It started when I stumbled upon a picture of Project Getaway 2010, where people were ‘working’ in a tropical environment. ‘Yeah right’ said my cynical self. I almost found the picture disturbing, only because those people were at least one million miles away from where I was at that point. I had just graduated and the only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to continue in that particular field. So there I was at the start again, when I naively thought that I would have had figured it all out by then.
I started reading blogs and books about working online, about the, for me, new lifestyle of being location independent. Changing your mindset can take time and continuous effort, but within a few months the picture became the place where I was going to be someday. Me, my laptop, and a faraway country.
One year later I participated in Project Getaway. One of the testimonials from a former participant said he had very high expectations of PG and even then the event exceeded them all. You can imagine that after reading this, I had very very (I can go on) high expectations and I even tried to tone my enthusiasm down to save myself from being disappointed (which never works by the way).
I can happily say it still exceeded my very high expectations, which has never happened before, because boy I put them high. The atmosphere, the energy and the mindset of the participants were simply put contagious and being around people who were pursuing the same lifestyle gave an enormous boost. I got to see the –cheesy but o so true- quotes in action that month, which inspired me to become better at applying them myself. Inspiration always was kind of a vague term to me, but I’ll explain why it’s not anymore. Below are some of the things I took out of PG, besides meeting a bunch of great people and having a blast (but that’s another story).
The PG Mindset
- Look for how things can happen instead of why they can’t. Everything has two sides and every idea has reasons why it can and can’t work. I have a small talent for finding reasons why things won’t work out within seconds. I see the hurdles that will come and can sometimes give them too much power. Focusing on the can’t is the most easy thing to do, because it keeps you in the safe zone and you just don’t have to do anything. But you’ll always stand still this way. Observe how you react to new ideas and also how your environment reacts, as they will influence you whether you want it or not. During PG, a new idea was received with open, practical minds and people would immediately try to think of ways how this idea could work. Going forward means focusing on the bright (but of course also realistic) side of things. As Henry Ford said: ’whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right’.
- You have to be willing to fail. If everyone would just stop after having failed, nothing would get done or accomplished. If a project doesn’t work, let that be a lesson and not a stop sign. The people who made it didn’t make it because they never failed, but because they never stopped going after having failed. If you let the fear of failure get the best of you, you’ll just never get anywhere.
- Review and adjust. How do you keep improving? By continuously reviewing your work and recognizing which particular field needs more attention or needs a change of direction. Decide on what could make that area better and start working from there. Don’t continue in an automatic mode with what you’re doing, without making small adjustments. Decide to review your work or business every week or month. You evolve by making changes, not by staying the same.
- Be responsible for your own actions. In PG everyone had the responsibility over one or more areas. They were called ‘Chief Roles’. When I first heard about this, I thought it went a bit too far. But it soon made perfect sense to me. To make the event and a business work, you need to divide areas and responsibilities. Everyone can’t do everything, because no one will be responsible for what happens. You see this when an accident takes place: there’s often a lot of man power around but they’re all waiting for someone else to do something. If you stick to your own field, own it and make it the best possible, everyone knows their responsibilities and things will get done.
- Nothing will work unless you do. Yes, we worked. No, we didn’t go river rafting, made juices, went diving, climbed mountains, had parties and drank cocktails 24/7. Yes, we also worked. And I won’t put work between the quotation marks anymore, because you indeed can be very productive when there are palms in your backyard. But, if you like what you’re doing, it really doesn’t feel like work. During PG I got a lot done and worked 5-9 hours per day, had the time of my life in the meantime and could have stayed in those beautiful villas for months.
You would have probably guessed that Project Getaway 2011 was an incredibly fun, bonding, productive and very special experience. But you simply can’t leave those villas after one month without having learned a ton. Being around people who’ve already nailed some of those obvious -but sometimes hard to implement- attitudes, just give you that extra boost you may need. And that’s exactly what inspiration is.
Lieve de Lint
Read more about a day at Project Getaway here
