Be Adventure Ready

As a trainer I drive to plenty of different venues. Most places already provide what I need to deliver but I also carry plenty of kit. Just in case.

In the boot of my car you'll find spare chargers, batteries, notebooks, handouts, and all the various leads for my laptop.

Double Fantasy

It took me a while to get properly set up but I've got a pretty good duplicate system going on these days. There's nothing worse having driven for miles and turning up at a venue only to realise I've left my powerpoint clicker behind on my desk at home.

I can tell you as well that it's really not a great thing to be the trainer asking to borrow a piece of equipment. 

Probably the most embarrassing moment was the morning I called the organiser early from my hotel to ask if they had any spare cufflinks. That was the last time I wore a shirt without buttons!

These days I keep a spare (buttoned) shirt in the boot too so that problem doesn't arise any more.

I've thought for a little while that my system works well but I read a tweet the other day that made me realise I might only be reaping half the benefits from this system.

Here's the tweet:

I don't know Abigail but I like her ideas. Being 'Adventure Ready' is a fabulous idea.

What I like about this idea in particular is that it incorporates at least two important ideas.

Start!

Firstly, that you might have to kick-start yourself to lift a mood.

We all know that we always immediately feel better once we've gone for that swim, begun to write that report, picked up the phone and made that difficult call.

Whatever it is that we're trying to avoid, we know that the best thing to do is start! But it can be so hard to get going.

The hardest part is always getting started. But once you do make the effort the momentum takes over and the benefits kick in. The first five minutes is tough but the next section is almost always easier and enjoyable.

It's like the old aeroplane analogy. Relative to the distance covered the start of a flight is the point in a journey where the most fuel is spent. It takes a huge amount of energy to get the plane off the ground and airborne. Once a plane is in the air the fuel required is relatively small compared to actually getting up there.

Acknowledging this innate reluctance to begin is an important point.

Ready Or Not

Secondly by having a spare running kit and hiking clothes ready to use, Abigail gives herself the opportunity to really capitalise on the effort she knows she has to make.

It's no good to recognise that going for a run will release the old endorphins and lower the stress you're feeling, if you haven't actually got the stuff you need to go running.

By preparing earlier she's allowed that seed of an idea about running (or hiking) to flourish into full possibility. She's reduced the effort required. She's enabling herself to succeed. She's Adventure Ready.

Clap Along

There's an idea in Happiness literature about something called the thirty second rule. I think it's in The Happiness Advantage by Shaun Achor but can't find it right now to check properly.

Anyway, the thirty second rule is the idea that if something takes thirty seconds or more to find or set up then it probably won't happen.

You probably know that I like strumming my guitar. I used to keep my guitar zipped up in a case. Upstairs. Tucked away in a gap between a wardrobe and the wall.

Not as far as Narnia but it took more than thirty seconds to retrieve. Maybe only fifty or sixty seconds but that can make all the difference. I didn't use to play my guitar very much. 

Then I read about the thirty second rule. So I changed the access situation for my guitars. This is them now at the far end of my office.

It takes me about seven seconds to stride across and sling one around my neck. These days I play my guitar much more often.

I'm still crap at the guitar mind you. There's not much the rule can do about that. I play badly but now I play badly, more often. And that makes me happy.

Oh, There's A Lot Of Opportunities

This week's Top Tip is to consider how you can be more 'Adventure Ready'. How you can make preparations in order to capitalise on a situation that may arise.

Think big and think small. Maybe it's:

 - always having something enjoyable to read for when a twenty mile traffic jam offers you an opportunity

 -  your binoculars in the car

 - £xxxx loose in your ISA ready for that unexpected entry price

- a spare generic present and card ready in your dining room drawer ready for a forgotten birthday

 - an emergency twenty folded your jeans pocket

 - your elevator speech, practised and polished ready for when Elon Musk steps into the lift 

 - your football boots for that day when Ralf Rangnick finally says "This team can't get any worse, I'm going to give Darryl a call."

So Get Ready

So this weekend I'm going to consider where else I can implement the thirty second rule. And where else I can double up and ensure I've got what I need in place to help me make the most of a positive impulse and be Adventure Ready.