I started my travels to escape life. Along the way, I found it.

The first question people ask you about anything tells you almost everything you need to know about their mindset. This applies to entrepreneurship, personal development and even living in a RV.

For example, the #1 question I get about living in an Airstream is this: “But, how do you back it up?”

Not, “where can I go with that?”

Not, “where do I learn more?”

Not, “where do I go from here?”

Here’s the point: most people focus on all the reasons they can’t do something rather than consider all the ways they could do something.

They let their fears stop them. They let their internal “invisible scripts” stop them. They let what other people think stop them.

If you’re honest with yourself, you have probably experienced this for yourself. I know I have.

If you decide to stop reading now, I’ll leave you with this: in 2018, I hope you resolve to think about the future more than you think about the past. I hope you resolve to think more about what could go right than what what could go wrong.

Last year, I wrote about my 26,141 miles of mistakes, learning and growth. This is about the next 30,000 miles of mistakes, learning and growth through 2017.

For some context: I’ve driven nearly 100,000 miles in the past two years — back and forth across North America more times than I can count. A little over half of those miles involved hauling my 2016 30′ Airstream Classic behind me. And almost all of those miles included my soon-to-be bride.

I’ve lived in 94 cities for a week at a time. I’ve slept in 44 states and two provinces. I’ve met over 50,000 people along the way. (And even invested in some of the best of them.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So, here are some of the most personal things I learned in 2017:

  • Lying to yourself is the worst thing you can do. When things don’t go right, most people blame other people or their own circumstances. I know I did. But those are just lies we tell ourselves to dull our own disappointment, guilt or shame. I don’t care if you lie to other people (though, I hope you don’t) but please don’t lie to yourself.
  • The rear view mirror is useless. (Warning: bad dad analogy ahead… brace yourself.) When you pull a travel trailer behind you, the first thing you notice is that the rear view mirror becomes useless. You can’t see anything behind you and it forces you to just focus on what’s ahead. That’s not a bad way to think about your life as you head into 2018.
  • Negative people are the worst — cut them out. You don’t need to confront them. You don’t need to have awkward conversations with them. You don’t even need to delete them from your phone. Just optimize for hanging around the most optimistic people you can find. You have the same 24 hours in each day as I do — spend them with happy people.
  • Make a commitment to travel more regularly. You don’t need your own Airstream or a lots of time off from work. If you can save $250 per month, you can spend a weekend each month visiting some other city within a 500 mile radius of your home. Do it. It’ll be the best investment you make in yourself.

As 2017 comes to an end, there’s one thought that continues to hit me: Two years ago, I started my travels to escape life. Along the way, I found it. 🙏🏼

So, here’s my advice to you: Make 2018 your year. Spend more time looking forward and less time looking back. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

Make 2018 your year. Spend more time looking forward and less time looking back. It'll be worth it, I promise. Click To Tweet

Also published on Medium.