Just Add Venture: Mohammad Khan’s Story from Lahore, Pakistan
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We’re taught that sitting in a classroom or reading a book will make us knowledgeable—but all the way in Lahore, Pakistan, Mohammad Khan didn’t find that to be true.
Mohammad decided to change how he experienced the act of knowing. Here’s how he explained it:
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Years ago, I thought accumulating information was the same as possessing knowledge. But even with all the information I had, my life didn’t reflect what I knew. Information was boring. I needed a reason to do something. To fight the boredom, I discovered thinking “Who knows?” and “Why not?” were very useful weapons.
It all started with a seemingly simple challenge: to travel to any one destination in the world within the next year, paid for purely with income made online. Why not try? Eight months later I cashed a $1,700 check and spent 11 days at a beachfront hotel in Thailand with my wife.
A few months later I found myself in Abu Dhabi, completing my very first triathlon even though before challenging myself, I’d never run more than 500 meters (let alone run a 5k, biked, and swam). Suddenly there I was thousands of miles away from home, with a finisher’s medal in the bag. The idea had come to me out of thin air: I simply wanted to compete in a sport that no one in my hometown of Lahore paid much attention to.
A neuron firing in my brain led to my becoming a different person with real, quantifiable knowledge. I became addicted to this idea: Why can’t our ventures be as fun and as challenging as our adventure-y adventures?
Following those fired neurons began leading to more adventures: trekking to the base camp of Nanga Parbat with a group of 90 people. Delivering a TEDx talk at 4000+ meters high on the mountain. Taking a solo motorbike ride from Lahore to Kashmir Valley.
Not all adventures need be confined to the outdoors, though. My wife’s hobby is cooking. Why not put all her tested recipes on a blog? Who knows what may happen? After a few months, blog visitors asked if she took orders—and we now run an online bakery, employing one part-time helper and teaching our 7-year-old daughter to bake too.
I go on adventures every few months to fire myself up, give myself an anchor to the world, to have a mission and to complete a goal. Plus, adventures allow me to fine tune the processes of everything else in my life, and the fact that I leave my comfort zone brings me up a notch spiritually.
But the real answer as to why go out into the world and try something new is simply, Why not? I never know what I’ll have gained after an adventure. I do know, however, I’ll be able to convert information into knowledge.
When I wonder “What’s next?” in my life, I follow it up with, “Just add venture!” to arrive at an answer.
I want to help people just add venture so we can get more out of our lives. A casual jog around the park can turn into a mammoth, international adventure. A simple website can turn into a source of inspiration for every non-conforming adventure out there. Who knows, right?
When I die, if there was just one phrase that was used to describe my life I’d want it to be this:
Mohammad lived a life of adventure.
Read more about Just Add Venture and Mohammad’s next steps at his blog, or follow him on Twitter @momekh.
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