Nomad Challenge

First off, Happy Independence Day to all the readers out there from the USA!

Ahh, Providence… No, not the nice city pictured above that’s situated on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, home of the prestigious Ivy League school Brown University as well as a famous big blue bug alongside the highway! Gotta love that critter!

The Big Blue Bug “Nibbles Woodaway” Photo by: Jonathan Baker
Taken from I-95 N-bound in Providence, RI

The sort of Providence I am talking about is illustrated in one of my all-time favorite quotes, which comes from W.H. Murray when he refers to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951):

“Until one is committed
There is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
Always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
There is one elementary truth,
The ignorance of which kills countless ideas
And splendid plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
Then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
That would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision
Raising in one’s favor all manner
Of unforeseen incidents and meetings
And material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamt
Would have come his way.
I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it’”

Absolutely Powerful! Perhaps it sounds a bit too wishy-washy for you, I understand. And yet I believe that no matter what your beliefs are about the universe, religion or life in general, that this advice is golden. Experience has shown me, and I am sure every person can relate, that life sometimes has a funny, seemingly magical way making things happen. This is why I think it is important that when you are planning to reach a certain goal, rather than keeping to a strict course of action, it’s best to leave some room for the unknown to happen.

If you have a real big proper goal, and by that I mean something that you really have to reach and grow for, something that is a true challenge that you have not accomplished yet, then you shouldn’t already know what the absolute best course of action is. If you did, you’d probably have already done it, and it probably isn’t going to help you grow that much. That, or you wouldn’t do it at all because it wouldn’t push you enough. Sure, having some idea of what to do is helpful, but just get started already!!! The rest will come to you as you go along, I promise!

In my previous post, I mentioned that just getting started was a huge step for me, one that unfortunately many people never get past. And committing to my goal on such a public forum just magnifies everything many fold. It strengthens the force of Providence, if you will, as well as my motivation. I’ve crossed the line of no return, there is no “chance to draw back.” Heck, if I draw back now, that will make me look bad in front of all of you!

Leo Babauta, who writes an an excellent blog called Zen Habits, referenced committing publicly in a recent post called The Ultimate Guide to Motivation – How to Achieve Any Goal. Leo gave eight beginning motivation suggestions, and number five was:

“Commit publicly. None of us likes to look bad in front of others. We will go the extra mile to do something we’ve said publicly. For example, when I wanted to run my first marathon, I started writing a column about it in my local daily newspaper. The entire island of Guam (pop. 160K) knew about my goal. I couldn’t back down, and even though my motivation came and went, I stuck with it and completed it. Now, you don’t have to commit to your goal in your daily newspaper, but you can do it with friends and family and co-workers, and you can do it on your blog if you have one. And hold yourself accountable — don’t just commit once, but commit to giving progress updates to everyone every week or so.”

Awesome! A great example of what Goethe said, “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

What have you always wanted to accomplish that you have been putting off for a rainy day, or for when you have more time, or out of fear? Leave a comment and let us know. Perhaps by stating publicly, you too will take actions toward that goal which will start the chain of events in your favor.

The unknown is nothing to fear, and the perfect time will never come. Get started now!!! I’ve always wanted to have the freedom to set out and see the world, and I knew if I didn’t start to do something about it now, I may regret it for the rest of my life. Two things, you must be clear about what you want, and you must take action. C’mon already! Now let’s get started!!!

In order to attain long-term success in any sort of relationship or business venture, it is imperative you provide value. So what value might I be able to present to you?

Yes, I am still somewhat new to using computers to making a living online, at least on my own that is. Much of my career to this point has focused on writing and working on the web, however, so there are definitely some transferrable skills. I cannot relay tips for MMO from my own personal experience just yet (hopefully soon!). I will, however, let you know of tactics that I am trying out, whether I found out from someone else that has suggested it, or if it happens to be something I’ve come up with on my own. And of course, I will let you know what the results of those actions end up being.

One school of thought would say that it isn’t wise to promote oneself as being new, that even if that is the case, you should still position yourself as being otherwise. Fair play, I see the validity in this. I think this site a bit of a different animal. Time will tell… Everyone has to start somewhere though, right?

And you know what, I may be proven wrong and this whole Nomad Challenge website of mine may be a big mistake. I am willing to go through with it though anyway. It is something I want to do and I think can provide valuable insight and inspiration to others looking to start out.  I know some of the other similar websites out there have inspired me to get this up and running (Hint: you can find links to them on the right).

Two reasons why I believe this will end up being a success. One, I have learned that there is often more than one right way to go about doing things in life. Two, I have started and I am determined to remain persistent in reaching my goals. Most people never get past getting started (more on that in the next post).

As time goes on, it is my intention that this site will grow from being the beginning of the process to the realization of my goals. And when that happens, I will have hopefully proven myself worthy of offering you my story. 

Besides, blogging isn’t the only way I plan to reach my goals. Multiple streams of income is the plan. While I certainly do intend to monetize this site, I am not counting on this being my bread and butter, so to speak. If it ends up turning out that way, then great! Giving something of value is my focus though (give and you shall receive). This site is meant to be both educational for those looking to reach their goals, in addition to helping me learn while having a constant kick in the behind to stay with this!

A “drawing” of my future trip to Australia.
(original Sydney Harbor image © Chee-Onn Leong / 123RF)

Greetings!  My name is Kevin and welcome to Nomad Challenge!  This is a blog of my on-going journey toward my dream of remote working and global travel.  Before I let you in on how I got to be where I am right now and why I decided upon this course, I would like to offer my first lesson, if you will, and that is visualization.

As a freshman in university back in 1998, I started reading a book that was required reading for all incoming students in the school of business, and that was Stephen R. Covey’s, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  After the first habit “Be Proactive”, comes Habit No. 2, which is “Begin With The End in Mind”.

I have seen this theme in countless business books, success profiles and other similar literature.  I have also seen in my own life the results of both sides of the coin; having a vision and seeing it come to fruition, as well as having no clear vision and thus seeing only confusion and frustration.

With that in mind, let me offer a quick quote from the late comedian Mitch Hedberg as a prelude to a piece of my dream visualization:

“One time a guy handed me a picture of himself and he said, “Here’s a picture of me when I was younger.” Every picture of you is when you were younger. Here’s a picture of me when I’m older. How’d you pull that off? Let me see that camera…”

Well HA, I pulled it off (sort of)!  Here is a picture of me when I am older!

This is me Beginning With The End In Mind
(original Sydney Harbor image © Chee-Onn Leong / 123RF)

So I invite you to follow along as I journal all the highs and lows, the successes as well as the mistakes, in my journey toward achieving my dream lifestyle.  There will sure to be some valuable lessons shared and learned that anyone looking to go along a similar path, or chasing any dream for that matter, will find useful.

Over the next few posts, I will share more of my story and various sources of inspiration and guidance that I think you’ll find valuable, so please check back.

Cheers!
Kevin

Extra Bonus: Would you like to learn how to take a color picture and make it look like a sketch like the image at the top of this post?  Check out this article from wikiHow:
How to Make a Color Image Look Like a Sketch in Photoshop