I’m about to head back to Nebraska this week, as soon as I can get a few errands done and pack up my Jeep. By the time I get home, it will have been almost six months since I left on my adventures. When I drove away from my home state last December 5th, it was nine degrees and there was four inches of snow on the ground. Five months later, in Arizona, I waded through air nearly 100 degrees warmer. I had thought I would be gone three to four months. I had no idea the road would tempt me to keep traveling, while it gave me some of the greatest treasures of my life. It all changed me…and it changed my business.
The extra two months were partly due to the broken wrist I ended up with from a fall out of my brother’s girlfriend’s hammock, partly due to the unexpected wedding of a friend in Las Vegas, and partly because of a detour to the Grand Canyon. But the delay was also because I discovered the world has so much to offer. It made me hungry to see what is around the next corner. I met so many exceptional people and was exposed to businesses that taught me important lessons.
I didn’t look at the businesses through the eyes of a professional so much…more as a person who is curious about the way people survive and thrive in their lives. In the end, I found the thriving part is really what matters about business. More than ever, I could see that businesses exist for people. Businesses support dreams, love, curiosity, self-challenge, fun, sport, ego and more.
I like to think about all the people i met: the woman who manages a retro motel in Kanab, Utah. The married couple who turned down opportunities to grow their hand-blown glass business into a corporate conglomerate, just so they could remain in their beloved space in old-town Chandler, Arizona. The cafe owner in the town south of Zion Canyon who had the best four-berry pie I’ve ever tasted. Their stories are rich and colorful, even as they slog through the days doing the same thing over and over.
In my mind, the difference between these business people and those who struggle and complain is a conscious choice to see the entire experience as an adventure. These people are my fellows in the belief that we have a choice to look at each day with hope and curiosity. We have a right to believe we will succeed. Our destiny is as much to have fun at our jobs as it is to make money to put food on the table. All we have to do to claim that destiny is make a choice to embrace it–and have faith, really have faith.
When I set out on this adventure, it was simply to visit a client in South Florida, then swing over to see my brother in Houston. The possibilities grew as I traveled, and all I did to grow this treasured experience was follow the possibilities. I worked from the road full time and kept up with my obligations, because that also is a part of making adventure a reality.
The most important thing I did was give myself permission to explore. Some days I wandered with no thought to my destination. Other days, I discovered I felt a great desire to see a specific place, so I worked my way there.
You could look at all of it as a metaphor for business. Give yourself permission to wander aimlessly toward adventure some days. Other days, allow yourself to indulge a desire to head a certain direction, then pull up stakes and just go. Take care of business along the way to make it a reality, then follow your nose to what could be the greatest adventure of your life.
