It’s been a little while since I have written a post. I would like to think I have a good reason for slacking off but it’s too easy to call my own bluff and call such reasons a convenient excuse. So let’s just agree that I’ve been slacking (bad Dave!) and that I need to pull my socks up. In previous posts I have written about committing to a weekly adventure and I have written about committing to daily physical activity (almost to 200 days!). I think it’s time to set another personal commitment regarding these blog posts. Moving forward I will release one new post every week. Like my daily physical activity I will set the bar low so it’s easy to get started writing with the intention that once I start I will exceed the bar, most of the time.
Now on to the theme of this post, Action. One of the reasons I started writing this blog is because I really wanted to start an adventure company but I had no idea where to start. Years went by where I would spend long hours dreaming and talking about how cool it would be to have an adventure company. After a few false starts I almost gave up on the idea because each time I would become overwhelmed by the pure fact I had no idea where to start. I’ve listened to hundreds, if not thousands of podcasts aimed at personal development and entrepreneurs. I’ve read stacks of books on the same topics. While I know I have benefitted in life and in my day job from all of this learning I was still paralyzed when it came to actually starting a business.
My absolute favourite podcast is The Tim Ferriss Show (I also have a shelf full of his books) and earlier this year he posted an interview with Marc Randolph who is the founder of Netflix. That episode led me to read Marc Randolph’s book, That Will Never Work, and to start listening to his podcast that goes by the same name. It was with the combined inspiration that I took from Tim Ferriss and Marc Randolph that I once again decided it was time to take action. The only difference being that this time around I would just start. Rather than immediately start trying to plan out an entire adventure business that would allow me to make it a full time career and then become paralyzed yet again, I decided I would just start. Just do something. So one Friday night back in February I dusted off a previous attempt at this website and told myself that by Sunday I would make it public. Being an self diagnosed introvert I find putting something like this out into the world quite nerve racking. But I held myself to my goal and over the course of a weekend I updated the site and made it public. I decided my first order of business was to start releasing regular blog posts (again sorry for slacking, bad Dave!).
So here we are, four months in and the adventure continues. I do need to take more action beyond committing to writing blog posts (as he furiously scribbles down more to do items in his journal). So far my blog posts seem like they could be summed up as a combination of adventure themed and personal growth themed. But I like to think that we’re still getting to know each other. I also told myself that I would be authentic with my posts and if I’m being honest my authentic self likes to talk about adventures and personal growth. Unfortunately my authentic self also likes to talk a lot but procrastinates on taking action.
Coincidentally, over the past year I have made it a point in my life to try and talk less and take more action. Lately I have been exercising this new action muscle quite a bit in the form of mountain biking. While I love all types of outdoor activities from hiking to kayaking to snowboarding to snow shoeing, mountain biking is my bread and butter. So lately, rather than talk about biking I have been biking, lots. At least for me. I have been getting out for rides at least two nights a week and then doing one longer adventure ride on weekends. My goal has been to do 50 kilometers a week with over 1000 meters of elevation gain. Most weeks I’ve been hovering around my distance goal and crushing my elevation gain goal which I’m super happy with.
Now since I have been bragging about shutting up and taking action I should probably shut up. Rather than continue talking lets take some action. Do you have something in your life that you have dreamt about or talked about for an extended period of time without taking action on? Is there a specific adventure or activity that you would love to experience but you get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? Or maybe you have already gone through this journey and you have taken action on something awesome. Either way I would love to hear from you. Check out the Contact page and reach out to tell me more and maybe I can help you move the needle from dream to action.
Happy Trails,
Dave T
118 Degrees West 