Tag: making things happen

Persistence (or A Newbie Books Award Travel)

How persistence paid off after I booked an award ticket that wasn’t quite what I wanted…

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. – Elbert Hubbard

I’m very much a newbie when it comes to booking frequent flier award flights. So while I was booking my flight to India a couple of months ago I settled on flying American Airlines / British Airways. I wanted to fly Cathay Pacific, but didn’t know how to get the person I was speaking to at AAdvantage to give me the CP ticket. She told me only the AA/BA flights were available. I knew that wasn’t true, but I didn’t know enough to get around it.

So I booked a series of flights that left DTW at 6:30am for a nice 9 hour layover in Chicago’s ORD airport! The rep told me there were no later flights available even though that was a lie. They just didn’t want to offer Award tickets on those flights. After being on the phone with them for upwards of 30 minutes I didn’t feel it was worth my time to try to figure out how to get them to book me a better flight.

A couple of weeks later I read this article by Gary Leff:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2009/12/12/little-white-lies-i-tell-when-booking-award-tickets/

You can see I was the first to comment on it.

Not much I could really do about the already booked flight, but now I had a plan for the future.

And then I thought: “I should use this to decrease my layover time in Chicago. 9 hours is dumb.”

First Try: Failed, Sort Of

I called AAdvantage up and asked for a later flight. “All they could do for me” was put me on the 9:40am flight. 3 hours later than 6:50am so already a win, but not a very big one. I wanted on the 12:55pm flight with an arrival at 1:05pm (only 10 minutes later due to time zone difference). That would leave just 4 hours layover before my flight to London (and then finally on to Mumbai!) and I wouldn’t have to wake up early to get to DTW airport.

But I let it be. I booked the 9:40am flight and figured I’d try again later.

Try Again

I tried exactly 2 days before my flight’s departure.

And this time I was going to get my 12:55pm flight. I didn’t care how long I’d have to stay on the phone. I was going to make it happen.

I called AAdvantage and got the regular old spiel. “Sorry, there are no Award flights available on that flight.” Which was a lie, because I was looking at a booking screen that showed 2 available Award seats for 25,000 miles each. These are the “expensive” award seats. 25,000 miles one way domestic!

They said my particular Award ticket wasn’t bookable there.

So out comes a variation of Gary Leff’s little white lie tactic.

“I know you’re not supposed to book the ticket for me, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the airport for the 9:40am flight. Is there anything you can do?”

“Let me check with a supervisor. Hold please.”

3 minutes later…

“Yes, you’re booked on the 12:55pm flight.”

“Wow, thank you for doing that!”

And there it is. Nobody got hurt. Karol got the later flight. Thanks Gary Leff.

As an aside: The Business Class seats on both airlines were great. BA was better than AA because the seat folded completely flat and I got a great sleep. I have a strong feeling Cathay Pacific would’ve been considerably better, but I’m surely not going to complain about traveling in a very comfortable business class seat.

Do you have any stories of booking award flights or being persistent and getting what you want?

On Being Ready

How much can you possibly prepare? Free thoughts inside…

Today I depart on a one way ticket (Business Class using AAdvantage miles!) to India. This is a bit of a different approach from my last trip since I honestly have no idea when I’m actually coming back “home.”

I’m not ready.

– There are some things I wasn’t able to accomplish while in the US due to logistics and timing. Nothing critical, just a few things I wanted to do that I didn’t make happen.

– I have 2 print books I wanted to read, but didn’t have a chance to even start page 1. I only read one book at a time, and while I did finish a few print books, I didn’t make it to these last 2 (Alain De Botton’s The Art of Travel and Nassim Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness). Due to my ultra light packing (packing list update coming soon!) there is no way I’m taking them with me.

– I just got a new computer (12.1″ screen, higher resolution and much easier to work on than a 10″ netbook) and the Windows 7 transition has been less than stellar.

– I’ll miss my family and friends even though I don’t see many of them on a very regular basis anyway.

And then there are some What Ifs, mostly:

– What if I get sick?

– What if I can’t find suitable health services wherever I happen to be?

– What if I get mugged?

And other stuff that’s out of my control.

Then I realized none of us are ever ready.

It’s impossible to prepare for every contingency.

You can plot and plan. You can can write lists and make phone calls. You can review and research.

You can do “everything,” but it won’t be enough. Accept it.

It’s almost guaranteed that things won’t go as planned.

If nothing else, I’m ready for that.

The Iron Mind

Don’t read this article. The Iron is too powerful for the masses.

The title to this blog post is specifically vague to detract most people from actually reading it. It’s too powerful for the masses. The Iron Mind is for doers and action takers not for hopers and wishers.

In other words, The Iron Mind is for Ridiculously Extraordinary People.

Tangent (those are getting common, huh?): Sitting on this couch, with an oversized mug of green tea at my side and a little bit of Creedence Clearwater Revival blasting through my headphones, I have an ear-to-ear smile on my face while simply thinking about writing The Iron Mind. My hope is that it positively affects you as much as it positively affected me.

Several months ago my friend Nick IMed me with a link to an article. I was busy at the time and told him I’d try to read it later. You know, because sometimes I’m an asshole.

An hour went by, I finished what I’d been doing, and I remembered the article.

I read it and, to put it lightly, freaked out. I IMed Nick with something that boiled down to “holy shit!”

This article turned out to be one of the most life affirming pieces of non-fiction I’d ever read.

I became obsessed with it. I talked about it with anyone who would listen. I Tweeted about it regularly. I couldn’t get enough.

I read it daily, absorbing it to its very core and 6 months later I still can’t get enough.

Has anything ever made you want to scream, smile, cry, fuck, fight, and say thank you all at once?

This article does that to me.

It’s like a hit of heroin coursing through my veins. I get a little, then I want just a little more. But a little more is never enough. I fiend for it like a junkie in line at the methadone clinic. Thankfully, I can’t overdose on this drug. This drug can’t kill me. This drug can only make me stronger and wiser.

This drug is The Iron.

The Iron was written by Henry Rollins, former Black Flag vocalist, current spoken word bad ass, prolific author, actor, radio host, TV host, and documentarian. The article in question is from a 1994 Details magazine but it’s posted all over the Web. You can read it here: http://theiron.tumblr.com

In The Iron, Henry describes himself in his formative years as being a weak kid who was constantly picked on. Then a phys ed teacher took Henry under his wing and told him he was going to get whipped into shape.

Reluctantly, for fear of having to deal with his teacher’s repercussions, Henry purchased a weight set and meticulously followed his teacher’s instructions.

Working out not only sculpted Henry’s physique but sculpted his formerly weak confidence. Specifically, he gained the confidence to be himself, and to form his own thoughts and opinions instead of striving to be like one of the herd.

In the article Henry discusses The Iron in mostly literal terms as far as what working out did for him.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you. – Henry Rollins

While I take The Iron literally when working out, I also took The Iron metaphorically, as a symbol for the road blocks I run into when striving to reach my goals.

There will always be something trying to hold you back. You can either take care of it or not. You always have a choice. The easy choice is not always the right choice. The difficult choice might be the best choice you ever make.

Lift the fucking weight off the floor or drop it. It’s all there for you to do or not do. – Henry Rollins; page 32, paragraph 2 in “Smile, You’re Traveling”

If you’re having trouble sticking to a healthy diet, use The Iron Mind.

If you respect The Iron, The Iron will teach you what you need to know and inspire you to keep going in the face of adversity.

The more you lift The Iron (literally and figuratively), the easier it will be for you to lift The Iron.

If you tell yourself you’re going to eat healthy and then go out to eat fast food, The Iron wins. But The Iron will be happy to give you a rematch. Lift it or don’t. The choice is always up to you. The Iron doesn’t judge.

The more you drop The Iron, the more difficult The Iron will be to lift. Eat fast food once, okay, everybody slips up. Eat fast food every day and the momentum of eating healthy will be all but gone.

If you’re trying to start a business and keep hitting walls and setbacks, use The Iron Mind.

Did you lose your ass on some PPC ads? What did you learn from it? Pick The Iron back up off the floor and get back at it. Do more reps, place more ads, acquire more knowledge. Or quit.

Have you launched a blog and maybe aren’t getting as many readers as you thought? (*Ahem*) Too bad. Get to work and keep at it. Or quit.

Want to travel but don’t have the money right now? Don’t tell yourself you can’t afford it, ask yourself how you can afford it. Make it happen. Or quit.

The most important thing to remember is The Iron wants you to succeed. The Iron wants to work with you, to help you, to talk you through it. If you fail The Iron, it’s because you let The Iron beat you. If you beat The Iron, it’s because you worked your ass off and proved to The Iron you deserved to win.

To this day Nick and I regularly quote pieces of The Iron to each other. It was so influential Nick named a song on the new Swellers record The Iron:

“We either do this now, or we don’t. We need to do this right now, or we won’t.” – The Iron by The Swellers

We use The Iron as motivation. As inspiration. It’s a way to let ourselves know that whatever success we want is ours for the taking. Nobody will hand us a thing and we don’t expect them to.

We can’t blame anybody for our failures except ourselves.

What’s holding you back?

Where can you use The Iron Mind to make drastic leaps forward in your own life?

Are you going to lift the fucking weight off the floor or drop it? The choice will always be yours.

Fuck “Doing It While You Can” (or How To Make Things Happen)

There is never a perfect time to do anything. Here’s how to make things happen anyway…

Ever since I made the decision to go on an extended trip (EDIT 2 years later: this has now turned into a non-stop travel lifestyle) I’ve been getting lots of feedback. Much of that feedback has been in the form of …

Do it:

– while you’re young.

– while you still can.

– while you don’t have kids.

– while you’re not married.

“You can hold your breath until you turn blue, but they’ll still go on doing it.” – Marcus Aurelius Meditations 8.4

It got to the point where I started believing it and I’d say it myself.

“Yeah, you know, I gotta do it while I can.”

It pissed me off that I let that non-sense poison me.

I say non-sense, because when somebody says “do it while you can” it’s their cop-out. Their excuse for not doing “it.”

If you want to do something, you make it happen. Somehow. Some way. Make. It. Happen.

It probably won’t be easy at first and you may have some setbacks (i.e. learning experiences). But you never know, maybe it’ll be easier than you can imagine. After all, humans are an incredibly resourceful bunch.

“Do it while you can” only exists in the hearts and minds of those who have never accomplished anything they’re proud of.

What’s the perfect time to travel?

What’s the perfect time to get married?

What’s the perfect time to have a kid?

What’s the perfect time to quit your job and start anew?

What’s the perfect time to exercise?

What’s the perfect time to quit smoking?

The only “perfect time” many people have figured out to do anything is when to watch their favorite TV shows and when to go to work.

And that’s only because somebody else makes those decisions.

What’s the perfect time to make thing happen?

Right now.

“Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone — those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us — a chasm whose depths we cannot see. ” – Marcus Aurelius Meditations 5.23

Let’s use exercise as an example.

I know, based on my old ways, that an easy way to get out of working out was telling myself “now is not a good time.”

It’s too late. I’m hungry. It’s too early. I’m tired. I just want to relax. I didn’t get enough sleep. My favorite TV show starts in 10 minutes. I ate too much.

Let’s say you had a really busy day with work and errands and you didn’t get home until 10pm. Since you usually go to bed at 11:30pm you decide it’s too late to work out. You have no valid reason, of course. It’s just “too late” to work out.

How badly do you want it?

If you want to lose weight, get 6-pack abs, run a marathon, whatever it is, you have to make sacrifices. If that means working out at night when you least feel like working out then so be it. Make. It. Happen.

Nobody will do it for you.

You don’t burn calories and lose weight by thinking about burning calories and losing weight. (Let’s not get technical, I know we burn calories by simply living.)

You burn calories by physically stressing your body through exercise.

You don’t quit smoking by thinking about quitting smoking.

You quit by making the decision that the benefits of quitting far outweigh not quitting.

And you make it happen.

If you’re having trouble making something happen a great way to figure it out is to model someone else who has already done what you want to do.

It’s OK to be a follower (sometimes).

Fortunately, we live in a time when people freely share information online about life changes they’ve made. Anything you want to do has been done before in some way, by people no more intelligent or gifted than you.

And they’ve documented how they did it on blogs and Web sites.

Your next step is to follow what they’ve done.

You’ll find the sole difference between somebody who accomplishes a goal and someone who doesn’t is focus. If you’ve got laser targeted focus you will accomplish anything.

I would not have set off on a journey like I have if it wasn’t for all the travel blogs I’ve been reading and people I’ve met through CouchSurfing over the past 2 years. They provided me with not only inspiration, but practical advice for doing what they did.

How can you not get inspired by people like Gary Arndt, who spent more than 2 years traveling the world solo? (If you want to use being married and having a young child as an excuse, check out http://soultravelers3.com.)

Don’t believe anybody who says “you gotta do it while you can.”

You’ve got to do it because you want to, need to, do it. And nothing else matters.