The Quest for 1%: Debriefing August 2011

My fellow riskologists,

August has come and gone, and here at the Riskology Lab I’m waiting for the leaves to start falling so I can test the effects of their colors on my subconscious response to risk.

After a month away climbing mountains and running a marathon on two continents, August was a quiet month, and quiet was more than welcome. But I’m not one to let momentum die once it’s going (I recommend hanging onto it as long as possible), so plans are already underway for the next round of action.

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Welcome to the 1% Club Update for August, 2011. This is the place where I discuss the strategies I use and trials I face as I take on some of the biggest challenges of my life.

If you’re new here, you may want to get familiar with The 1% Club first and read a few previous updates to see how things have progressed over the months.

Thanks for being here. I hope you’re able to take some of the lessons I’ve learned and apply them to your own big challenges.

Incoming: Carstensz Pyramid

It didn’t take very long after arriving home from the last trip to get the bug to leave again. What can I say? I’ve been bitten by the travel bug.

The question last month was: do I climb the taller (and cheaper!) mountain in Argentina or do I go for it and take on the shorter (but expensive!) peak in Indonesia? Logic would dictate the former, but for some reason I’m compelled to head to Indonesia. So, that’s exactly what I plan to do.

If I’m being honest, this is how I make a lot of big decisions like this. I’m typically a very calculating and strategic person, but when it comes to adventure, I’m a bit haphazard. A contradiction for sure, but I’m okay with this; you don’t always have to have an explanation for your big goals so long as you’re enjoying yourself as you pursue them.

Provided I can raise the necessary funds, I’ll be headed to Indonesia early in 2012.

To date, I’ve completed 2 of the official 7 summits.

World’s First Marathon

As legend has it, the world’s very first marathon was run entirely by accident 2,500 years ago when Pheidippides, the Greek messenger, ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver the good news that Greece had defeated the Persians in battle. Back then, I’m pretty sure they resolved disputes over rousing games of checkers. Pheidippides died moments later from exhaustion.

2,500 years later, fools like me from all over the world actually pay money to recreate the experience. In a brilliant display of capitalism, Athens realized they could make a boatload of money by sponsoring an official recreation of the event and letting me pay them to run in it.

On November 14, 2011 I’ll dawn my modernized Greek messenger gear (they had Nike spandex back then, right?) along with thousands of others in Marathon, Greece to run the Athens Classic Marathon.

I guess it’s worth mentioning that I haven’t actually entered the race yet or booked my ticket to Greece, but these are minor details, right?

To date, I’ve completed 2 of 7 worldwide marathons.

A Few Complications

Now that I have one big expedition under my belt, I’ve gotten a chance to see just how things work trying to take on big goals while running a website and a business from some of the most remote locations on Earth.

In case it isn’t obvious—it’s not the easiest thing I’ve ever done. During the last two months I’ve gotten a chance to see a few of the biggest complications I’m up against as I continue this campaign:

• Cashflow: Business is going fine, but up until now, I’ve actively ignored opportunities to bring in more money in favor of focusing on other measures of growth. I use lots of strategies that allow me to travel for very little money, but to make sure I can keep up with my bigger goals, it’s going to be important that I focus on bringing in more money.

• A shared journey: The 1% Club is my journey, but it’s more compelling if others (that means you, fellow riskologist!) can be a bigger part of it. The monthly debriefings and trip reports aren’t the most popular articles that I write, and I never really expected them to be, but making sure they’re continuously relevant and useful to you is very important to me and the long-term success of Riskology.co, so it’s something I’m always thinking about.

• Technical difficulties: On my recent trip, I made light of the fact that I’d be working from anywhere. Lots of people do it, right? Well, it turns out that when most people say they work from anywhere, what they really mean is that they work from anywhere that has electricity and wifi. Keeping Riskology.co updated and managing the business from the tops of mountains and deep within remote wildlife reserves is a different story. It worked out this time, but it was very difficult, and I’m on the hunt for better processes and workflows that will help thing go a little smoother in the future.

It’s not always fun to talk about the challenges and things that go wrong, but I do think it’s usually important, especially when you only get to see my side of the story. Hopefully knowing about some of the problems I run into will help you get through your own with fewer challenges.

Change is Brewing

I’ve said from the very beginning that if one of the 1% Club goals ever stops making sense, I’ll stop working on it. I’ve talked about the possibility of change before, but I haven’t actually made any. That’s still true, but I can say with certainty now that I’ll be changing several things over the coming months.

To be more clear, I’ll be replacing some of my music oriented goals. I still love music very much, but it’s become clear to me that to really achieve what I want, my time should be spent elsewhere. I’ve been a musician my whole life and always felt guilty that I didn’t give it enough time or attention. Since starting Riskology.co last year, I’ve given it even less time, but for the first time ever, I haven’t felt guilty.

I think that’s a pretty good indication that what I’m working on here is more important to me and deserves my full attention. I’m ready to give it.

Never feel bad about giving something up to pursue something even better. Foolish consistency is nothing to be proud of.

Happy Accidents from the Riskology.co Community

On to everybody’s favorite part! Last month, I challenged Riskology.co readers to tell us about the happy accidents—times when things went wrong but worked out for the best—they’ve experienced. You answered the call and there are a number of fun stories to share this month:

• Kai wrote a story about the time her car broke down on a cross country road trip.
• Patrick met his wife through a series of happy accidents.
• Jake learned a few life lessons while trapped in an avalanche.
• Mill ended up with a husband after traveling alone when her friend broke her arm.
• Darrel made a busload of new friends when his ride broke down in Morocco.
• Kurt recalls the time he got a few free apples at an international border crossing.

New Reader Challenge: Giving Up

With the impending changes to the 1% Club that I’ll be making, the concept of “giving up” has been on my mind a lot lately. Giving something up doesn’t have to be a bad thing though—sometimes it’s exactly what you need to do to pursue something that suits you better.

This month, I want to hear your stories—good or bad—about “giving up.” Have you ever made the tough decision to stop doing something that wasn’t a good fit? Are you in the process of making a big change? What were the consequences? What are you doing now instead? Let us know about it!

If you have a blog, write your story there for your own readers and leave a link to it in the comments below.

If you’re not the blogging type, just leave your story in the comments below. There’s no word limit, so make it as short or long as you like.

I’ll share everyone’s story in next month’s update.

Yours in risk-taking,

 

 

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Images by: jercraigs, Se7en Summits, dr_paul_szczypka