Have you ever gone on a crazy road trip?
Like the kind in college where you hop in the car with friends and only come back when you’ve run out of money or gas or bail money or all of the above?
Back in the day, before I was an old Dad living with kids in the suburbs, you didn’t need to twist my arm to go on a roadtrip.
Like the time I went on a bachelor party to Whistler, Canada a few years back.
Because we were young and stupid, we decided to save $100 by flying from San Francisco to SEATTLE instead of Vancouver — for a weekend trip.
It turns out Seattle is nowhere near Whistler, so we had to rent a van for 10 of us and drive 8 hours north PAST VANCOUVER to get to Whistler.
Yeah, I know. To save $100.
Guys + bachelor party = stupid.
Of course it was a bachelor party so we cracked open the beers as soon as we pulled away from the curb.
(Don’t worry, Mom, the driver wasn?t drinking.)
Then, like a bunch of knuckleheads we were surprised when two hours into the drive we came across a border crossing.
What?! There’s a border between Seattle and Vancouver? Did they redraw the international boundary or something?
Then there was the time in college we roadtripped down to San Diego, then went to Tijuana which is kind of like Las Vegas? if Las Vegas had no laws, rules, or order.
Seriously, the intersections looked like a scene from Mad Max.
But nothing tops my crazy Irish Roadtrip.
I was studying abroad in Dublin during law school.
My girlfriend (now wife) Nicole surprised me by flying in for a week to visit, and we wanted to see a bit of the countryside.
Because Dublin is cool and all, but it?s really just a less dirty London with a lot more Irish accents and Guinness.
So we decided to drive across half the country to an awesome little town of Kinsale.
(Seriously. It’s amazing. Look it up.)
Here’s the crazy part. We rented a van with seven of my fellow American students from my study abroad program and we all hopped into the van, luggage and all.
Only problem was the rental place only had vans with manual transmission – stickshift.
Turned out I was the only one of the group who knew how to drive stickshift, so you-know-who got drafted to drive.
So there I was driving a 7-passenger van filled with SEVEN ROWDY PASSENGERS driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD across half of Ireland.
There may have been beer in the back this time as well. It was Ireland, after all.
And did I mention they don’t have normal traffic lights in Ireland?
They have roundabouts at the intersections, which are slightly more organized and intuitive than those Mad Max intersections in Tijuana.
And which, like the roads, go the wrong way (clockwise).
So what’s my point in all this? To just utterly offend all my wonderful Irish and British readers until they unsubscribe?
Well, I got to thinking about this story recently when I was considering my 3 words for 2016.
The my three words? idea is something author and keynote speaker Chris Brogan came up with.
Chris says he came up with the idea as an antidote to new year’s resolutions which he finds are vague, unspeciifc and not really useful.
Says Chris:Pick any three words that will guide you in the choices you intend to make for 2016. They should be words that let you challenge yourself as to motives and decisions. They should be words that help you guide your actions.?
For the past 3 years, I have chosen 3 words to have as a theme for the year.
This year I choose:
- Inspire
- Movement
- Deep work
I choose inspire because I want to do more to inspire my readers to take action during 2016 to build better relationships at scale, and turn those relationships into more clients, revenues and growth.
I choose movement for two reasons – I want to create a movement of entrepreneurs who recognize that the fastest path to success in their own business is by giving to others. And I choose the word for a personal reason – because I didn’t do enough movement during 2015, and I want to physically move more – work out, go on walks, go on hikes, etc.
And finally, I choose Deep work? (yes, I know it’s technically two words) because of the distinctions author Cal Newport articulates in this article: Want to Create Things That Matter? Be Lazy.
But for now, I want to focus on #1.
I want to inspire you to think about how you are going to make 2016 an unforgettable year.
Are you going to get serious about making big changes to your business in 2016?
Are you going to finally write that book you’ve been meaning to write?
Are you going to start a podcast, launch a blog, build an email list, get started with webinars or whatever it is you’ve wanted to do?
Throughout 2016, this is going to be a repeating theme from me.
Whatever it is you’ve wanted to get done for a LOOOONNNNGGG time, but still haven’t done? THAT’S what I want to help you get done.
Whatever it is, I want to help you get there.
Now, I want to hear from you.
But I don’t want to hear what you want to accomplish in 2016. Not yet.
What I want to know is? what is the craziest, boldest, most ambitious thing you have done in your life?
Did you jump out of an airplane?
Did you bungee jump off a bridge?
Did you hitchhike across South America with a boyfriend to get back at your parents?
Did you go on a crazy roadtrip back in college down to Daytona for spring break, get arrested, and need to get bailed out by your folks?
(Not that I know a lot about that. I’m just sayin?.)
Here’s why I’m asking you to do all of this.
When you reflect back on some of your craziest, boldest, most brash adventures, it has the ability to shake you out of your stupor and INSPIRE you to do the things TODAY which will yield big shifts in your business.
You’ve done big things before. You’ll do them again. Now is the time.
So comment below and share with me what is the craziest thing you’ve done in your life.
Oh, and keep it PG? people. This is a family blog.
My delicate suburban Dad ears can’t handle too crazy.