when I wanted to move to NYC years ago after college but didn’t have a “real” job yet. So I started working at Old Navy in my hometown while I was applying, and then realized there are Old Navys in NYC (multiple of them!) and got them to transfer me! Then BOOM – I was living my dream, even though I could barely afford it lol… (it would eventually lead me to a kick-ass Airlines job though that let me travel around even more!!! Also keeping me very much broke! ;))

By: Rita

Rita — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 21:35:53 +0000

What a great article. It reminds me of my goal to be an action column writer. After research, I found out the best place to try was Anchorage, Alaska, which had two daily newspapers with consumer action columns. I moved up there, taking a job as a reporter with Senior Voice, a monthly publication for seniors. It was emotionally heartbreaking to tear myself away from Washington state, my home. However, I did it and got the action column job at The Anchorage Times, my dream job. A desire path for sure.

By: Deanna

Deanna — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:21:01 +0000

This is a beautiful analogy for the FIRE community. It’s kinds like as the crow flies, right? Birds get it, they just take the most direct flight to get to where they are going but then again, they don’t have pre-determined paths to consider.

By: freddy smidlap

freddy smidlap — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 17:46:37 +0000

it works really fast if there is snow on the ground.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 11:24:53 +0000

In reply to ZJ Thorne.

It’s possible too that they *do* know they’re not always the best paths for humans, but since it wouldn’t look as pretty in the design they just completely ignore it thinking we’d play by the rules :) And then get a nasty surprise when all the dirt paths show up, haha…

By: ZJ Thorne

ZJ Thorne — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 15:25:27 +0000

Those desire paths also show that Really Smart People don’t always understand what they are doing. Humans almost always walk the shortest amount. Not designing your path appropriately means that there is more soil erosion on the path people actually choose.

By: Dreamer in Chief

Dreamer in Chief — Sun, 28 Jan 2018 15:35:00 +0000

In reply to Ty Roberts. Wow, that's amazing, Ty. Thank you so much.

By: Ty Roberts

Ty Roberts — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 21:13:17 +0000

Dang – this is my favorite FIRE post that I’ve read in a long time – great analogy. I’ll be sharing this one for sure.

By: Dreamer in Chief

Dreamer in Chief — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 14:55:01 +0000

In reply to Mrs. Groovy. Thanks, Mrs. Groovy :)

By: Mrs. Groovy

Mrs. Groovy — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 02:32:54 +0000

Reading this, I thought of the little I learned about stage coach exploration out west. I thought of the notes of caution and the directions left by those daring enough to go, for those who followed. Today we have the websites of our FI forefathers for reference and knowledge. But who knows what will blaze those desire paths for the next generation of FI explorers? I hope I get to find out.

Beautiful post, Dreamer in Chief.