Tony Bourdain And Getting Inspired To Lead A Bigger Life

Photo credit Focus Features

Last night, I watched Roadrunner, one of many great Anthony Bourdain documentaries. It is a tragic story. But, strangely, I finished it feeling inspired.

Tony was troubled but intensely driven. He did so much for the poor and underrepresented of the world. And he did it because he wanted to. He traveled the world. But he started first when shooting “A Cook’s Tour” in 2001 when he was 46 years old.

I’m 47 right now. I want to travel. And I want to lead a bigger life.

Steve Jobs said,

“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and … to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life.”

“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Great things start small. Our family spent this past June in Portugal. Thirty days to experience something completely new. The adventure was both extremely fun and difficult at times.

Imagine a nauseous child tucked into the backseat of an Uber as we zoomed through the hills of Lisbon to pediatric urgent care. I didn’t have to.

It’s the hard things that are worth doing, right?

And the experience took a direct aim at my old inner monologue. The one that told me, “I’m not the type of person who spends a month in a foreign country.”

Now I am.

—

Brian Herriot does his best to live bigger from his home in Alameda, California, and cabin in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin. He also prepares financial freedom plans for consultants and other mid-career professionals in one-week sprints. Check out his take on a new and different kind of retirement at choosyconsultant.com.