WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.160 Tell me about your vision. My vision is that 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:11.220 curious people make life worthwhile and entertaining. 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:17.820 In 2022, my wife and I were kind of depressed. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:23.899 And so she found a way out. Her way out was essentially... 00:00:24.829 --> 00:00:27.829 So rather than being quarantined from this virus 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:32.670 in this 2 ,000 square foot house, let's be quarantined 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:37.070 in 290 square feet with a bigger back porch. 00:00:37.149 --> 00:00:42.170 So we took this long boat trip. And that's the 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:46.090 vision. And the idea was that we could be around 00:00:46.090 --> 00:00:50.149 more people who are curious. Wow, that's awesome. 00:00:50.289 --> 00:00:54.229 So you decided to do that in 2022? That's right. 00:00:54.649 --> 00:00:56.750 After two years of lockdown, that's been like, 00:00:56.850 --> 00:00:58.689 oh, my gosh, this is not working out for us. 00:00:58.750 --> 00:01:00.710 And that's what we're going to do. That's exactly 00:01:00.710 --> 00:01:03.490 that's exactly right. Yeah. Tell me more. So 00:01:03.490 --> 00:01:08.230 what what how was that like going out on a boat 00:01:08.230 --> 00:01:10.469 and doing things that you you did after that? 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:17.030 Yes. We weren't boating people at all. We we'd 00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:19.870 had a little pontoon. I call it kind of a floating 00:01:19.870 --> 00:01:22.530 couch. Right. And we weren't serious boaters. 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:27.750 But we were in a place where we both thought 00:01:27.750 --> 00:01:30.670 that COVID was going to kill me. I'm pretty high 00:01:30.670 --> 00:01:38.469 risk. And we weren't, we were letting life happen 00:01:38.469 --> 00:01:42.909 to us instead of making life happen to us. And 00:01:42.909 --> 00:01:46.409 so Maggie was depressed at the time. I was depressed. 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:48.750 And I came down the stairs and she was reading 00:01:48.750 --> 00:01:52.659 this book called From What Is to What If. and 00:01:52.659 --> 00:01:54.799 that book is all about kind of reimagining your 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:59.420 circumstance and to me that sounded a little 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:03.000 bit like hope and um and i just kind of filed 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.819 it away and probably two weeks later i came down 00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:08.960 the stairs and she was reading another book called 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:12.479 the great loop experience and the great loop 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.860 is is a trip around the eastern united states 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.780 And when I got halfway down the stairs and could 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.219 see that book in her hands, I kind of knew what 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:26.300 it was. I knew what the trip was. And I could 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:30.099 immediately see what the next year of my life 00:02:30.099 --> 00:02:33.020 was going to be like. It sounds kind of weird. 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:38.860 It actually doesn't. It sounds great. Yeah. So 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:46.810 what did you guys do after that? decided that 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.169 we were going to take this trip in four years 00:02:49.169 --> 00:02:54.009 and that this kind of planning and this dream 00:02:54.009 --> 00:02:57.569 would be our way out from under COVID. And then 00:02:57.569 --> 00:02:59.729 as we started researching it, it started making 00:02:59.729 --> 00:03:02.789 more and more sense to us. And we're not adventure 00:03:02.789 --> 00:03:05.969 people. We've never done anything like this. 00:03:06.370 --> 00:03:10.849 But we started reading about it and thinking 00:03:10.849 --> 00:03:12.830 that that's the kind of thing that we'd like 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:18.240 to do. And so then we started talking to people. 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:20.280 We started doing some research. And we found 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:23.340 that certain locks were going to be closed during 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:27.460 the time frame that we wanted to go. And so it 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:30.439 was kind of like we didn't want to lose this 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:35.000 idea of a dream. And my wife went, my wife talked 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.620 to one of kind of the advisors, important people 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:41.580 in our lives. Her name was Pat. And she said, 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:44.430 Pat. Should we take this trip in a couple of 00:03:44.430 --> 00:03:47.930 years? And Pat said, no. She said, there's no 00:03:47.930 --> 00:03:50.509 time like the present that you're looking for 00:03:50.509 --> 00:03:53.069 a dream right now. And if you can figure out 00:03:53.069 --> 00:03:56.729 a way to make this dream come true now, you should 00:03:56.729 --> 00:04:01.530 go. And and that made so much sense to us. We 00:04:01.530 --> 00:04:04.150 did. We bought a boat. We started getting used 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:06.569 to it and understanding what it was like. And, 00:04:06.569 --> 00:04:09.569 you know, that involved running into a few things 00:04:09.569 --> 00:04:13.129 that involved like learning how to. work on diesel 00:04:13.129 --> 00:04:15.550 motors. It involved learning how to captain a 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:20.750 bigger boat and basically learning how to be 00:04:20.750 --> 00:04:23.769 somebody else, right? Somebody that we read about 00:04:23.769 --> 00:04:27.209 rather than somebody who we actually were. And 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:32.889 we learned to pilot this boat. And three months 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:39.389 later, we just walked down the sidewalk, walked 00:04:39.389 --> 00:04:43.480 out on the dock. jumped in the boat and we were 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:47.980 gone that's awesome um how long were you guys 00:04:47.980 --> 00:04:52.740 on the boat for we were on the boat for about 00:04:52.740 --> 00:04:56.000 nine months is so it's a the trip is kind of 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.759 it's been done often and it works best if you 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.920 if you plan it around a year and that means that 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.540 you're gonna summer in the north you're gonna 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:06.899 winter in the south and you're gonna spend the 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:11.439 other um the other getting to and from those 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:14.019 places. And I don't know if you knew it, but, 00:05:14.019 --> 00:05:16.860 you know, there's a way to get all the way from 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:20.399 New York, all the way up the Hudson River and 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:23.439 across Canada, back into the Mississippi River 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.819 and on down. And that's what we did. Wow. I did 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:28.220 not know that. I didn't know it was that deep 00:05:28.220 --> 00:05:31.199 that you could go all the places. That's a trip, 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:35.220 right? Yeah, I bet. I bet. That is awesome. So. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:44.639 I think it's great insights, but that's awesome 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:48.379 what you did. So what would you say, what was 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:50.339 the preparation like before you went on that 00:05:50.339 --> 00:05:54.459 trip? So I think the main thing was getting in 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:57.939 the headspace where it could happen. So I have 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:03.019 a job, like many people on your podcast. I own 00:06:03.019 --> 00:06:07.500 my business. I have a job that I could do from 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:10.959 anywhere. I teach technology. And I also write 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:14.259 books. And I've written mostly technical books. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:17.360 But we said, well, we could teach from the water. 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:22.740 And we could take this trip as inspiration for 00:06:22.740 --> 00:06:26.680 another book. And that's what we did. So we started 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.500 getting ready and understanding what this was 00:06:30.500 --> 00:06:34.560 going to be like. And setting up ourselves to 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:38.620 have internet, planning some courses that we 00:06:38.620 --> 00:06:41.819 could teach around the Great Loop and doing all 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:46.519 these things to get ready to go. Wow, that's 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:51.660 awesome. And I bet you figured out the finances 00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:54.959 at the same time. Like, hey, my gosh, like, is 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:56.740 the mortgage going to get paid and et cetera, 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:58.899 et cetera. And that's a great blessing that you 00:06:58.899 --> 00:07:01.699 were able to do it on the water. were you guys 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:04.579 sleeping on the boat the whole time or did you 00:07:04.579 --> 00:07:07.500 guys yeah we were so the way the trip is built 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:12.040 you're never very far from from a walmart or 00:07:12.040 --> 00:07:15.360 you know from from instacart or something so 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.180 we did most of our shopping online most people 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:20.620 you can't rent a boat to do this right because 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:23.639 nobody wants you to take a disappear with a with 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:25.779 a luxury yacht you know kind of go for a long 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:29.959 time so most people buy a um buy a boat for the 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:32.459 trip and they sell it for the trip ours was a 00:07:32.459 --> 00:07:37.240 little bit trickier because in 2022 um you had 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:41.680 the the invasion of ukraine and um what happened 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.180 when after after that invasion was diesel prices 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:48.439 kind of went up yeah and um and also the the 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:50.959 places to stay so all of our planning books said 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:53.339 that you could you could expect to spend you 00:07:53.339 --> 00:07:58.079 know a few a few dollars for um I think that 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.160 our plan said that we would spend somewhere between 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:05.920 50 cents a foot and $1 .50 a foot every time 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.680 that we stopped at a marina. But because everybody 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:12.319 bought boats during COVID, all those kind of 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:17.740 went out the window. But I think the most important 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:21.680 thing is that if you make the plan and you kind 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.160 of imagine your circumstances, you imagine a 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.399 year later having done the trip, it's a lot easier 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.279 to kind of say what must have happened to make 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:33.639 this trip possible. And that's what we did. So 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:37.480 we said rather than learning how to take the 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:40.000 whole trip and make all the finances work, we 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.879 said what we really need to know how to do is 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:49.820 go from this place, maybe it's 20 miles, 40 miles, 00:08:49.899 --> 00:08:54.179 some days 60 miles around the loop. And that's 00:08:54.179 --> 00:08:58.019 what we did just over and over, right? And we 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.600 also wanted to save enough time to stop and enjoy 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:04.179 the places that we went. So we probably traveled 00:09:04.179 --> 00:09:09.320 one day out of three. Yeah. That's awesome. Wow, 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:12.460 that's crazy. That's awesome. That's the first 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:17.820 time I've heard something like that. So for now, 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:21.919 for today, when you're in Tennessee, and you 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.759 do all the things that you do now, What gets 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:27.399 you out of the bed every now and then to keep 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:28.960 doing what you do? And do you have any other 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.639 trips coming on that boat maybe? Yeah, the boat 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:38.879 we sold. So there was a time for this trip. And 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:44.500 this 2022 was that time for us, right? It was 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:48.759 the pandemic and kind of imagining ourselves 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.929 out of this trouble that we were in. from an 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:57.110 emotional standpoint but um so now i would say 00:09:57.110 --> 00:10:00.610 that this trip has transformed us in the way 00:10:00.610 --> 00:10:03.450 that we think right so we um our book which is 00:10:03.450 --> 00:10:05.509 called currently away i talk a lot about this 00:10:05.509 --> 00:10:08.710 about the idea that if you surround yourself 00:10:08.710 --> 00:10:12.570 with interesting and curious people it's a lot 00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:15.590 easier to get out of bed It's a lot easier to 00:10:15.590 --> 00:10:21.570 engage with community and find people who care 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:24.370 and dream the way that you do, even though they 00:10:24.370 --> 00:10:26.370 might not believe the same things that you do. 00:10:27.730 --> 00:10:34.049 Wow. Thank you for sharing that. So now with 00:10:34.049 --> 00:10:36.990 your vision and how you live your life right 00:10:36.990 --> 00:10:39.250 now, where do you see yourself going in the future? 00:10:39.289 --> 00:10:42.090 Not the trip, but maybe with your vision or. 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:46.139 Maybe there is a trip. I don't know. Yeah. So 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:51.480 I think that we're kind of in a place where I'm 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:53.299 not going to take us in a political direction. 00:10:53.860 --> 00:11:00.299 But there's no secret that people don't always 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:02.740 trust each other and people don't always like 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:06.259 each other. So I think that where I want to go 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:11.279 is I want to surround myself with people. who 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.960 are curious about the world and i want to open 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:18.200 my table to people who are curious about the 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:20.559 world so on our trip what would often happen 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.399 is that that you would you would basically have 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.419 your daily adventure and maybe it was just going 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:29.299 around and seeing some beautiful things like 00:11:29.299 --> 00:11:32.659 we saw these locks which is a way from get to 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:34.620 get from a place that's higher to a place that's 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:40.740 lower or um so basically that and Some of these 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:43.360 locks would detach and kind of move you down. 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.340 It was sometimes we would, we would see high 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:48.960 waves. Like we saw waves that were six feet high, 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:52.580 which for us was a big deal. And, and for a lot 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:54.519 of casual boaters were a big deal. And some days 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:58.019 we just, we just, we had really quiet days, but 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:01.639 after your day of adventure, one of the things 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.000 that would happen was we get on our app. We kind 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.360 of see what other great people were in the area. 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:09.980 And we would have something that we call duck 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:13.139 tales, right? And with duck tales, you would 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:16.559 have this toast. They're good ships and wood 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:18.620 chips and ships that sail the sea, but the best 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:21.019 ships are friendships. And may they always be. 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:24.379 And so we would have these conversations with 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:28.360 people who were from all walks of life. And even 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.879 though we're not having the same adventures as 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:35.269 we go from place to place. we still are trying 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:38.169 to open our table in the same way as if we're 00:12:38.169 --> 00:12:41.389 having those docktails and as if we're living 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:45.169 adventures. And it really makes a difference 00:12:45.169 --> 00:12:48.029 to try to connect in that way to the people around 00:12:48.029 --> 00:12:51.470 us. And that's kind of what keeps me going in 00:12:51.470 --> 00:12:54.389 my profession and in my life and in my community. 00:12:54.750 --> 00:12:56.649 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy 00:12:56.649 --> 00:12:58.870 that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking 00:12:58.870 --> 00:13:02.129 forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes 00:13:02.129 --> 00:13:03.929 continue to move forward. This is going to get 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:06.509 more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:13:06.509 --> 00:13:08.629 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:10.809 the show and thank you for giving us your time 00:13:10.809 --> 00:13:13.110 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:15.429 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.