An infographic showing what participation or exploring means. On one side is a cloud representing our dreams. On the other side is a box that represents turning our dreams into reality. In the middle, are footsteps that represent the literal and figurative steps or journey we must take to reach our goal.
To make our dreams a reality, we must take lots of steps of action.

Step 3 — Explore

Introduction to exploring

The third step to living the life of your dreams is to explore — experiment, have fun and inspire others.

If you are stuck for ideas and/or have no plan, then guess what? Just do it! Yep, exploring is the easiest step of them all. Pick something, anything and just do it. You’ll learn quickly whether you like it or not, and whether you have a natural talent or not. If you have a more specific goal in mind, this is the process shown in the infographic above.

  1. Practice what you know.
  2. Explore what you don’t know.
  3. Try something different.

Example

  1. Even if you are a professional basketball player, you’ll still need to practice every day.
  2. Even if you are the best basketball player ever, you still have plenty to learn about your opponents.
  3. And, of course, you’ll lose some games. So keep trying a new strategy until you find one that works.

Please share your adventure

We’re not on this journey alone. So, I recommend sharing your journey both to get help and inspire others.

An infographic showing that you can start at any step. You can begin with a dream. You can begin with a plan. Or, you can begin playing. Just try anything and see how it feels.
Actually, you can start with any step. Exploring or playing is my favorite place to start. It’s the solution to getting unstuck. Just goof around until you find something that resonates with you. See all the steps at once.

Personally, I hope to entertain, inspire and educate people through my misadventures. And, I know our audience would love to hear about your dreams and adventures. Since 1999 — long before social media was invented — we’ve given hundreds of people a chance to share their stories as guest adventurers.

Here’s how you can participate:

Articles on exploring, adventuring and playing

adventures before social media

Guest adventures

It’s our mission to feature inspirational adventures of all kinds, even those in your own backyard. Before you go anywhere, of course, you will need some inspiration. Here is a collection of the inspiring adventures that we’ve featured for over 25 years, everything from vacations, sightseeing tours, backpacking across countries, volunteer missions, expeditions, full-fledged adventures, and even poetic journeys. 

Are you a flutterby or a butterfly? Don't let life pass you by.

Backyard Adventures

Fun mini-adventures that you can do right in your own backyard — literally. I’ve always been an advocate that anything can be an adventure if you have eyes of wonder. Most people think this is kids’ stuff, but I challenge adults to find an adventure in their everyday life, too, and to have fun while doing it!

    Scott Stoll's before and after picture of his bicycle tour around the world.

    Scott’s adventures

    These are stories of my adventures through life, like riding a bicycle around the world, being the Cultural Ambassador to Argentina and—hopefully—many more, big and small. I like to collect life experiences. I invite you along for the ride as I explore the inner and outer world and learn to become a better person.

    Underwater bubble ring of oxygen

    Scott’s explorations

    These are things I’m exploring. They may seem random — I suppose they are — but I have many interests in life. I don’t think I’m limited to one grand purpose I must fulfill. In fact, I think this puts me at risk of a do-or-die scenario where, if I fail, my life becomes meaningless. Likewise, I’ve labeled myself as certain things only to grow bigger and wiser than those limiting labels. So, now, I like to keep the door open to new opportunities.