Emerson says: “Always do what you are afraid to do.” What is ‘too scary’ to write about? Try doing it now.

Wow. I thought I had it figured. We’d get these prompts and I’d dutifully write out what came to mind after reading the Emerson quote and the prompt. I liked it. It got me thinking about things I don’t normally think about. The quotes from Emerson are just plain dripping with inspiration that it’s hard not to feel good about the future.

But this. This thing that tells me I’m supposed to write about something that scares me, I’m not sure what I’m really supposed to do with it. I’ll say I don’t understand it. See, I’m totally procrastinating.

I’m not sure if I was taught this way or it was just what I saw around me in the world but airing out that stuff that scares you wasn’t something I did. I still try not to do it. I understand that it’s good to get things off your chest, but any time something comes up, I veer away. I shove it off. I ignore it. I pack it away deep down inside and hope it never comes back up again.

It always does.

I’m learning that hiding what you’re afraid of isn’t the best way to accomplish what you want to do. If something scares you, you have to get it out of the way or it’s going to turn into a scary beast lurking somewhere in your periphery all the time.

Once you deal with something, it’s not scary any more. Once you start taking steps to slay above-mentioned beast, things become manageable. Yes, running headlong into a dragon’s lair with no training or weapons is scary. It’s also dumb and not a smart way to do things. You want to be prepared. You want some armor and a nice sword and maybe a few days of training with the best sword-wielding dudes you can find. But preparation can also be spelled procrastination.

The most poignant example of having to deal with something scary I can think of right now is actually a situation I put myself into. I even paid for it. And I was scared out of my mind.

Travelling around New Zealand, I was on activity overload. There was so much to see and do. Having spent Australia counting my pennies, I could afford to let loose a bit. I was going to bungy jump or sky dive. I thought about doing both but, looking back, I spent a little more than I should have so I’m glad I didn’t.

Bungy jumping seemed easier than sky diving. Apparently it’s not.

I booked the jump at the end of my 3 days in Queenstown. I should have booked it on the first. I spent my 3 days in Queenstown worrying about what jumping 134 meters was going to be like. My time came. I laid out in the best swan dive of my life and plummeted towards the 6 inches of water at the bottom of the gorge. My eyes bulged out of my head as I thought I was going to die. Then it was over.

And I was fine.

The instant I realized I was totally fine I felt a huge rush of relief. I was stoked that had just jumped 134 meters for my first bungy jump but it was more than that. I realized I hadn’t thought about anything past the jump for the last 3 days. Nothing. Natta. Zilch.

I had also spent the last 3 days worrying about something that was absolutely incredible. Exhilarating down to the last meter of bungy cord. I couldn’t think of anything else other than the big beast that was ahead of me. I was terrified of it. But it came and went. My eyeballs were still in their sockets and I still had all my limbs. Nothing happened. I even had a bit of fun.

Every time I am scared of something and then I conquer it, I make a mental note about that triumph. The next time something scary pops up in my way I check back to all those times that I took my little steps and learned what I needed to know and beat those scary beasts into a pulp so I can get over what I’m afraid of. It’s all about the baby steps and the little triumphs. It’s all about remembering those things when the going is rough.

Great things can be scary but they wouldn’t be so great if any ol’ person could do them, right?

Comments: Tell me what you’ve done lately that was scary and how you got over it. Was it as hard as you thought it was going to be?

So here’s the coles notes version of my trip last year.

Flew into Sydney. Met up with a friend there that I hadn’t seen for a few years and got my bearings. It was nice to see a familiar face when so many things are changing at once.

I bought a shitty old car and drove through Sydney to Goulbourn. It was crazy getting used to driving on the other side of the road. I was trying to do it in Sydney no less.

After staying Goulbourn for a couple days I headed down to Canberra and took some crazy backroads out to Queanbeyan. Where I stayed with some family for a few days. I checked out the Australia War Museum and a few other things while I was there. They also took me down to Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s tallest mountain. It wasn’t very hard to climb but was an excellent adventure. The area was beautiful.

I had planned to go down to the coast, possibly to Melbourne, then turn around and drive all the way back up to Cairns. But my family there convinced me that driving over to Adelaide was well worth the trip and I could just come back across the middle and see a bit of the “outback”. So I headed off down the coast.  I stayed in a few neat places and was just going to drive straight through Melbourne but ended up staying for a week.

There was tons of stuff to do in Melbourne. There are lots of gardens there and an awesome bus system that goes around the center of town. There is even a free one. The Aussie Rules game was awesome. I still don’t really get all the rules. The best part was a show on the docks with the Pyrophone Juggernaut.

Sadly, it was time to get on my way and I hit the Great Ocean Road. Apollo Bay was beautiful but wet, the 12 Apostles were, uh, some big rocks and Port Fairy was a little creepy(but had a volcano!)

I had no idea what to expect when I headed into the Grampians. After hiking to the Pinnacle, I decided it was one of my favorite places in Australia. The hostel there was owned by the guy who started the one in Apollo Bay and they bother were small, cozy and eco-friendly.

I had had enough of the rain though so it was time to head North. I packed my bag and headed up to Adelaide to spend a couple days. After that I started to drive to Broken Hill and realized that Australia is a really big place. I basically cut across from Adelaide to Sydney and got about as close to the “outback” as I could without being screwed if my car broke down. I just tried not the think about that happening. After 2 incredibly long days of driving I made it to Dubbo. After searching around for a place to stay, I got a decent campsite and then hit up the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. I hadn’t seen most of those animals in my life.

Despite being much further North than I was a week before, it still wasn’t sunny enough so onto the road again to Cairns. Diving on the barrier reef was incredible and I will definitely be back to do it. Re-energized and a little tanned, I headed down to the party town of Airlie Beach to do some sailing.

I was not disappointed.

And then Rockhampton was pretty boring.

I had never heard of Hervey Bay but it was apparently the gateway to Fraser Island, the Island of Sand.

After driving around the whole freakin town trying to find parking for the hostel I was going to stay at, I hung out in Brisbane for a few days with some hilarious Irish guys.

Back down in Surfer’s Paradise and Lennox Head, I stayed with some more friends and climbed Mount Warning. Damn that thing is steep.

Port MacQuarie was a cool little place. I ran a lot here getting ready for the 14k race I was going to do in Sydney when I got back there. It was on the water and sunny so I was happy.

I had been in Australia for 2 months by now and I was starting to think in Australian. Weird though….now was that an Australian or Canadian thought?

Funny that I totally blanked about what I did in Newcastle. I guess it wasn’t very exciting.

I wish I had had more time in Katoomba but I was anxious to get back to Sydney to sell the car that was falling apart around me.

The first place I stayed back in Sydney was in Bondi Beach in the same hostel we stayed at when I went down to play rugby in 2003.

Before I left for Australia, I saw a rad video who was travelling around Asia taking pictures of himself almost every day. He put it into a timelapse which showed going from clean-shaven to a dirty traveller with a bushy beard and long hair. I thought it would be neat to try. I couldn’t do it.

Cutting 2 pounds of hair off left me way faster for the 14km City to Surf running race. It went from Hyde Park all the way out to Bondi Beach. with 70,000 people in it, it’s the biggest time race in the world. I’ve never been with so many people.

I didn’t lose much and bought a couple things and did some thinking back on my last 3 months. I took a few photos along the way too.

Whew. I didn’t lose you there did I? Ok, that was 3 months in Australia. I had 1 month left and absolutely no plan for my time in New Zealand. All I knew was that I had to Zorb… and possibly bungy jump…. and maybe jet boat too.

Short and sweet New Zealand trip…. and GO!

I think there were a number of days around here that I was just generally picking my nose and not doing much. I can’t remember why I didn’t post. I took the Magic Bus south through the North Island, through Rotorua, and spent a day in Wellington. Then we needed to get ourselves to the South Island. We had the option to take the Interislander Ferry across Cook Straight or fly across. I wanted to see the area a bit differently and knew I’d be taking the ferry back on the way North so I took a little plane over. After being re-routed to a different airport on the South Island because of the wind, I finally made it to Picton.

We didn’t stay long in Picton and headed right away to Nelson where we spent a day in the Abel Tasman National Park. We took a water tax a few kilometers into the park then hiked back. Talking the bus driver on the way out he had mentioned a longer, but more interesting trail back that went up into the hills a bit more instead of along the water. “Much better views up there”, he said. We took his advice and took the high trail. It’s always interesting hiking with people you hardly know when you have no idea where you’re going. It all ended up well.

Along down the coast to Greymouth. Funny enough, it was a very grey little town that’s only claim to fame was the Monteiths Brewery, which we got a tour of. Being incredibly hung over after only a couple hours of sleep is not a great way to spend a bus ride but we made it in one piece to Franz Josef ( and to keep all our food down…).

I had heard that there were a couple of good glacier tours to do in New Zealand before I left on the trip but I didn’t really think about it again until I was down there. An option on the Magic Bus tour was a tour of the glacier or a heli-hike. The heli-hike was the same amount of time as the regular one but quite a bit more expensive.  I’m so glad I bit the bullet and in no time we were up in a helicopter and then wandering around the glacier.

I wasn’t sure if anything was going to top the experience of walking around on a massive block of moving ice. I forgot about everything you could do in Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of New Zealand. We took a bus trip out to Milford Sound and I have to say that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. My photos could not do it justice. To top it all off, I flew back over the mountains into Queenstown. I was a little disappointed that there weren’t enough people interested in the helicopter ride back to Queenstown. It was expensive but it would have been the most incredible way to see the area. They even stop on one of the glaciers one the way back.

Not wanting to say I went to New Zealand and didn’t snowboard, I booked some gear and headed off into the Remarkables. The snow was great but the visibility on the morning I went was atrocious. They had orange pegs in the snow so you could see where the hell you were going. I definitely bailed into a big icey hole on my first run that I couldn’t even see.

Then I did the must gut wrenching thing I’ve ever done in my life. For some reason I booked everything right when I got into Queenstown and figured it would be a good idea to go Bungy Jumping. It was an even better idea to book it on the last day I was there so I’d stew in my own nervousness for a few days before I actually got the chance to jump. If you decide to do it if you go, do it right away. I felt sick I was so nervous the days before. To top it all off, I didn’t choose the first bungy in the world off a bridge, or the platform off the side of a mountain over Queenstown, but the third tallest bungy in the world, the Nevis.

I surprised myself on the bungy though. Everyone there was scared to go, some more than other people. Some people were so scared they tried not to jump when they go to the edge but ended up falling anyways. I’m not sure if it was competition with the couple guys that jumped well before I went or the solid resolution not to look like the fool that pretty much just fell off, but as I got to the edge, all fear fell away and I managed to pull out a beautiful swan dive 134 meters above the canyon floor. I felt like I was going to die just before the bungy caught and then it was all over. I was alive and well and actually able to think about the rest of the trip for the first time in a few days.

We headed out to the coast to Dunedin and ate too much chocolate at the Cadbury factory. Aside from running, there wasn’t much to do in Kaikoura because of the weather. Then it was back to Picton and across Cook Straight into Wellington. I had heard Wellington was called the Windy City but I experienced first-hand myself when I went for a run along the sea wall.

One of the most unique things you can do in New Zealand is called Zorbing. You basically get into a giant hamster ball and get rolled down a hill. It felt like being stuffed into a giant washing machine.

At this point, it felt like the trip was almost over. We were heading back towards Auckland and although there was still another section to the trip, I couldn’t help but feel sad about an incredible adventure coming to a close. I had made some amazing friends on the bus trip around New Zealand and now here was a good chance I’d never seen them again.

The last section going North from Auckland was relaxing. After the whirlwind tour of the rest of New Zealand it was nice to slow down, relax and spend the remaining time with the people I had gotten to know well on the trip. There was one more crazy adventure in store though. We all piled onto a 4 wheel drive bus to go out to Cape Rienga and on the way back 4×4′d to 90 Mile beach and the huge sand dunes in the area. Once we got there, they pulled out some boards and told us to hike to the top and slide down. We all thought the driver was crazy, until he did it himself and made some of the fastest runs out of all of us!

The bus ride back into Auckland was pretty horrible. I got sick with something that made any time away from the bathroom a scary thought.  I made the best of my last few days in Auckland, and then making sure I had all my gear and tickets, headed off to the airport.

Returning from being in other countries for 4 months was a strange experience. Before getting home, I had this feeling that things would be so different. Everything would be upside down and in different places when I got there. Everyone would be different and I wouldn’t be able to recognize anyone.

What I found though that everything was exactly the same. Everyone was doing the same things. Everyone was thinking the same way. Everyone was watching the same TV shows. Nothing had really changed. Everyone’s were almost exactly the same as I had left them 4 months earlier.

You can get addicted to travelling. I can see why that is so after only doing one international trip. It’s hard to make big changes in your life staying in the same place and being stuck in the same routine every day. Being in a different with different people and different languages and different cultures shakes things up. You can stay the same if you want but it’s hard. Travelling changes you. It lets you start fresh. It lets you be whoever you want to be.

It’s almost time to travel again and I can’t wait. I’m excited for the opportunity to see new places, meet new people and, most of all, the experience of starting fresh.

Week 1 of the Challenge was easy. It was basically coming up with some sort of idea for a business and products you could create a business around. After travelling in Australia this past summer, it became clear that I had a lot of ideas about things I could do to help improve peoples lives. My main goal to improve my life but in doing so I would help everyone that felt the same way.

During my travels I wrote down everything I could about ideas for articles, businesses, websites and products. I didn’t want to waste a single idea. And while I could never implement every single one of these ideas in a timely fashion, they provide the base for most of my ideas that have grown into websites and products that are on the way. Recording all these ideas allows them to simmer and grow while you experience life. Some of them will fall behind and never be touched again. Others will grow and eventually become entire businesses. I highly recommend recording every idea that comes floating by that you like. Who knows what will happen with it.

Week 2 of the Challenge has been a bit more difficult and I’m actually still working on it.

On to the OGSM!

What? Wait, what’s an OGSM?

I had no idea what an OGSM was before today but now I know. It’s basically a very simple, high level business plan that will help you keep the direction of your business true to what you started with. I know well with projects, websites and I’m assuming businesses, as things get going it’s tough to not veer off in the direction  of greener pastures and easy work. Yes, this may be a nice way to get things moving in the short term, it sacrifices the goals and mission of the idea that you started with. Every mission that is important enough to be worked on demands a periodic re-evaluation but to change your direction because the work is hard demands a different evaluation. Are you up for it? Do you really want to do this? Why are you doing this?

Until now I’ve had pieces of an idea for what my business is going to encompass. I’ve also read a few articles and books on putting together a business plan and why you should. That said, I’ve never sat down and asked myself those tough questions. What is the mission is for my business? What are my ultimate goals? What are the strategies for completing those goals? And how will I measure things so I know when I’ve reached those goals.

The Questions

To fill out the OGSM(try and keep it high level and limit to one page), and answer the questions that will keep your business on track.

Lea does a fantastic job of explaining the OGSM and the process in the Challenge Week 2 Video. Here’s a distilled version.

Your Objective: What’s your ultimate goal for your project/business?

Your Goals: What are the specific, detailed goals for achieving the above mission(numbers, markets, audiences, distribution methods)?

Your Strategies: What exactly are you going to do to achieve these goals? (Think about how and where as well)

Your Measures: You need to know when you achieve your goals. What and how are you going to measure things to know when you have reached them?

Now is where you see if you have the motivation and the creativity to move to the next step in creating a business. It’s easy and fun to get caught up in the details and not think about the big picture. What are you planning to do next year with your business? I really have no idea but with the plan I’ve just created with the OGSM, I have a compass that will point me in the direction of the next product or website I’ll be creating. As Lea says in the video, once you have a plan like this every single decision you make for your business will come back to the goals and mission you’ve set out initially. You’ll never have to worry about wandering off course if you consistently follow your mission.

Good luck to all the 12 Week Challenge competitors. I’m very excited for the weeks to come.

I spent a lot of time in Sydney wandering through the streets, parks and shops looking for interesting things to photograph and buy for souvenirs. One of the more random items was this metallic tree that was on the side of the road near Market City. I ended up photoshopping a bit to make it a little more interesting.

2009 was the first year I really started writing on this blog. I tried last year and got bored. My 4 month trip to Australia and New Zealand really got my excited to write and share my adventures with the rest of the world. Here are my most popular posts from this year!

10. Coming Home From Australia and New Zealand

I spent 4 months this year in Australia and New Zealand. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. Check out my thoughts on returning to Canada after spending some time down under.

9. Winter Challenge Roundup

I found the best way to get myself to do something was to make a challenge for it. If it was a contest of sorts with myself, I’d be more likely to stick with it and write about it. Here are my challenges for this winter.

8. Powerful Beyond Measure

I credit @jonathanmead with this one. What an incredible message. If you want to get riled up for the wickedness that will be your 2010, watch this now.

7. A Change In Direction

I had no idea what I was going to be writing about when I started the blog. At first it was going to be about everything I did but it quickly turned into a travel blog while I was away. After returning I wasn’t sure what to write about since I wasn’t travelling. I’m a bit addicted to trying new things, seeing what I can learn and how far I can push myself so this is what rcThink will be about. If you love these things too check this post out and let me know what you’re into.

6. My 30 Day Minimalism Challenge

I was moving out. I had loads of stuff. I didn’t want to take it all. I couldn’t take it all. I started a challenge for myself to get rid of all that I could.

5. 1 Week Into My Minimalism Challenge

A status update on the minimalism challenge. I didn’t exactly hit my goal of one thing every day for a month but I did get rid of whole lot of stuff. It did change my view on what I need and why I keep things around. I’ll be doing another one of these early in the new year to shed unneeded junk and clear my mind to accomplish all the awesomeness I’m going to in 2010.

4. The Most Beautiful Place I’ve Ever Seen

On my trip this year I spent a day in Milford Sound. It’s pretty much the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen anything like it, almost prehistoric. The cliffs rose straight up to staggering heights out of the glassy water. The dolphins were following the boat as we cruised by. Waterfalls poured from the valleys into the fjord below. Definitely worth a read if you want to go (or go back) to New Zealand.

3. Rcthink Facelift

I had a tough time choosing a theme for rcThink. I’d change it every once and a while trying to find a fit for myself and my content. I’ve been so happy with Headlines from Woothemes that it’s on a few other blogs I write for as well. Quick advice: Find a good theme and stick to it. Do spend some time finding one you really like though.

2. Digital Nomad Blog Carnival #5

I got the change to host the 5th Digital Nomad Blog Carnival created by Cody at Thrilling Heroics . I had a fantastic time reading through and picking my favorite posts. I’ll be doing this again soon!

1. Creating the List Life

With so many ideas for adventures running around in my head I had to write them down. The best of the best appears in this list. I hope you get some inspiration to get out and really experience life from it!

Plans for 2010

It’s an incredible feeling to have a clear purpose for something. I feel like I know exactly where I want to go with this blog and I’m going to pour everything I’ve got into it and a couple other projects in 2010.

In writing this I’ve tried to experiment and see what the whole blogging thing is about and I’ve done well on some things and sucked on other things. A few things I want to improve on next year:

1. Regular Posting Schedule

I didn’t think this was going to be so hard but posting on a regular schedule ended up being near impossible for me. I’m going to experiment with schedules this year and, who knows, maybe I’ll end up with a schedule of no schedule.

2. Wrap up Challenges

I started some posts, challenges and contests this year that petered out into nothing. I won’t be doing this again. Everything will have a strong start and an even stronger finish.

3. Spend more time on Posts

I’ve never spent much time writing. In elementary school, I breezed through. In high school, it was an afterthought. In university, I always did it the night before it was due. Writing has become much more than an afterthought or lame assignment to me now and I’m going to spend much more time learning and perfecting my skills.

Gimme Your Comments

What was your favorite post you wrote this year? What are you going to do next year to improve? To make it your best yet?

The Sydney Opera house basking in the sunshine when I was there in August 2009.

What did I want to eat the next day? What did I want to do a week from now? What was everything going to be like when I got home? What was I going to do for work? What did I want to do with my life?

Wait, back up a step. What was that last one? What did I want to do with my life.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been doing a lot of reading about people leading unconventional lives, coming up with crazy business ideas and travelling the world but I had never really sat down and actually thought about what I’m doing.

It’s all fine and dandy reading about these other people that are gallivanting around the world working with new-age business and partaking in amazing adventures. But I thought it would just stay as that; reading. Now I feel myself being pulled into the world of doing anything I want, anywhere in the world.

All these people are living lives I’ve dreamed of living but always thought it would never come true. Everyone has to have dreams right? But they stay dreams.

Or so I thought.

With everything and anything now open to my excited mind, I immediately hit a  wall. How do I keep track of all this good stuff? Where do I track it all? How do I remember what I’ve done?

Enter the Life List.

The best thing I’ve seen on the Lifestyle Design blogs in all my perusing has to be the life list. There is no better thing to keep you excited about what you are doing and a way to gauge how well it’s going. My problem is that there might just be a million things that I want to do in the next year, never mind over the course of my life-time so I have a very hard time narrowing it down to a simple, easy to read list.

For inspiration I turned to a few of my favorite blogs to see what they’ve put on their lists.

Sean at Location180 was the first Life List that I saw and I will never forget how excited I got reading all those things realizing I could do the same.

JD at WageSlaveRebel also has an excellent Bucket List on the go as well with the added twist that we are going to do it with him.

I just recently found Nate’s To Do List from WhereIsNate. A solid list that I’d love to do myself, I especially liked #22: Take Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing.  That one found it’s way on to my list after good conversation with a Finnish fellow in New Zealand.

And without further adue, here is The List.