Way back when, as I first envisioned what I wanted Adventure-Some to become, it was grander than today’s results are. This is entirely my fault. I haven’t kept up my end of the bargain.
Here is a copy of my goals for Adventure-Some.com from the Manifesto:

1. Help you find ways to include adventure in your daily life.
2. Inject adventure into my daily life to prove it works.
3. Provide easy step-by-step procedure to help you fulfill your dream.
4. Live out adventures of my own as proof of the system.
5. Highlight others who are living their adventures as further proof/motivation it is possible for you.
6. Create a source of income that allows me to pursue further adventures in my own life.

I feel that I’ve been successful with 1-3, but have struggled with 4, neglected 5, and overlooked 6.

Neglecting #5

There is no excuse for this, I simply haven’t taken the time to interview folks. I have started highlighting fellow adventurers, such as Abby Sunderland. Fortunately, I have also had some reader submitted stories that I will be following up on (after the Featuring You post). Expect to see those soon!

Struggled with #4 and Overlooked #6

These two are tied together. As college students, my wife and I don’t have a lot of funds for the adventures we’d like to take. That doesn’t really hold us back much, but after piecing our work and school schedules together, we don’t have much in the way of free time. I have a couple of ideas that will help take care of these two issues in the near future.

Products are Coming!

I have intended to create some products to sell for some time now. Recently I have received the necessary motivation to actually get to it. Unfortunately, up until now, I have been giving in to my excuses even though I should know better.

• Sticky-Note Love ebook – this ebook will outline one of the simple methods that I use to keep my wife madly in love with me, and her girlfriends jealous of how lucky she is!
• Photo Scavenger Hunt Lists ebook – the two search terms that provide me the most traffic are “photo scavenger hunt list” and “photo scavenger hunt” so I thought that it would be prudent for me to create some scavenger hunt lists to help them out.
• Basic Photography ebook – I spent a lot of time researching basic photography before I got comfortable with my camera. While I still have a lot to learn, a beginner’s “how to take photos” book would have greatly shortened my learning curve. This will be targeted toward people who want to take better photographs, but have no desire to learn how their camera works or what ISO means.
• Custom Portraits – I’ve never mentioned it here before, but for a couple of years I earned all of my spending money by drawing portraits. I’m in the process of putting together a website dedicated to my art, which also has my commission policy on it.

My goal is to roll out at least one of these digital projects each month. Hopefully each one will bring in a steady trickle that, combined with the portraits, will allow my wife and I the freedom to pursue some of larger adventures on our 2010 Action Plan!

Well, it took a bit longer than I planned, but I just finished my Finance Tracker 2.0! I wanted to simplify my finances so that I could track how I’m doing and plan for the future with one easy-to-use interface. After much fiddling with it, I finally have a new system that I’m pleased with.

This spreadsheet allows me to see each month’s budget and expenses, automatically averages my expenses over the year, is easily adjusted when I need to change a category (either income or expense), and tracks virtual accounts so that I can plan for long-term expenses. It only takes a few minutes every couple of days to keep up to date, and is easy to understand.

Even though I planned on having this done sooner, I wanted to test it out first. The previous version worked well, but was cumbersome and harder to read. I managed to pare this one down so that it takes up less room, is easier to understand, quicker to change, and faster to keep updated.

Having trouble keeping your finances in hand? Download a copy and see how helpful it can be. Need it customized for your situation? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

I’m great at hitting the snooze button. It took me 40 minutes to get up this morning. Yesterday I stayed in bed for almost an hour longer than I intended. I wasn’t late, but I wasn’t nearly as prepared for the day as I wanted to be.

I do well for awhile, getting up with the first alarm, being ready for the day. Then I stay up too late one night and hit snooze the next morning. Soon, that snooze button becomes a habit and is quickly followed by another. Over time, I get to my current state and can hit snooze for almost an hour.

So it’s time for a morning routine re-set. I can get up at the first alarm. I can start my day without being rushed and annoyed with traffic. I can have time for breakfast before I leave the house in the morning. I just have to make myself get up when I plan to.

Ideal Routine

My dream morning consists of waking up when I want, cooking and eating breakfast with my wife (on the patio when the weather’s nice), getting a shower, then head to work and be ultra-productive.

Even though I don’t get to wake up when I want because of my school schedule, I can achieve the rest of this description.

• Cooking doesn’t have to take a long time. Frying eggs only takes a few minutes. Muffins can cook while I do other parts of my morning routine. Throw fruit in the blender and I have a smoothie. – 3 meals, 5 minutes or less for each one.
• I can shower fast, I just don’t wake up in time. A shower in the morning wakes me up and helps me feel better for the whole day.
• Packing the night before makes me feel much less rushed in the morning. I don’t have to worry about forgetting anything and I can grab my bag and go.
• When my day starts off right I am able to get so much more completed. I feel good, can focus, and am energized. It doesn’t feel like work to sit down and knock out a few tasks first thing. That momentum builds and work seems to take care of itself.

Schedule Interrupt

This is how I re-set my mornings, with a schedule interrupt.

• Physical – I have to change my nightly routine; stay up late or go to bed early. This throws of my sleep patterns and helps me wake at a different time.
• Mental – I also have to make a solid decision to get up at the first alarm in the morning. Visualizing it helps me, seeing myself get up at the first alarm, and walking through the routine immediately following.
• Tricks – These two aren’t always enough motivation, so I have to force myself to get up. Since I use my cell phone as my alarm, I only set one alarm, instead of having a backup. I can also turn off snooze, so that I have to get up when it goes off or I will be late.

My process is simple, it just takes the desire to change and willingness to get there. This weekend I will be re-setting my morning routine. Do you need to join me?