Future Experiments and Holding Myself Accountable

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Whether it’s that cute, hipster-looking chick about to cross the street( my taste), cool business idea bouncing around in my head or going to a dance class and being the worst one there, there’s this invisible wall that stops me from moving: fear.

The most profound moments in my life have been times where I crushed through the wall of fear and actually went and did it. Deciding to backpack through Europe alone was kinda scary at first, but it ended up being one of the most important things I’ve done in my life. It forced me to break outside my California bubble and open my mind to new cultures, people and places. Trying to bike from LA to SD was a mind-numbing, physically grueling experience. But it taught me that both my mind and my body are much more capable than I think.

I like to call myself an “idea” guy. But in reality, most people have a lot of ideas. Problem? Nobody really does anything with them, including me. It’s finally time I start taking action on these ideas.

I’m writing this post, mainly to keep myself accountable and suppress my urge to dick around. For each one of these, I plan on writing a comprehensive post at the end detailing the experience. If you learn something, even better 🙂

EDIT: To instill focus, I am eliminating/tabling things that do not contribute to my main goal. Tabled items will have a strike-through.

1.30-Day Social Challenge( In Progress): I’ve always been an introverted guy. My parents divorced when I was younger, so I got used to doing things on my own. Lots of benefits. One, I don’t have trouble sitting down somewhere and writing a blog post, reading, learning a new skill for the entire day. Two, I can easily entertain myself if all my friends are busy. On the other hand, I could sometimes get a little too hermitty. And I know that if I want to make myself into the person I want to be, I’m gonna need to start breaking through this shell and interacting with the world.

So in line with giving myself a REAL education, I instituted a 30 day challenge to break out of my shell. Each day, I’d be doing something that stretched my comfort zone. Examples:

• Walk into the middle of the crosswalk and do 15 pushups.
• Approach strangers asking them for life advice.
• Smear ice cream on my face and talk to attractive girls.
• Asking for free shit at a restaurant.

These might sound a bit odd, but they’re fun super fun. I’m actually on Day 15 at the moment but I broke the chain :(. So hopefully making this public kicks my ass a little bit more.

Planned Date: Current – July 1

2. Build a Business in a Weekend: For most my life, I didn’t think starting a business was possible. My parents worked in corporate jobs and none of my friends started anything. It just seemed like something only genius’ could do. However, after reading a couple books and watching a few videos, I truly, truly believe that anybody can start a business in one weekend. But I’m not qualified to say this. I haven’t done it.

It’s time that changes.

Thinking I could building the next Facebook or Uber in one weekend is a bit delusional. But building something super small can DEFINITELY work. So for a 48 hour period, I’m just going to marathon it and do everything I can to go from no idea to one sale. That’s it. It could lead to something or not, who knows. I’m just trying shit. If I can clear out my schedule, probably this weekend.

Planned Date: 6/18-6/19

3.Urban Camping: I told this idea to a lot of my friends and everybody assumes I’m just trolling around, saying crazy shit. Nonsense. I’m a man of my word which means…… I must carve the path for future urban campers.

I used to live right next to Skid Row( where all the homeless people in LA live). As a result, I thought about homeless people through osmosis. How do they see the world? What got them to this point of their lives? I also wanted to see what it’s like to be the lowest of the low in society. I’ve also lived a pretty fortunate life. I think urban camping would be a humbling, gracious experience for me.

Planned Date: July 16-17

4. 5-Day Water Fast Challenge: I’ve read about some of the health benefits of fasting. I do admit, I still need to learn a bit more about this and think this through, which is why this section is shorter. But what excites me most, is the challenge. I want to see if I can do it. I know that humans can last three weeks without eating food, so five days does seem feasible. Great way to challenge my own willpower.

Planned Date: August 1- 5

5. Sneaking into events with rich people: Like a lot of people, I want to be successful and have a lot of money. You are the five people you surround yourself with. So why not surround myself with the richest of them all? Millionaires and celebrities. Kinda going in the other direction from urban camping. Spending time with rich people will help me learn through osmosis. Plus, strategizing and figuring out how to break into a VIP party feels like some James Bond-esque mission. I’m down.

Planned Date: September 18; Emmy Awards

Great, so I’ve got my experiments on paper. They seem kinda crazy to a normal person. But that’s how I roll. So hopefully, the social pressure of posting this on my blog kicks my ass a bit.

But enough about me. Let’s flip this around. What’s something that you’ve always wanted to try but too afraid to do? Let’s hear it in the comments.