One snowy weekend, the YouTube algorithm suggested a video to Heidi. It was a condo tour and interview with a woman who had moved to Thailand under a new visa for remote workers. Heidi was hooked, and spent the weekend watching ten more similar videos.
Duncan spent his weekend the same way. Both felt a pull to do it themselves, and both met the criteria of being remote workers. Six months later, Heidi was looking out the window at the Bangkok skyline from her new apartment. Duncan was still in Atlanta.
Let’s assume they both faced the same barriers and opportunities, but one of them followed that pull, and the other didn’t. Most of us have been Duncan more often than we’ve been Heidi. Most of us don’t act on the things we’re drawn to, even when nothing is really stopping us.
How can we become someone who acts on these pulls, rather than letting them pass us by? These steps could help.
1. Take a Step Without Committing
After watching the videos, Heidi downloaded the visa forms and filled out a few parts of them. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was doing it, but she put her name and other basics on the forms and saved the partially completed form to her computer.
At the time, she was just curious about how onerous the process might be. But when we take any behavioral step, we create momentum that pulls us along, even if it’s as simple as putting our name and address on the top of a form.
2. Stack Steps
The next week, Heidi joined a Facebook group for finding housing in Thailand that she’d seen mentioned in the videos, just to poke around. The following week, she investigated whether she had enough airline miles to cover a flight to Thailand.
Each little step we take, even if we’re not very committed to it, tends to pull us along to the next step. Even when you’re not sure you’re going to follow through, you can casually stack steps and see where it leads.
3. Make Unconventional Friends
We tend to be very influenced by the people directly around us. Online inspiration is one thing, but the people you see in person matter too. Try to have a few people in your life who do things outside the norm.
Make friends who have non-traditional jobs, who bike to work when everyone else drives, who travel internationally or out of state on a whim, who have lived in several different countries, or who buy and sell items most people don’t buy and sell. Everyone should have a friend whose job is clown, acrobat, or magician.
4. Cultivate an Identity as Someone Who Pursues Unconventional Paths
We don’t just learn from others’ examples; we learn from our own. Whenever you do something unconventional, you create an example you can draw on the next time.
In planning her move to Thailand, Heidi reflected on how she’d gotten some of her college credits in non-standard ways. That had been her first taste of doing something outside the norm, having it work out well, and feeling like she’d hit on a secret cheat code.
5. Recognize the Diverse Strengths Involved in Unconventional Actions
We often assume that having adventures requires being adventurous, or that clocking achievements requires intelligence and grit. But the strengths required for taking unconventional paths aren’t always the obvious ones. For example, strengths like being able to follow a cumbersome process come up in many contexts, like applying for visas, permits, or scholarships.
Frame any challenge so it relates to your strengths. You could frame an international move as a logistics exercise or a planning challenge rather than an adventure.
Mental Exploration Creates Momentum
You probably have something in the back (or front) of your mind you’d like to do, that’s a bit outside the norm. The more times you think about it, but then push those thoughts away, the more you strengthen that pattern. But you can change that at any point. The five strategies here can help you create momentum toward unconventional goals. Even before you’re committed to taking an unconventional path, there’s lots to explore.
