"Notes" of An Elder ― Forging Your Own Path

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Since September 2020, our Friday editions of The Daily Coach have featured “Notes” of An Elder—a treasured collection of insights, wisdom, and life lessons from our co-founder, the legendary "Coach" George Raveling, now 87.

This month, Coach Raveling and The Daily Coach team are using “Notes” of An Elder to give our readers an exclusive first look at the insights and stories from his highly anticipated book, What You're Made For—co-authored with bestselling author and modern philosopher Ryan Holiday, releasing March 4.

February 7 ― "Notes" of An Elder ― 10 Steps to Living More Fully Right Now

Let’s dive into this week’s timely words and timeless wisdom from What You're Made For: Powerful Life Lessons from My Career in Sports—focusing on what it truly means to forge your own path.

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This idea of forging your own path, of being a trailblazer, is beautifully illustrated in an old Arthurian legend, La Queste del Saint Graal, written by an anonymous monk in the thirteenth century. In the story, the knights of the Round Table are inspired to seek the Holy Grail after it briefly appears before them. But instead of setting out together, they make a profound choice. As the text reads, “They thought it would be a disgrace to go forth in a group. Each entered the Forest Adventurous at that point which he himself had chosen, where it was darkest and there was no way or path.”

The renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell often cited this tale as a powerful metaphor for the individual’s journey through life. To Campbell, it captured the essence of having the courage to follow your own path and find what truly fulfills you. “Where there’s a way or a path,” Campbell writes, “it is someone else’s path.”

What Campbell means here is profound: The well-trodden paths in life—the ones that are clear and easy to follow—have already been carved out by others. These paths represent conventional wisdom, societal expectations, or traditional routes to success. But true fulfillment, Campbell suggests, comes from forging your own way.

This doesn’t mean that every individual has a predetermined, unique path waiting for them. Rather, it’s an encouragement to venture into the unknown, to make choices based on your own values and aspirations rather than simply following in others’ footsteps. It’s about having the courage to step off the beaten track and create your own journey, even if that means facing uncertainty and challenges.

This is what an adventurous life is defined by—new environments, new groups, new cultures, new practices. Life as you know it is the work of men and women throughout history who had the courage and determination to blaze new trails forward.

We’re all pioneers of sorts, roaming into new frontiers of experience and opportunity. We’re all put in front of paths never before traveled. Everyone has to be the pioneer, the first explorer, in their own story.

Whether you’re blazing a new trail or illuminating the way as a guiding star, what matters is that you’re doing it to the best of your ability.

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1  George Raveling and Ryan Holiday, What You're Made For: What You're Made For: Powerful Life Lessons from My Career in Sports (New York: Portfolio, 2025)