52 weeks. One year. A hell of a lot has happened and a hell of a lot has changed.
One year ago I set off to travel the world. I thought I could be a blogger or an Instagrammer but I wasn’t really sure, I had a few thousand dollars back-up money that would last me five months in Southeast Asia. However, from the first month, I managed to break even and that continued throughout my travels. It was a scary time. Might I succeed? Might I fail? What do my friends and family think about all of this?
If you fast forward one year to this very moment, I no longer have to stress about the what ifs. I have survived my doubts and created a lifestyle and a sustainable income that allows me to travel full-time all over the world.
I work hard and am always learning new strategies, new concepts and combining them with creativity and relentless content creation to keep my blog moving forward but also to keep on developing my skill set and myself.
This year has had me on multiple press trips and campaigns around the world with tourism boards, cruise liners and resorts. I’ve been to almost twenty countries and on countless adventures. However, through all the craziness of the year three things have remained the same. I’ve been consistent, I’ve been persistent and with ups and downs in magnitude, I’ve remained motivated.
It’s a deadly trio, that rarely loses. Think about anything you have ever attempted and honestly evaluate if you applied all three of these traits to the task for one-year. It takes some misfortune or events out of our hands to bring down a mission backed by consistency, persistence, and motivation.
Persistence
If you are persistent you find a way and when you find that way you don’t ever give up on it. I’ve built a blog from the ground up. Two years ago I could hardly use a camera, I still get the posts on Facebook showing me the photos I shared and they are below amateur. One and a half years ago I started creating a blog. I’d never built a website, worked on a website, written a blog post or tried social media marketing.
I didn’t see an opening in the market, there were already thousands of travel blogs on offer. I didn’t know if I would even be able to figure out how to launch a website. But like everything I ever try I knew if I went for it with everything I had, I would at least give it my best shot. I knew it was probably going to need my best.
Consistency
I get a load of messages through e-mail, Instagram or the blog every day. They sound like this.
“Hey I love your blog, I want your life so badly. How can I get started and make money while I travel the world?”
The part they don’t realize is that they have the short-term motivation, which is a start. They also have the answer to their question.
“Hey I love your blog, I want your life so badly. How can I GET STARTED and make money while I travel the world?”
I get the feeling they are writing to me for some validation. They want me to say,
“Yes, you just make a blog and then start traveling and then you get to do that for the rest of your life.”
But I never do. I tell them to get started. Just start. If you put in the effort every spare second you have for one week you will be seven days of effort closer to your end goal. If you truly have the motivation you will be consistent and persistent for one week. One month. One year. And after a year of grinding and hustling then you will have a better idea if it’s possible.
I read a couple of weeks ago that consistency is more likely to lead to success than motivation. I don’t necessarily agree wholeheartedly but there is some merit to it. There are days where I don’t enjoy blogging at all, I get overwhelmed by social media, I’m not sure about what I’m doing. But I grind through those moments because my character demands consistency. When the motivation weans, it’s normal. You aren’t meant to be on fire and incredibly pumped about your passion every second of every day. But it is your inner drive and your desire to reach overall goal that takes over in the moments where your motivation is weak. Consistency isn’t measured at the end of the year. It’s measured at the end of each day of the year.
Motivation
Firstly this isn’t a bullshit sentiment that is handed out by a majority of bloggers that reads, “My goal and my motivation are to inspire others to travel.”
Sure some bloggers are inspiring people to travel. However, every time I read that I laugh. Because I get to witness the behind the scenes. The Facebook groups where bloggers help each other learn how to make money from their blogs and the communities online about making a living as a digital nomad.
If you want to travel that’s awesome I hope you have a good trip. If you don’t that’s great too, I hope you enjoy your family, friends and the many positives of being part of your home community and your work. I didn’t start this blog to inspire people to travel.
If my adventures motivate people to go out and explore the world that’s amazing because I personally think it’s one of the best ways to learn a lot, grow a lot and become an accepting, tolerant and kind person.
However, I would much prefer that my journey as a person motivate you. I would prefer that you take one thing from my blog and it is courage. This blog was founded on a fear, a fear of joinng the 9-5. My motivation is fear. It is pretty common and when you are honest with yourself you have likely been motivated by fear regarding some of your ambitions. I was timid in my approach, to begin with, but I had the courage to continue, I had the courage to pursue something my friends and family didn’t understand.
My motivation is no longer fear. I have reached a point where I am consistently earning enough to survive and save some money while traveling in cheap countries in Asia. My motivation now is to work hard, adventure hard and create a passive income that allows me the freedoms of choice throughout the rest of my life. It might sound quite business-oriented but it is focused on allowing me to be my own boss for life. I want to be able to travel, adventure and live wherever and whenever I want and become involved in projects I am passionate about whether they are paid or unpaid.
These three characteristics can be applied to any job, to any mission, and to any goal. Be honest with yourself. I evaluate how I well I am hitting these three characteristics all the time and sometimes I have to pick up the slack on one or the other. But I guarantee if you push yourself to your limits of persistence with the ultimate consistency because you are incredibly motivated, there is little anyone can do to hold you back.
