Braving The Uncharted Or The Art Of Getting Lost
Mar 25, 2025Why Purpose-Led Leaders Venture Into The Unknown
Real system shifting, purpose-driven leadership and changemaking mean taking the road less travelled. Or at this time on the planet, travelling the uncharted lands where maps don't even exist yet. So that we can create new ones.
That is where true transformation, evolution and creation live. We know that. And still we struggle so much to actually deliver on it.
Choosing The Adventure
I was once on an expedition across the altiplano and salt flats in Bolivia. Normally you do this in a jeep. But the company we used decided they wanted to try something new - which was to use a minibus instead. And so off we went - not knowing we were part of some grand experiment.
It was a disaster, the engine overheated and eventually blew up. We got stuck in sand dunes and we all had to get out and push. We ended up stranded at night with most of us suffering altitude sickness. I cried. Ultimately we had to give up on the endeavour and be rescued by jeeps.
Still weirdly looking back I remember that hellish voyage as one of the best experiences of my life. Because of how it shaped me.
Retrieving Treasure
I found gold in going full throttle into the unknown - even if we didn't succeed. The gift being in who I got to become in the exploration itself.
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I experienced first hand how resourceful we can all be. I learnt that you can sit on the side of the road in the middle of literally nowhere feeling hopeless. And that someone eventually (even if it is after 5 hours) will show up. And that even if they don't have the car part you need. You can somehow find a creative way to convert what they do have into a fix for your engine. And that we have a great but often untapped capacity to find solutions even where initially we thought there were none.
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I got to taste bravery as a life giving substitute for control. Where you get to encounter who you really are beyond who you normally allow yourself to be. Literally you stop caring about what your inner critic thinks. The sand dune really doesn't have an agenda for you. You just have to get beyond it - by digging deep and pushing the damn truck over it. And at the same time you get to see what you are actually capable of.
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I found that you can sit lost, off the beaten track - not knowing where you are going. And that it won't kill you. Even if a part of you fears that it will. Because what nobody tells you is that once you have stopped telling yourself scary stories of disaster. You can actually start enjoying the view. And new vistas change you - they have you see with new eyes. They inspire you and open you up to new possibilities. And that is exciting - in an extraordinary soul bursting-open kind of way. Life regains a new flavour of magic after that - that can never be taken away from you.
Your System Shifting Adventure
The transformation at the level of depth, scale and speed that we need now lives squarely in the uncharted. To bring it about means choosing your own adventure. And expanding your capacity to journey beyond what you know - right into the epicenter of the uncertain, the unknown and the unstable.
If you want to bring fundamental change - be it in your own life or the world around you - you need to build a new relationship with your own comfort zone. So that you can grow beyond it. This is what this is about and it applies at so many different levels:
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The yearning to be true to yourself
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The desire to have a new level of impact
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The pull towards creating something new
All of these mean growing your internal system so that it is willing to not just go, but live there. To let go of the handrail of what you have now up until now. So that you can reach out for what is to come next.
Venturing Into The Unknown
You see we are wired for safety. And unless we train our minds to travel beyond our current limits, we will remain firmly anchored in our current circumstances.
Practically that means to:
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Stop grasping for the answers outside of you. And start restoring your own center and place of inner knowing
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Be compassionate with yourself. It is normal to be afraid of going beyond what you know. But as Elizabeth Gilbert says about any creative endeavour. Fear will always be in the car. You just don't let it drive or choose the music.
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Make the adventure, the exploration of the new safe, inspiring and fun. Starting with following your own flow in small doses everyday.
So where are you holding on to the status quo of your life, when you know it is actually time to grow beyond it? Where are you resisting your own version of the new? And how can you start taking little steps towards it?
In order to become more effective system shifters, transformation agents and changemakers, we need to stop staying at the surface level. And start engaging in a new level of transformative conversations like this one.
That is what we do in our Purpose-led Leader Ecosystem. So for example this topic is something we explored yesterday in one of our group coaching calls. If you want to start going deeper into all of this then get in touch at [email protected]
WE ARE ALL BEING CALLED TO ADVENTURE.
We truly believe that we can do this. That, if enough of us commit to being purpose-led changemakers and to evolving the world by being uniquely ourselves, we can create a new world - where we all flourish together deeply valuing prosperity, people and planet.
What it takes is for us to remember who we are really here to be, do what we are here to do and make that difference only we can make. By igniting our potential, actualising our purpose and up-levelling our impact through our lives, work and leadership.
So join us by signing up below to Our Broadcasts From The New to receive weekly inspiration through our shorts, letters, messages and information about our programmes and whatever else we feel called to create to support you. Look forward to being on this adventure together!
Louise Le Gat, Founder Of The Purpose-Led Company
