The Pin That Arrives Before Reality

By Luca Bonafede · June 3, 2026 · 

For years, I've had a habit that may make no sense at all to someone.

Before I get a job I really want, I often open Google Maps and change my work location to the place where I hope I'll be working.

Not after the interview.

Not after the offer.

Sometimes before I've even submitted the application.

I simply decide.

And then I let reality catch up.

The first time I remember doing it was for Hard Rock Amsterdam. Later, I did it again for This is Holland. Then for the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

That one tested my patience.

The process was long. Bureaucratic. Uncertain.

There were moments when it felt impossible that I would ever use that route as part of my daily life. Moments when the destination on Google Maps seemed far more real than the job itself.

Yet eventually, it happened.

The route stopped being imaginary.

It became routine.

Today, another pin became reality.

Weeks ago, I changed my work location to Iceberg Quest in St. John's, Newfoundland.

I wasn't working there.

I didn't know if I ever would.

I simply knew that if I moved to Newfoundland, that was where I wanted to be.

A company on the waterfront.

Boats leaving daily in search of whales, puffins, and icebergs.

The kind of work that feels more like a story than a job description.

There were other details I liked too.

The orange uniforms.

The unexpected connection to the Netherlands.

The coincidence that Newfoundland shares the same initials: NL.

Tiny details perhaps.

But life often feels like a collection of small threads that somehow end up weaving together.

So I changed the address.

And then I moved on.

That's the important part.

People talk about manifestation as if it means thinking about something every day until it appears.

My experience has usually been the opposite.

I make the decision.

I place the pin.

Then I let it go.

Weeks later, sometimes months later, Life catches up.

I don't know whether this is the law of attraction.

Belief.

Faith.

Optimism.

Or simply the effect of committing to a direction long before there is any evidence that it will work.

What I do know is that every time one of those imaginary commutes becomes real, it surprises me.

Not because I never believed it could happen.

But because a part of me still remembers the moment when it was nothing more than a pin on a map.

And somehow, that's still my favourite part.

The moment when reality hasn't arrived yet, but you decide to leave the door open for it anyway. 

Thank you, and ciao for now. 

Luca Bonafede