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Questions to Help you Find Time for Adventure

 

Yesterday I tried to encourage you to reflect on how time is passing us by. It’s unlikely that there will ever be a perfect time to go and do your dream adventure. Therefore it makes sense to start trying to carve out some time right now. It won’t be easy. But let’s try.

The first task is to think carefully about how you currently use your time, and how you might be able to make some time for adventure. This isn’t about stirring your porridge into your coffee, sleeping in your work clothes or other handy tips like that: for a big adventure you’ll need to clear a swathe of time – weeks at least, months, maybe even a year or two.

Ask yourself these questions. I know they are hard, but try to answer them as positively as you can rather than instantly dismissing them as inconceivable and impossible in the circumstances of your life:

    • What is the biggest chunk of time you might conceivably be able to carve out for an adventure? Is this long enough to do what you’d like to do? Squeeze on another week on at either end. Is that long enough?
    • When in the next year might you have time? Can you block off a non-negotiable chunk of time in your diary? It might be quite far in the future, but once it’s in the diary you can treat it as sacrosanct.
    • What are the your time constraints that prevent you from going on the adventure? Is it family commitments or work commitments? What are the reasons why you cannot go away from your family for a while? Could you take your family with you or must you leave them behind?
    • If it’s work, do they honestly need you all the time? Could your colleagues cope without you for a while? How much loyalty and time do you owe them? Beware mis-placed loyalty. Talk to your family and your boss about how you might be able to free up some time. Don’t just second-guess them by saying ‘˜it’ll never happen. They can’t do anything about it.’ ‘“ have the conversation. Tell them how important this is to you. Explain the benefits you think it will have for you, for your relationship, for your work performance.
    • Imagine you were suddenly bed-ridden for a couple of months. Would the world cope without you? How would it manage? Could you, therefore, bugger off on an adventure for a couple of months without the world collapsing?
    • Could you take your family with you? Leave them behind?
    • Could you take a sabbatical from work? Maybe you could work from the road. If you resigned is there a chance they would give you your job back when you return? Perhaps you could quit, then seek a new job when you return? Or apply for a new job now but agree not to begin the position for a few months.
    • If you are too financially constrained to stop working, are there ways you can free yourself a little? Can you clear your credit card debts, downsize your house or rent it out, or even take out a loan? Richard Parks’ parents re-mortgaged their own house to help him accomplish his expedition dream of climbing the Seven Summits and bagging both Poles. Extreme measures, perhaps, but it is important to reflect upon how important this experience is to you. You can get more money in life, but nobody can buy back time.

On expeditions you often need to take bold, decisive decisions that will have a significant impact on your chances of success or staying alive. You have to be confident, clear-headed and brave enough to back yourself. The wilderness is a place for positive decisions, pushing forwards, and making shit happen. The sooner you begin to get into this adventurer’s mindset, the sooner you will have that big juicy chunk of time inked into your diary and the adventure can at last begin.

My new book, Grand Adventures, answers many questions such as this. It’s designed to help you dream big, plan quick, then go explore. There are also interviews and expertise from around 100 adventurers, plus masses of great photos to get you excited.

I would be extremely grateful if you bought a copy here today!

I would also be really thankful if you could share this link on social media with all your friends – http://amzn.to/20IMYDt. It honestly would help me far more than you realise.

Thank you so much!

Grand Adventures Cover

 

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