How to Roll the Dice on Your Career and Creativity
Replacing resumes with rituals on your professional path
You can do all the “right” outer things after a layoff—polish LinkedIn, fire off resumes, network over three virtual coffees a day—and still feel like you’re spinning your wheels.
That’s because the decisive moves that help you figure out what’s next professionally often happen within, long before the hiring manager ever sees your name. I’m talking about the small daily disciplines that keep your judgment clear, rites of passage that burn off potential sabotage, and the practiced art of waiting until intuition (not anxiety!) says, Now.
Today’s mythic mirror comes from the bittersweet story of King Nala, found in ancient India’s epic Mahabharata. Let’s see what this ancient gambler-king has to say about your next chapter—whether that’s navigating your work transition or unleashing your next creative breakthrough.
This article continues my ongoing Substack exploration of how timeless myths illuminate modern career disruption—for more, check out I Lost My Job. Now What?, Career Disruption & the Middle Way, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Career.
The Kings’ Gambit
Midway through the Mahabharata, the five Pandava brothers are trudging through forest exile—punishment for the eldest brother Yudhisthira’s catastrophic loss in a dice game that cost them their kingdom, their freedom, and even brief enslavement—when a visiting sage recounts the saga of King Nala to show the shattered heir that his gambling disaster doesn’t have to get the last word. A kingly comeback is possible.
The story of King Nala?
It’s a wild one:
King Nala, famed for virtue and horsemanship, stakes his kingdom on a dice game and loses it all. Wandering in the wilderness with his devoted wife, Damayanti, he becomes possessed by the spirit of discord, aka Kali. He spirals into self-sabotage, and even abandons his wife in despair. After a venomous snake bite transforms him into an unrecognizable dwarfish form, he gets a gig as a charioteer, perfects his lightning-fast riding and masters the mathematics of dice. Years later, purged of Kali’s influence, he is joyfully reunited with his loving wife, challenges his rival, and wins back his throne in a single toss of the dice. And King Nala rules wisely ever after.
What a whirlwind!
For the Pandavas, Nala is proof that you can blow up your life and still come back stronger. For us, he’s a case study in three powerful inner moves that can help us navigate the in-between space in our careers and creativity.
1. Protect your power with daily rituals.
Kali, the spirit of discord, stalked Nala for twelve years, looking for an entry with no success. Until the king slipped up. One night, after answering nature’s call, Nala rushed from relieving himself to his evening prayers without first washing his feet. Skipping this regular, required purity ritual flung the inner door open to Kali, who entered Nala and filled him with a feverish desire to fling the dice… leading to his ruin.
Does this mean that the key to your future involves washing your feet after using the bathroom? No.
Here’s what it means for you: When your role evaporates (or you’re itching to quit), your nervous system is already overloaded. One careless “crack”—late-night doom-scrolling, numbing with substances, food, drink, or impulse buys, or rage-texting someone in your life—can open the floodgates to chaos that drowns out your presence and purpose.
Instead of letting harmful habits accumulate, be intentional in this season about building practices and rhythms that nourish your soul:
Micro-rituals. Begin each morning with a brief meditation or a page of stream-of-consciousness writing—anything that makes space for your soul to speak and grounds you before email noise hits or anxiety hijacks your day.
Decision curfew. Make no major decisions—especially about work—after, say, 7 p.m. Stay rested (and hydrated too!) Exhaustion is Kali’s playground.
Weekly reset. Schedule a short tech sabbath (an couple hours count) to stay out of the downward spiral of social media-induced feelings of insufficiency, discouragement, and negativity.
Slip ups happen. But the key is having healthy habits that keep you coming back to yourself.
For me, the crack for Kali-style disruption is an extra cocktail or mindless late-night eating. But I can always find myself again through twice a day meditation and a daily journaling practice. These have been absolutely critical for me during seasons of the unknown. I can’t imagine where I’d be without them.
For one of my coaching clients, the issue has been late afternoon media consumption that not only derails other job search activities, but also leave him feeling unproductive—and guilty about it. The rituals that keep him steady and help him reset to soul are morning movement followed by time with his kids before school.
So be vigilant against potential lapses. But also remember to be kind to yourself. Relapse happens. But a new beginning is always possible when we are intentional about our soulful rituals.
2. Release the past with a rite of passage.
Nala’s comeback to kingship wasn’t the result of networking. It happened because of a rite of passage. The snakebite (by the serpent Karkotaka) was a part of the rite, initiating the process the ultimately purged Kali. But after the venom finished its job, Nala still needed to do two things to be transformed back into his true form: take a bath and dress himself in magical garments.
This rite of passage solidified his transition from his cursed state to his “true form and beauty.”
A rite of passage is a type of ritual that marks a transition from one stage or situation to another. It serves as a visible expression of inner change, a physical manifestation of a spiritual shift.
And just as a rite was essential for Nala, it is powerful for you. After a layoff, the heaviest baggage isn’t the lost paycheck; it’s the invisible weight of shame, resentment, or perfectionism whispering, You blew it or You’re not good enough. If you build on top of that voice, your next move will inherit the same fault lines. Wherever you go, there you are.
But a rite of passage is a powerful tool to interrupt this narrative. Here are a few ways to think about your rite of passage:
Name the saboteur. Is it the inner critic obsessing over “wasted years,” the anxious comparer, the martyr? Write its script verbatim. Exposure is the anti-venom.
Design a rite. Maybe it’s a weekend solo retreat, a guided breath-work session, or a literal fire where you burn the resignation letter you never sent. Mark the transition in your body, not just on your calendar.
Recruit witnesses. Ask two trusted friends to hear your story without fixing it. Speaking aloud weakens the spell faster than thinking in circles.
When I lost my job, I lit a fire. On a crisp day in early spring, I pilled up wood in my backyard solo stove and let the flames get high. Then I took the box of fancy business cards I had and one by one cast them into the fire. With each card, I either gave thanks for a gift the job gave me or called out a lie about what this loss meant for my identity or my future. I filmed some videos of the burning business cards and sent them to a few friends and former colleagues. The rite was a simple, but meaningful act.
Give it a try, and remember: When you clear the poison first, a fresh foundation will follow.
3. Nurture your intuition to perfect your timing.
The first time around, the game was stacked against Nala. Not only did Kali “[bewilder] his intelligence” so that Nala kept accepting heavier wagers, but he was also playing with loaded dice—they were possessed by a spirit the tipped every cast in favor of Nala’s cousin. The game was unwinnable.
Not so the second time. Nala waited to play again until he was free of the discernment-clouding presence of Kali. He also prepared himself in the in-between time by mastering the hidden mathematics of dice.
In other words, he didn’t rush back into the game, which would have meant reenacting the same tragedy. He waited until the winds changed.
Desperation loves speed, but wisdom loves timing. Cultivating intuition isn’t about waiting for a cosmic voice booming from clouds; it’s the quiet convergence of three signals:
Skill readiness. You’ve road-tested the new edge. The in-between time may invite you to pursue a new certification, develop a beta project, or add a portfolio piece that equips you to show up to what’s next prepared to perform under pressure.
Market opening. You catch the wind: a hiring spree in your niche, a technology shift that matches your new competency, or a key relationship warming up. At just the right time. You weren’t ready for this before because you weren’t this version of you yet. But now you are prepared to meet the moment.
Inner stillness. The anxious voice of sabotage becomes silent. The choice feels expansive, not frantic. Yes, you may feel afraid, but it’s the kind of fear that is clearly inviting you beyond your comfort zone and into your calling.
Practically, you can grow your intuitive perception for what’s next by:
Keeping a log that tracks every time you come across something that your inner voice says Yes to.
Practicing small experiments: pick up a freelance gig, attend a public webinar, read a book (or subscribe to a Substack!) that calls out to you. These inputs will help you sense where the wind within you and the outer wind are blowing.
Moving decisively when the signals align. Hesitation at this point can cost as much as impatience earlier.
Nala’s time as exiled king was an incubation phase. So is yours! Let this be a season where you actively prepare yourself and patiently wait for the moment destiny swings back in your favor.
Resetting Your Inner Game
Daily boundaries keep your inner compass calibrated, deliberate rites flush the sabotage from your system, and disciplined patience puts intuition, not panic, in charge. King Nala’s game two dice victory wasn’t magic; it was the outward symbol of hard-won inner alignment.
Guard the crack.
Purge the poison.
Trust the timing.
Each of those moves happens within, long before the world crowns you king—or offers you a job.
Now that you’ve reset your inner game… your next throw awaits!
If you’re navigating your own career wilderness and want a seasoned companion on the trail, I help leaders and creatives design the inner scaffolding that turns setbacks into soul-level pivots. Learn more about coaching with me.