Save the World With Adventure

The whole world is in trouble.

I mean, I could shower you with pages of good news, and I wouldn’t have to lie. I’m overflowing with gratitude most of the time.

But let’s look at the dark side for a minute. Just so I can point out one way to the light.

If you’re from the United States, you know that 60% of us don’t want either of the top two presidential candidates to win. The other 40% are certain that civilization is going to collapse if their chosen candidate loses.

(As divisive as our politics have become, I agree with 100% of those sentiments!)

Artificial Intelligence is changing the business environment and the job market.

And don’t get me started on climate change, mental health, war, or a dozen other issues.

I’d rather focus on the quietly determined heroes who coming to the rescue.

Some of them are galloping in or a horse, their voices ringing as they charge forward. Others are slipping in under the radar like a thief in the night.

Others are just barely waking up to their potential and beginning to understand how much they can do.

One of these heroes is you.

About a year ago, I was on Merle Singer’s podcast where I said, among other things, that adventure is our redemption. She asked me what I meant by that, and I realized I didn’t have a good answer. I always just thought it was obvious.

So let me explain what I mean.

The world has always been filled with smart, innovative people who figured things out in creative ways. I’m literally betting the farm that you have something amazing to share with the world.

All you need is the right framework to bring it out, an experience that leads to the inevitable release of your greatest talents, and permission to do it.

I’m here to give you the framework and the permission. The world needs you to have your adventure.

What is an adventure? It’s any goal or action that fits these criteria:

• It tests or potentially increases your talents, skills, and abilities

• It leads to an experience that teaches you an important lesson or forces you to face a strong personal fear

• It brings a reward you greatly desire but don’t yet fully believe you can have

How is this going to help the world?

Virtually every problem revolves around two questions:

1. Whether someone should be allowed, forbidden, or forced to do something; and

2. Who gets to decide #1

Virtually every strong opinion around those two questions is based on fear or anger. I’m not going to argue about when/whether these emotions are justified. I’m just stating what is.

When fear and anger are motivating a nation, a party, a movement or even an individual, it’s easy to make bad decisions.

Fear and anger are the two emotions that will lead you to abandon your principles if they become too strong.

Fear and anger encourage irrational behavior.

Fear and anger favor short-term solutions.

Where fear and anger rule, humanity declines. They are at the root of every war and recession.

Fear and anger lead to upheaval, massacres, and the guillotine.

In your personal life, fear and anger destroy relationships and damage your health. They rob you of creativity, love, growth and potential.

Look back on any regrets you have that weren’t rooted in simple ignorance, and you’ll find fear and anger leering at you triumphantly.

But there’s one action that confronts fear and anger.

Adventure turns them into your allies.

When you’re trying to build a business or create a new work of art, fear becomes a guide to where you need to cross a threshold into a new way of thinking and behaving.

Anger points the way to the obstacles that block you.

When you’re on an adventure fear and anger are no longer directed at other people. They become the focal point of situations and circumstances.

And then they empower you to change these circumstances.

When you choose adventure, the most destructive forces of humanity become positive and beneficial.

Instead of lashing out in fear, you find something so beautiful and exciting to you that you transcend fear, you transform it. You create something beautiful and exciting.

Your adventure lights you like a candle. Instead of suffering in darkness, you become a part of the light. Your own life becomes warm and brilliant, and you spread this to others around you.

Every time you choose adventure, you have a chance to become something better. You transform a little bit of the world’s fear into golden light.

At the end of every hero’s journey, the hero always brings back a treasure to share with the community.

You are a hero on a jounrey. Go seek your treasure, become who you were meant to be, and begin to redeem the world.

Action Steps

You don’t need to fly to the moon on the back of a chocolate unicorn.

But start thinking about what you would do if you discovered you were just a little bit smarter, wealthier, more talented, better looking, or luckier.

Pick out a quest for yourself, and take the first step.

If you’re really in earnest, I have a treat for you that won’t cost a thing. I’m designing a class on how to find your purpose and have an adventure.

If you’d like to beta test it, all I ask in return is your honest feedback. Reply to this email and I’ll give you access.