One-way ticket to Europe

I booked a one-way ticket to Europe on a 7-day notice, with one backpack and no plan. Here are my observations and lessons learned:

• It’s ok for things to not go your way. For things to go your way, that means the experience was already pre-determined. Have no expectations.
• First, you go to observe nature. Then you observe others. Then you observe yourself.
• Don’t feel stressed over time pressure. Just trust you’ll figure it out.
• Make decisions with feelings. Feelings lead to intuition. Intuition leads you to be in sync.
• What’s the rush? You’ll get to your destination at some point. Why not enjoy it, treasure all the ups and downs, and have it be memorable. Who cares if you get there first. If you can’t remember it, what’s the point?
• Don’t live to work. Don’t work to live. Live for the moment.
• Be kind. Don’t judge. If someone asks for help, help. But do it with intention and presence.
• Don’t fight anger with power. Kill with kindness. Use anger as a tool, not as a default.
• Create your own style by how you dress, how you present yourself, how you decorate your home.
• When you feel conflicted, just move.
• Allow things to unfold naturally.
• I operate extremely well under controlled chaos. Create a container for chaos to ensue. If it’s an open vacuum I can get lost. Keep it controlled to keep it contained and effective.
• Be open and kind to tourists. Make them feel safe, and at home. Always help people, you never know who you’ll meet.
• Intuition is a subtle pull towards a direction.
• Travel to change your perspective, not add to your camera roll. Travel should change how you think, act, and view the world. Not make you relax.
• Be in a state of “want to” vs. a state of “have to”.
• Limiting beliefs is the #1 reason for people being stuck in their current situation. An outside perspective can easily break the objections that the person is looping.
• If you can’t make a decision easily or quickly, it’s because you’re missing information.
• The best artists create their best work when they stop consuming and comparing. They only recreate their creations. Their mind is an encyclopedia to pull inspiration from. They pull from non-related fields (engineering -> music). Cross-pollination.
• When to not make a decision — tired, uncertain, hungry, dehydrated.
• Just pick a wave and commit to it.
• Knowing how to connect feeling with an action (or inaction).
• This trip has shown me how grateful I should be for everything I have (where I live, what I know, who I know, what I have, what I’m able to think about)
• Let loose, have fun, and be yourself: “Nobody’s going to remember you dancing and say Phil was that crazy guy”
• Knowing how, where, and when to make a decision. Sometimes it doesn’t need to be made at this moment. You know when it feels right. When you play an infinite game, there is no rush.
• Not saying sorry for things you didn’t cause. Don’t be an apologetic person, it makes you weak.
• Change your actions, change your results.
• The novelty of things (just arrived to this country, 4 days backpacking, just moved to Colorado, just joined this mastermind). Novelty is what makes someone interesting. Novelty is what should compel you to try new things. Novelty helps you break the ice. Use novelty to your advantage.
• Be bilingual. Easier to break ice. Easier for pattern recognition.
• Technology has ruined the minds of the masses. People don’t know why they’re clicking on what. People don’t know what they’re looking for, what itch they’re trying to scratch. They just want to scratch an artificial scab.
• Every time you need something all the signs are in front of you. Open your eyes, follow your heart, and be pulled for the ride, just don’t resist.
• Don’t step into situations too early. Wait for people to self-correct their own experience. If they can’t correct it, then you have an invitation to offer help.
• Send yourself to another side of the planet solo, with no plan. You’ll learn more about yourself than anyone ever before.
• When you visit different cultures, the things that you really love are revealed. You’ll find constants across countries, cultures, cuisines, activities, people, and places.
• Instead of learning how to play the game, start with what rules make up the game. This will dictate what you should learn in what order. Rules = universal laws
• Pay attention to what your eyes, ears, and nose pay attention to. Fixated on a certain book? Get it. Fixated on a certain sound, tune in. Fixated on a girl, talk to her.
• Italians and Spaniards prioritize enjoyment over money.
• The most expensive souvenir is a language you learn that you can keep forever.
• Live in the real world. Open your eyes. Slow down. Don’t analyze. Just accept things as they come. Make the most out of every situation. Don’t label situations as good or bad. See the best in people. Enrich yourself in culture. Find comfort in discomfort. Find your own ways of capturing and remembering the moment. Shake up things when you get burnt out.
• Find specialists who study the history you’re trying to learn, get a deep dive from them, and find what resources gave them their knowledge.
• Not being bound or looking at a calendar is the most liberating feeling in the world. You are not bound to a place, time, or obligation.
• Freedom = not being bound to a place, time, or obligation, and choosing who you want to give your energy to.
• Make friends with security, reception, and/or anyone who interfaces with the clientele before they sit down for a service (drink, table, room, etc…). They are the best affiliates. They know everyone and will make introductions for you, and send people your way.
• Find activities that break the language barrier. Just humans interacting with humans.
• Every day. Every connection. Every observation builds on top of the previous = building on top of the previous day.
• Have compassion and love for others. You don’t know what they’re going through. Kill them with kindness. (Sebastian)
• Spend time meeting people/culture, and seeing what was built, how it was built, and why it was built when it was built.
• Too much chaos gets exhausting. Too much order gets exhausting. It’s the balance between both until you get to a point of controlled chaos.
• A self-portrait is our own depiction of how we want to be perceived in a specific time, or context. (Edward Munch)
• When you don’t have an answer, don’t force it. Get up, walk around. Do something else. Let it run in the background, then come back to it. Eventually, the answer you need will come.
• Creating a plan, but not knowing what you’ll do during the plan is less stressful than just showing up somewhere with no plan, or showing up somewhere with everything planned out. It’s like having a map but not knowing which trail system you’ll exit with.
• Chaos is not knowing what you’ll do, or where you’ll stay.
• T-shaped traveling = Little of every country. Deep in a few.
• Adventure is like fishing. You never know when you’ll get a catch. You need to keep throwing in reels. Sometimes in different locations. When you have a spot that is working, keep casting.
• Time goes fast when you know there is a finite end. Time goes slow when you think it’s infinite, and stop realizing it exists.
• Enjoy now, pay later. (Italy)
• Working to live vs. working to survive. If you do things for money you’re surviving. Find your life’s work; so you can live.
• When you don’t have an answer, just keep walking in a direction until you do.
• Public transportation robs you of time. You’re operating on somebody else’s schedule.
• When someone needs to clarify they’re a good person, they have bad intentions.
• While you’re not making money, make connections.
• People don’t want to help people that aren’t helping themselves.
• If you go to someone’s country you should make an effort to speak their language. They shouldn’t be working harder than you to speak yours.
• Sit down. Close your eyes. Just create. Don’t add form. Use your imagination. Imagine the past. Imagine the future. Just like I’m typing and not thinking about what I’m typing, words are just coming together in harmony. Let lines, shades, dots, smudges create harmony. Things don’t need to make sense at the moment. When you look back, the’ll make sense.
• Learn the basics of all things to understand how everything works. Learn just enough that you can hold a conversation, know the fundamentals, and see patterns across other disciples.
• Symbology exists so others can’t delete your history.
• When you shake someone’s hand, shake their hand well, and look them in the eyes. Touch their shoulder. Make them feel comfortable. First impressions are everything. Show power and conviction.
• You can always learn something from someone, no matter how smart you are.
• I started the trip afraid to take risks. Now, I’m afraid to not take risks.
• When you no longer take from the outside world, the inside world starts coming out.
• Find people that are capable of giving you data dumps.
• You have two choices:
• Stay here, go to bed, and have a predictable night.
• Go out, have fun, change your worldview, not know when or how you’re going to get home. Which will you pick?
• The more present you become, the better, and more vivid your memory gets.
• Self-belief is the most powerful faith you can have. Set your mind on something. Get it clear. Get one step closer every day. Be patient. Things will manifest in your favor.
• Environment molds you. If you want to be great at something, find an environment that has an abundance of what you’re trying to do. Hard to be a good beach volleyball player if you don’t live near the beach.
• When you’re stuck in survival mode, you can’t think about the future.
• Don’t make any major decisions when you’re sick, tired, or hungry. Your judgment is clouded.
• When you’re stuck and need a new way to see your current problem, travel. New environment, new thoughts. New thoughts, new solutions. New solutions, new results.
• Having something in common with the locals no longer makes you a tourist.
• When you’re more detached and less informed about current media, you have more information about how the world works.