Jonathan Fields sent me this short audio story as an example for recording my own 5-10 minute one. I intended to listen to a minute or two and then go off to write whatever I was going to say. But I was intrigued by the promise... so I kept listening!
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Lately I’ve been thinking about forward motion, taking risks, and finding the next big thing.
Recently I’ve been noticing that I haven’t been taking enough risks. I don’t want to be complacent! And I always want to be challenging myself.
I’ve also been saying that I don’t feel like I have a big idea or am doing something hard. For a long time, I could immediately identify a major goal I was pursuing that required a lot of attention, investment, and sacrifice. But in trying to move forward and make some changes, I think I’ve been making a mistake: taking risks and doing hard things are not necessarily the same. Read More
I went to the hotel gym one morning while I was traveling. When I finished on the treadmill, I went back to the elevator to head down to my room... except there was just one problem. Yep, once again I’d forgotten my room number.
I spend 100+ nights a year in hotels and still haven’t perfected a system for remembering where I “live” on any given night. Sometimes I carry the little check-in envelope around in my pocket, and sometimes I take a photo of the door, but at least once every dozen nights, I start to walk back toward my room before realizing I have no idea where it is. This time, I tried to retrace the steps that took me out of the room and to the gym. Was it 1406? I thought it was. It sounded like the right number. I went back to floor 14 and everything felt familiar. I turned down the hall and came to the room, which looked like the right one. The door was slightly ajar, and I assumed I’d mistakenly forgotten to close it all the way when I left. Not ideal, I thought, but it happens. Read More
I recently went to see Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, a curious film in the sense that it focuses much more on the subject’s love life than it does her love of art. Still, it was good overall and I’m glad I went.
The film showcases the development of several abstract and other non-traditional artists, including Jackson Pollack. I've always liked Pollack’s work, but I don’t think I understood the audacity of it until seeing this new film. I often feel inspired when I hear about larger-than-life figures who pursued big ambitions. People like Pollack, and Peggy Guggenheim, did big things. Then I went home and I thought: “What big thing am I doing?” Read More
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward. Adventure is worthwhile in itself."You often hear about how we regret the things we don’t do more than the things we do. Looking back at the experience of traveling the world, this belief shines through whatever hardship I encountered. Sure, I can remember the struggles. I can remember sleeping on the ground, running out of money, missing my flights. I remember not being sure if I’d make it, if I’d have to give up somewhere. If I think about it, I can remember sweating it out in Eritrea, detained by the police overnight before I was put on a plane to Cairo. I remember flying to Angola and Pakistan without the required visa, wondering what would happen on the other side. Read More
-Amelia Earhart
Every evening the sun sets, then rises again a few hours later.
Yet something feels different about this particular sunset and sunrise. Oh, that’s right ... it only happens once a year. Yep. It's time to stop writing the old year’s name whenever you fill out the date for something. For the next 365 days, the world has a new number. If you wander out and about today, you may receive wishes of happiness from your barista or whoever else you encounter. You may notice the gym is especially full today. A new crop of well-meaning people with good-intentioned “resolutions” are off to the races. Online, people are talking about “new year, new you” and you’re like … okay. How does this new year somehow make a "new me"? And yet. It is a New Year, after all. Something is different. So why not use it as a catalyst for something positive? Read More
And…. once more, with feeling! Today’s post is all about the future.
Every year I set aside a long block of time, typically the better part of a week, to look back at the year that’s ending and look ahead to the next.
Over the past eight nine years, nothing has helped me to accomplish big goals and stay on track more than a single exercise I complete each December: the Annual Review.
Hey everyone!
In April 2016 I’ll begin an all-new adventure, and I’d love for you to come along. Post a comment over on Facebook—or fill out this form if you’d like to be fancy—and let me know where I should go.
It’s been five months since my brother’s death, and I’ve been back to his former city of Washington, DC several times since then. Until last weekend, though, I hadn’t visited his gravesite.
Quantico National Cemetery is about an hour or so from my usual hotel in Arlington, and once you get off the freeway, the drive isn’t unpleasant. I visited on a Saturday when the offices are closed and there are no services, just a few other people coming to say hi to their loved ones. I arrived on a bright day, thankfully not a very cold one even though it was November, and I parked at the entrance where a computer is set up to help visitors find the location of a specific gravesite. Read More
In early spring 2016 we’ll release the last (small and final) round of tickets for WDS 2016, a global gathering like no other! If you'd like to join us, be sure you're on the waiting list for first notice.
If you misidentify a problem, your proposed solution probably won’t work.
We recently finished the first round of ticket sales for WDS 2016. They went quickly!
We’re rolling out more speaker videos from WDS 2015. Vani Hari, food activist, creator of FoodBabe.com and author of the bestselling book The Food Babe Way, shared her story about finding her voice and dealing with haters. Check out the video! Read More