“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” – Rolf Potts
“If in doubt, just walk until your day becomes interesting.” – Rolf Potts
Rolf Potts is the author of Vagabonding (hear the audio book sample here), one of my favorite books of all-time. It was one of just two books (the other was Walden) that I carried with me around the world from 2004-2005. Those adventures led directly to The 4-Hour Workweek.
World travel doesn’t have to be a wealthy person’s sport. In this often hilarious conversation, Rolf and I dig deep into travel tactics, creating time wealth, “managing success,” and much more. It’s a fun romp through every imaginable topic, from business to poetry, and from Wall Street to psychedelics.
Enjoy!
You can find the transcript of Episode 41 here. You can find the transcript of Episode 42 here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What are the most valuable lessons (or tricks) you’ve learned through travel? Please share your story in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes.
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Selected Links from the Episode
- Build.org – If you’re an entrepreneur, check this out.
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
- Wall Street – Charlie Sheen talks about riding a motorcycle across China as his “retirement”
- BootsnAll.com – Community and support for travelers
- VirtualTourist.com – One of the sites that inspired my early travels
- Trippy.com – New travel site created by the founder of VirtualTourist.com (Here’s my profile)
- CouchSurfing.org – Find community and great stays on the road
- AirBnB.com – Great places to stay all over the world. Tired of hostels? This is a good choice.
- Learn more about The Beginners Mind
- The Freedom App – Get yourself off the Internets
- Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott
- The Writers Toolkit Roy Peters Clark
- To Show and To Tell by Phillip Lapate
- Screenplay by Syd Field
- Story by Robert McKee
- Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
- Marco Polo Didn’t Go There by Rolf Potts
- Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog
- Con Air
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Download Audiobook for Free)
Connect with Rolf Potts:
Show Notes
Part I
- Converting travel fantasies into realities and the time-wealth principle [2:30]
- Deconstructing and defining success, money, and freedom [12:00]
- The time-strapped billionaire paradox [14:10]
- Resources to fight the fears associated with world travel [25:09]
- How new collaborative consumption technologies affect the long-term travel experience [29:00]
- JP Morgan’s trip to Egypt, and what we can learn about business on the road [40:56]
- Vacations and their effect on creative output [42:55]
- When to leave the optimize-for-efficiency mindset behind [44:32]
- Can you replicate travel benefits with a “staycation”? [51:37]
- Exploring appreciation vs. achievement [54:08]
- Rolf Potts’ writing process + “Swoopers” and “Bashers” [59:54]
Part II
- The breakthrough for Potts in his writing: structure learned from screenwriting tomes [1:00]
- Vagabonding and the therapeutic use of psychedelics [7:00]
- The art of getting lost, and the benefits of getting lost [8:05]
- What it’s like to teach writing in Paris, and who is a good fit for the class [16:15]
- Thoughts on a mid-career Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) [22:13]
- “Success management” and her champions: Dave Chapelle and John Hughes? [35:26]
- Rapid-fire questions: Grizzly Man, Con Air, the love of poetry, and more [41:45]
People Mentioned
Part I
Part II