How to Live Mini-Adventures on a Small Budget

Believe it or not, having life adventures is not in the exclusive realm of eccentric billionaires and jet-setting entrepreneurs. Life adventures don’t even require a lot of time, so you don’t need to quit your job or cash in sick days. Having adventures is more about attitude and a skill than resources.

What is an Adventure?

Adventures don’t have to be African safari’s, base jumping or flying around the world. The best way to have more fun in life is to reframe what you feel an adventure is. My definition would be something enjoyable, unique and a departure from your routine.

With a simple definition like that, you can start having mini-adventures. They may not amazing tales you can tell over a campfire later, but they can make life a lot more interesting. Better yet it won’t break your bank (or your neck!) to go on them.

Adventures are About Randomness

The core of any adventure is that it is unexpected. Injecting randomness to your daily life is an easy way to start making it more interesting. This means doing things you wouldn’t normally do. Meeting people you would otherwise ignore. Saying yes to unknown opportunities.

Here are some tips to get you started in having mini-adventures:

1. Turn Off Expectations – Your routine is easy to calculate. It is familiar. Adventures are fun precisely because they are impossible to calculate and anything but familiar. If you start trying new things without looking for results you can have more fun.
2. Force Yourself to Try New Things – You aren’t designed to seek novelty. Fear of the unknown is usually a much stronger drive than curiosity. Suppress those fears and drag yourself to try new things. It won’t be easy, but once you cross the first threshold you may discover something you love.
3. Sign Up For Organizations – Organizations are an easy way to try something new. They are easy to seek out, offer new experiences and are usually filled with other uncertain people who can reassure you. Toastmasters, cooking classes, dancing, martial arts and workshops can all offer you a quick way to try something new.
4. Develop an Interest in People – I haven’t seen scientific research on this, but it seems to me that extroverts have more adventures than introverts. My guess would be that extroverts naturally meet more people and develop an interest in them. A side-effect of meeting new people is you get exposed to new opportunities.
5. Keep a Failure Log – Keep a record of your worst failures and humilations. If you aren’t adding at least one or two a month, you simply aren’t trying hard enough. Lower your expectations to the point where you intend to feel stupid.
6. To-Try Lists – I’m a fan of lists. To-do lists can keep your tasks organized. Why not keep a to-try list to store fun activities? You can use it to keep track of any interests that pop up but you currently don’t have time to explore.
7. Make Time – Living life requires time. If you are currently feeling overwhelmed by tasks, having adventures may seem frivolous. I suggest reading The 4-Hour Workweek if you are interested in finding ways to steal more time to have adventures.
8. Say Yes – There are many reasons to say no. But occasionally you need to say yes. You need to say yes to things that, at first, appear to have little value. Don’t commit your whole life, just offer to try something out.
9. Unknowledge is More Important – Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes the case in The Black Swan that what we don’t know plays a much bigger role in our lives than what we do. This means we tend to poor at judging events in the future and retroactively explain unusual events. All the more reason to expose yourself to new adventures. Be random, because you probably aren’t good at predicting which will turn out good anyhow.
10. Courage is Mastery, Not Absence, of Fear – Fear is what keeps you back, not a lack of time or money. It’s fear that you will look like a fool, fail miserably or waste your time. The fear intensifies as you approach a decision. Courage is your ability to decide in spite of worry, not in absence of it.
11. Plan Ahead – Adventures require work. Although a rare percentage of people can spontaneously have an adventure, they aren’t most of us. You are probably like myself, bound by a routine that needs structure to break out of. You can’t simply leave your job and try something new for a day on a whim. So plan ahead and schedule it in.

Start a New Challenge Today

It doesn’t take a lot of work to make life more fun. But if you keep ignoring the question and push it aside, it will never get answered. There are already too many urgent issues that require your attention. Instead you need to act now.

• Step One – Pick one new thing you would like to try. This could be an organization, hobby, activity, concert, food, sport or language. It can be huge or it can be small. Just pick one and don’t worry if it is best.
• Step Two – Find a way to insert this new activity into your next month. For organizations and classes this can be easy. Just find one that meets once a week and commit for thirty days. For other activities, you may need to make your own schedule.
• Step Three – Follow through. Try it out. The worst that can happen is you’ve found one thing you don’t like. But you may discover something new and exciting to fill your life.

Go ahead, write your plan here in the comments or the forums and you can share your ideas with other adventurers.