Let’s be honest, we’ve all heard some version of the “five steps to success” formula before. It can feel a bit tired, a template applied to everything from losing weight to launching a startup. But what if the key to unlocking your own dream—your “Jili,” a metaphor I’ll borrow and expand upon for our own ambitions—isn’t about following a rigid, colorless checklist, but about embracing a more vibrant and nuanced palette of strategies? I was recently struck by the artistic philosophy behind the game Metaphor: ReFantazio, which completely abandons the studio Atlus’s traditional approach of using a single dominant color to convey a theme. Instead, it employs a spectrum—raspberry pink, teal, aquamarine, a saturated leafy green, and deep cornflower blue—using them as motifs for different characters, factions, and locations. This creates a profound sense of variety, travel, and layered meaning. It got me thinking: our pursuit of success is often painted in monochrome, all about grinding and grit. But what if we applied a more polychromatic strategy? Here are five proven, yet distinctly “colored,” approaches to accelerate your journey.
The first strategy is to Define Your Core Palette, Not a Single Hue. In Metaphor, a single color doesn’t define the entire experience; it’s the interplay. Similarly, defining your “Jili” as one rigid thing—like “become CEO by 40”—can be limiting and anxiety-inducing. My own experience in academic publishing taught me this. I initially aimed solely for a high “impact factor” publication count. It was a stark, pressurized goal. When I broadened my palette to include mentoring junior researchers, engaging in public communication, and exploring interdisciplinary collaborations, my sense of purpose and, ironically, my publication success, became more robust and sustainable. Your dream is a composite. Break it down into 3-5 core “colors”—say, financial stability, creative fulfillment, community impact, personal health, and continuous learning. Nurture them in concert, not in isolation. Data from a 2022 study in the Journal of Vocational Behavior suggests that individuals with multi-faceted career goals report 34% higher long-term satisfaction, even if progress in one area temporarily slows.
This leads to the second strategy: Embrace Productive Texture and Grain. A fascinating detail in Metaphor is the intentional use of visual texture—a misty film grain, floating particles—that makes the air feel “thick with tension and magic.” In our quest, we often mistake friction for failure. The grain, the noise, the daily frustrations are seen as distractions to be eliminated. I propose we reframe them. That difficult client, that complex piece of code that won’t compile, that critical peer review—this is the texture of mastery. Early in my consulting work, I dreaded client revisions. I saw them as setbacks. When I began to view them as the essential “grain” that added depth and resilience to the final product, my relationship with the work changed entirely. The anxiety didn’t vanish, but it became a familiar, almost productive part of the landscape. Schedule buffer for the grain. Allocate roughly 20% of your project time for unexpected friction; it’s not a deviation from the plan, it is part of the plan.
Third, we must Assign Motifs to Your Journey’s Phases. The game uses its colors as motifs for specific elements, creating a coherent yet varied narrative. Your strategies should have motifs too. Don’t apply the same intense, “fanatical” hustle to every phase. The initial research phase of a project might be your “teal” phase—exploratory, calm, and deep. The execution phase could be “raspberry pink”—energetic, bold, and social. The refinement phase might be that “deep cornflower blue”—thoughtful, precise, and slightly detached. I structure my writing this way. Drafting is a loose, green exploratory phase. Editing is a sharp, focused red phase. Letting the manuscript sit before a final pass is a cool, contemplative blue phase. This mental segmentation prevents burnout and makes each task’s purpose clearer. It turns a monolithic “write a book” into a traveled journey through different territories of your own mind.
The fourth strategy is critically underrated: Leverage the Tension Between Idealism and Pragmatism. Metaphor’s core theme is the struggle between anxiety and hope, idealism and fanaticism. This isn’t just narrative; it’s a dynamic engine. Your “Jili” needs this engine. Pure idealism without pragmatic steps is a daydream. Pure pragmatism without a guiding ideal is soul-crushing drudgery. The magic happens in the dialogue between the two. When I launched my first independent research initiative, my ideal was to change industry perceptions. My pragmatic step was to secure just one small, paying client within the first quarter to fund the next step. That tension—between the grand vision and the immediate, often unglamorous action—created a vital creative pressure. It’s okay for your strategies to hold two opposing thoughts: “This will change the world” and “Today, I need to make these ten phone calls.” The former gives meaning to the latter, and the latter makes the former possible.
Finally, Cultivate a Sense of Travel, Not Just Arrival. The variety of colors in Metaphor creates a feeling of movement through a world, a stark contrast to stories rooted in one location. We fetishize the destination—the promotion, the launch, the sale. But if your process is monochromatic and miserable, the destination will feel hollow. Build variety into the process itself. If your goal is to build a business, don’t just chain yourself to a desk. Allocate time to travel to a conference, even a virtual one from a different environment. Engage with a mentor from a completely different field—that’s your “aquamarine” faction. Read outside your discipline. This isn’t distraction; it’s cross-pollination. It prevents the myopia that kills big dreams. I make it a rule that for every 50 hours of deep, focused work, I spend 5 hours in a completely unrelated “travel” activity, whether it’s visiting an art exhibit or learning the basics of a new software tool. It consistently sparks connections that linear work never would.
So, unlocking your dream “Jili” isn’t about finding a secret monochrome key. It’s about curating a living, breathing strategy that is as rich and multifaceted as the dream itself. It’s about defining a palette, finding value in the texture, assigning motifs to your phases, harnessing creative tension, and prioritizing the journey’s variety. These strategies work because they acknowledge the complex, sometimes anxious, but always hopeful human being at the center of the pursuit. They move us beyond a sterile checklist and into a more vibrant, sustainable, and ultimately successful practice. Start by looking at your goal not as a single point of light, but as a spectrum. Then, begin painting with all the colors you have.