Adventure is good for everyone.
“The biggest risk is getting to the end of your life and looking back and thinking ‘Man I could have done more.'” -Dave Cornthwaite
The Cheat Sheet:
- What training does he do for his adventures?
- This kills ambition more than anything else, what is it?
- How many hours a day are most employees productive?
- How to deal with naysayers.
- When was the last time he had his own home?
- And so much more…
Can you imagine skateboarding the length of Great Britain? Now what if you had just recently picked up a longboard for the first time? That’s exactly what today’s guest did, and he broke the world record doing so.
Today Dave Cornthwaite joins us to talk about his adventures, including Expedition 1,000, and how he became a traveler, author, filmmaker and speaker on the subject of adventure travel. All of that and more on the 356th edition of The Art of Charm.
More About This Show:
Dave wasn’t born into a life of adventure, he cultivated it. On his 25th birthday he woke up feeling completely disenchanted with his life. He had a great job earning a good living, had a lovely home, a significant other and a cat. In other words, everyone would think he had the ideal life. But in his heart he knew he only loved his cat, and that cat was about to have a much better day than he was.
That was Dave’s turning point. Soon he quit his job and decided he was going to skate around Australia, breaking the world record in the process. To prepare he simply skateboarded every day for a couple of weeks and then he wheeled his way across the length of Great Britain, thereby setting his first world record. He didn’t know how he was going to do either of these objectives when he set out to do them, he simply decided he was going to do them. He trained, learned and sorted things out as he went along.
And he hasn’t looked back since. Within those first two years of leaving his job, he broke several world records, landed a book deal and skated the length of both Great Britain and Australia. He’s also in the midst of Expedition 1000: 25 journeys of 1000 miles or more using non-motorized transport. Not bad for a guy who had been living a pretty “normal” life until then!
So how did he make that shift and how did he know to do so? Dave says there were signs of course, but most important he knew to follow his gut. His instinct told him something wasn’t right, and there was more available to life than just going to a job, collecting a paycheck and accumulating “stuff”.
In addition to his gut telling him to search for more, he recalls not wanting to go to work on Monday. He also spent money on useless things, as a way to fit in and a way to fill the void that was creeping in from lack of happiness in his overall life. Those were his big clues, along with what his gut told him.
If you find yourself in that same boat, and you know what you want to do next but you’ve got some fear, how do you get up the gumption to do it? Dave says things are far scarier in your mind and your thoughts, than they are in real life. So stop thinking so much and go do the things you need to do.
And don’t be bothered by the naysayers who try to stop you. Dave has heard his fair share of these folks, and even still hears from some of them today. What he’s learned is when people are trying to dissuade you or they are speaking to your fears, it’s not actually your fears they are speaking to but their own fears.
When someone tries to talk you out of your big goal or dream just know it’s their own fear they’re trying to assuage. His final bit of wisdom on the subject is to remember it takes tremendous courage even to vocalize your dreams, so if your friends aren’t supportive of you and encouraging you then they aren’t real friends.
There’s tons more wisdom shared in this episode with Dave, tune in to hear his thoughts on how to say yes more, and have more opportunities show up in your life along with why we all need a bit of adventure in your lives. He has an adventurous spirit and it was terrific to hear where he’s been and what he’s learned from his last decade of adventure. Big thanks to Dave for joining the show, and special thanks to you for listening. We’ll see you next time on The Art of Charm.
THANKS DAVE CORNTHWAITE!
Resources from this episode:
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