Dreaming can be delicious, all the possibilities and potential are there at your fingertips to pick and choose and switch out in day dreams.  That’s how I’ve felt about treasure hunting in Florida – maybe I’ll find emeralds, maybe silver coins, maybe a gold box full of jewels (someone really did find one of those!).  Now after about three years of imagining what might happen, I’m going to find out and while that’s exciting, there’s a certain sense of loss to it too.  I don’t feel ready, haven’t honed my metal detecting skills, etc.  And there’s that knowing that I’ll need to find new daydreams on the other end which is fun too, but I get attached to my old standbys.  That’s been a big part of this past week, both treasure hunting and art sales – another ‘what will happen’ adventure.

I’ve put some time into studying what I need to do and how to go about doing it most efficiently.  Now that I know I’ll be doing a jewelry sale at the end of November, reality is setting in on what I need to get done before then so there is going to be considerable time spent out in the garage with the torch including today.  I dug out some fabric to make a cover for the folding table and things like that. I’ve also started cleaning out my email inbox by getting rid of some of the automated messages that I always delete without reading.  It’s a pain because I had to go find my logins for each but now I’m getting slightly less mail to have to sort through.

Overall, it’s felt like a slow week; hard to get started in the morning and things like that but I think it’s really that I’ve been thinking through all these different ventures.  I’ve put a little bit of time into getting the yard ready for winter, too – taking in the hoses, cleaning out the flowerpots and things like that. It’s not much fun, but things do look better!

Technorati Tags: achieving dreams, adventure, Health and Happiness, solopreneur, the way to happiness

I was more into dinosaurs than pirates as a kid, but I’ve always loved  a good treasure hunt (although not the kind where some adult already knows what and where…)  So ever since I saw the Cash & Treasure episode about Spanish Armada gold on the Florida coast, I’ve been dying to go try my luck and that day has finally arrived, or will next week.  I know that the odds are that my sister and I will come back empty handed, but the possibility exists for anything and everything to the right of that and it’s got me thinking about why adventure is so much fun.

A big part of it is that it’s not quantifiable.  It would be virtually impossible to write a risk analysis or a business plan around treasure hunting.  What would you say?  Projected earnings are between $0 and $5,000,000?  I think there’s a big relief for most people to get away from a plan for a bit, whether that’s with a metal detector or on a hike to a new spot looking for wildflowers. When you don’t know what could happen or what you’ll find, the entire journey is exciting.

By it’s very nature, adventure has a goal (gold and spices in the Far East) and a very hazy road map that quickly gets tossed away for inaccuracy.  So how come when that happens in the other parts of our lives, we get resentful and start turning over rocks looking for that itemized list that will tell us how to get on? Most of us seem to want to be safe and adventurous all at the same time.  However, outside of some theme parks I’ve never heard of that happening.  That doesn’t mean I’m taking off for the beach forever, just that I know that the sense of possibility and excitement that comes with the thought of treasure is one that can come with any risk/goal combination we want to achieve.  If you start with “I won’t find anything” and “it’s not worth trying” then it’s unlikely to fall out of the sky and hit you on the head.

Technorati Tags: adventure, taking risks

I spent the weekend and most of Monday rounding up the things I need to go gem hunting in Oregon (sunstones). I am appalled at how long it takes me to find and assemble what I need for what is essentially a weekend camping trip.  I know what I have but is it in the basement or the garage?  Upstairs or downstairs? Should the snake bite kit (which I will NEVER need, knock on wood) go in my daypack or gear bag? This would go much faster if it hadn’t been almost a full year since I last had this stuff out.  I’m resolving to get out on a few more short adventures this year so maybe it will only take half a day to prep.

I finished up reading Julia Child’s My Life in France this week. It was an impulse buy while standing in line at Barnes & Noble; I dislike being an accurately judged marketing target by succumbing to those carefully placed browsing tables, but it had been on my reading list so I took as a sign and bought it.  I’m still trying to decide if I like the book, and/or JC.  It may be that we simply have no point of connection other than an appreciation of cats.  She barely mentioned her time in the Secret Service which I was curious about and dwelled more intently on a variety of sauces and culinary challenges. While generally I love to read rich descriptions of foreign food, I don’t think my soul is French.

A large part of my heart is pure treasure hunter – my sister and I tried gold panning for the first time as adults this weekend and are planning a trip to Florida on the off chance that we’ll be lucky enough to find some Spanish gold that’s made it’s way from the ocean floor to the beach.  It doesn’t really matter if we don’t the hunt is fun part. I guess this is my form of gambling (card games bore me) so I don’t think I’ll ever turn it into a career although I may be able to make jewelry from gem hunting or some such.  Still, it’s something I love and I need to get it more in balance with the other aspect of ‘career’ I have going on.  I’m hoping my No Excuses project has a quick and immediate impact on how I spend my time

Technorati Tags: adventure, balance, getting organized, Health and Happiness, signs, small pleasures, solopreneur, the way to happiness

It’s amazing what a day off doing something totally joyful can do for you – even when you’re self-employed. Last weekend I did indeed go beach glass hunting on a distant but famous beach that I hadn’t been to before and as you might expect there were setbacks – like having to wait two and a half hours for a ferry for some unknown tidal reason. The delay meant I missed low tide and had to turn back before reaching the ‘good’ beach but I was plenty happy with what I’d found and more than tired from the approximately 1000 toe touches I’d done to get them. Now that I know what the tides and the walk is like I’ll be going back as soon as I can coordinate the tides, ferries and daylight to my advantage.  And even though I ached, got some bad sunburned spots (yes, I should know better)  and had to wait for ferries I had a blast. Somehow that translated to getting even more done during the following week than I might have expected:

• I’ve gotten two class proposals written for continuing ed at the nearby community college and will get those sent out today.
• I’ve got the bread-baking business ready to launch as soon as the business cards show up – so that means ordering business cards, creating a website (http://bread.julietchase.com) ordering food-grade sacks for marketing and writing fliers.  I still have a few forms to design like invoices but I’m ready to start.  So yes, it’s possible to start a business for less than $75 (I already have a business license so that’s not an added expense- but even if I didn’t it would still be less than $200)
• I’ve also updated my photography site so that it’s ready for me to launch selling products. Mostly that meant going in and changing menu items but like anything else you don’t do for a long period of time, half the struggle is remembering how to do it.

Those are the highlights of my status report for the week!  I’m excited because most of these things won’t be coming back on the list; sure, there will be other work to do and  it will mean that I’m succeeding when there is.

Technorati Tags: adventure, crafting a creative life, Health and Happiness, solopreneur, the way to happiness

Risks are not all created equal. Healthy risks (and the ones worth pursuing) are to gain those skills and abilities that you envy in other people, “I wish I was like that” or “I wish I could do that” or that make your eyes light up while you think “I wonder if…”. They are not things that make you nauseous or instill any other symptoms of fight or flight or that you know will be harmful.  Sky diving is not a healthy risk for me personally because when I think about it, all I get is a feeling of dread, my stomach drops to my knees, and I can’t imagine feeling better about myself at the end of it.  It may or may not be on your personal risk list.

The first step to learning to take more risks is to figure out which ones are on your personal list without making any immediate plans to tackle them or beat yourself up for not being there yet. Risks can be big or small, things that seem silly, or things that are universally acknowledged to be a really big deal.  Healthy risks may be emotional risks, physical challenges or both.  It’s okay; it’s your list and your timetable – there are no deadlines.

Why keep a written list?

Well, mostly because risks are sneaky and once conquered, they quickly slip from your memory as ever having been scary.  Keeping a running list that you maintain helps to prove to yourself how brave you’re being and how far you’ve come.  I’ve been keeping mine since 2004 and can now say that I typically cross off about 7 or 8 items each year but with each year the number grows…  you may have more or less.  When I look back at the early items, it’s hard to remember ever feeling like those were really risks!

Starting your list

Step 1. Create a list of risky things that you can identify now that you would like to tackle someday.  Look over the list to make sure that you aren’t allowing anyone else’s risks onto your list just because you feel you should. Do you genuinely feel excited about the day when you’ll feel ready to take each one on, even if they feel overwhelming now?

Step 2. Copy the list to a permanent journal or computer document (I confess I keep mine in a spreadsheet) and leave enough room for the date when you complete each item.    Be sure to leave some room at the end to add items as you think of them.

Step 3.  Pick the risk that you want to start with and ask yourself if you feel ready to take it on.  It’s okay to give yourself research time or just to sit with it for awhile.  When you have met the challenge, mark the date it was completed next to it on the list and pick the next one to tackle.

Step 4.  Add items to the list posthumously (the risk, not you!) That is, risks that you take and face but that you hadn’t thought to add to the list ahead of time.  Example: fixing the leaking toilet – not something I anticipated having to deal with, and I was shaking with each turn of the wrench, but oh so proud of myself at the end of it and I know now that I could do it again with much less angst.

Step 5.  Look over the completed items once a year on New Year’s or your birthday and really take stock of how far you’ve come and give yourself credit.  Add any new risks you’ve thought of that you’d like to take on someday.

In the five years that I’ve been keeping my list it’s grown to around 75 items.  Here are some examples of the range these can take:

Window shop inside Tiffany’s (10/1/2004)

Visit a psychic (5/27/2006)

Call the local gym (8/15/2006)

Wander around New York City by myself (1/25/2007)

Trade $100 on the stock market (tbd)

Drive to Alaska (tbd)

Technorati Tags: adventure, challenges, facing fear, fear, Health and Happiness, self confidence, taking risks