So I'd like to share with you a really
interesting experiment that I'm doing in
life. In my book, The Code of the Extraordinary Mind
I talk about how
it's important to look at our life in
12 different dimensions and one of these
dimensions is adventure
how can you create a life where you're
consistently having adventure. Now I
learned about this from John Butcher and
I talked about John in my book. He's the
founder of Lifebook the founder of the
Precious Moments Company and John had a
habit where every year for about three
months he would pick up his entire
family from kids the grandkids and move
to a different city and just live in
that city and embrace that culture and
have an adventure for three months
straight and I asked John like what do
you do
I mean you're pulling your kids out of
school how do you do that and I'll of
John's reply he's he said at that point
they were going to Egypt he said look I
believe my kids will learn more
haggling in the bazaars of Cairo then
they will in the public education system.
So agree or disagree the idea that we
can actually structure our lives for
adventure is such a fundamentally
beautiful thought.
Most people wait till they retire to
take those long beautiful vacations but
what if you can set an intention set a
goal and you can start small
maybe one week every year go on an
adventure of a lifetime
So I want to share with you a couple of
interesting studies and some experiments
which I'm currently doing. Now the first
was a study by Shawn Achor.
He is that famous Harvard researcher
behind the book The Happiness Advantage
so I was chatting with Shawn and this
thing that he shared with me was
mind-blowing he said that in a study
Americans who use up all 10 of their
vacation days, who actually take all 10
days of vacation get this: are 35%
more likely to get promoted
Wow! I mean we think that if we want to
get promoted promoted if we want to to
prove our work to the boss what you want
to do is show that your first one in
your the last one out that you're
willing to sacrifice your vacation for
work
turns out this is complete BS.
If you take all 10 of your vacation days
you what 35% more likely to get a
promotion
Shawn told me he was shocked when this
research came out he said I was
expecting two percent three maybe four
percent but 35% so please take your
vacations but the fact is rather than
just take your vacations why not set an
intention to turn these vacations into
an adventure. So the first experiment I
tried was really simple
I set a goal that at least once a yea
I would leave the office for an entire
week and go on a road trip with my
family and we did that in Australia and
New Zealand then we did that in the
United States it was amazing
so this year we just completed our first
road trip and now we're doing a second
one this time we're spending a week in a
Safari in Africa. So now every six months
I take a week off and I take my kids and
my wife with me. Sometimes it does mean
pulling the kids out of school but we go
on this beautiful adventure. So that is
added an incredible level of adventure
to my life but the important thing is
this right when I started out this
intention I had no idea how I was going
to pull it off
I was afraid that being able to step
away from work and email for seven days
would cause my company to collapse
would cause things to go haywire but I set that
as a goal and I have given myself one
year to fix my life so I could pull away
like that and in one year I did and what
I found is when I did pull away nothing
collapsed. So with that realization
nothing is going to collapse
no one is going to fire you I decided to
try another experiment. Now starting in
2017 my family and I are going to spend
every June in a different City
We're just gonna pack up find an Airbnb
in a radically different city and just
live there and I've given myself one
year to fix my life and changed the way
I work and hire the right people that I
need to to make sure I can pull it off
so this coming June 2017 we're moving to
Barcelona and I want to encourage you to
start thinking that way
what if you could start by setting an
intention to take all 10 of your
vacation days
and remember 35% more likelihood of a
raise then expand that what if you could
do a week and go on this incredible trip
with your family then two weeks every
year that maybe being able to live a
month in a different City
why wait till retirement or till you hit
some arbitrary goal for you to finally
be able to sit back and relax there's
this big lie in American society right
now that you need to work hard and give
up everything else and pour yourself
into your project or your business will
look I have an important project may
have an important business and I love
what I do and I wake up everyday excited
about going to work but what I found is
that when I'm able to pull away
experience life and take people I love
with me
I come back to work and I'm better than
ever at what I do and it's never too
late you should not be waiting to inject
adventure in your life adventure fuels
you it makes you a better creator it
makes you a better entrepreneur it makes
you a better employee so start this
bullshit idea of postponing a life of
adventure
it's something you can do now and I hope
these experiments resonate with you in
some level and that you're ready to try
these experiments in your own life.