What Is No Opportunity Wasted? Part 2

No Opportunity Wasted : Creating a List for Life
by Phil Keoghan, Warren Berger

(Page 2 of 2)

Why did I feel a burning desire to do such things? All I can say is that something deep within me craved experiences like these. And I was convinced that each of these experiences would somehow enrich my life— which, in every case, proved to be true.

In many ways, my list became my life. It determined what I did and whom I met. It became a core part of my identity. And it led me to a career in which I was able to chase my own dreams and help others chase theirs, and all the while (believe it or not) get paid for it. I started out by producing and hosting adventure television programs in my homeland of New Zealand. It was a blast until, as is my tendency, I felt the urge to move on and break new ground. In the early 1990s, I took a leap of faith and came to the United States with no prospects, naively thinking that surely some television network was bound to take an interest in an unknown fellow from Down Under who liked to dive and jump and explore.

Phil's Current List for Life (Age 30-Something) You'll notice I've scaled back on some of the climbing and jumping. And yet, I am proud to say, much of this list is still rather childish. Once you've made your own List for Life, don't hesitate to change it, add to it, adapt it: It should be a fluid and dynamic document. It should evolve as you grow. In terms of my own evolving list, my first one was very self-centered, as in, “I want to experience this, I want to see what it feels like to do that.” I think one of the biggest differences over time is that now I tend to want to do more things that involve other people: meeting interesting people, immersing myself in a foreign culture, going with someone on a journey, helping someone to achieve a dream. I've found that the latter has become the ultimate “rush” for me because it makes me feel as if I've changed someone's life, and now maybe she will turn around and share her experience with someone else and change that person's life, and the whole thing will keep spreading (that's the plan, anyway). The No Opportunity Wasted book and TV series are still at the top of my current list, with little check marks next to them. I may have given birth to both these babies, but I still feel like I'm just getting started in terms of bringing the N.O.W. movement fully to life. Write the book No Opportunity Wasted. Produce the N.O.W. television show. Climb Mount Everest (don't worry, I'm getting to it). But before that, climb Mount Cook with my dad, age 62. Travel into outer space. Be a ball boy in the U.S. Open. Take an inner-city kid to the fields of Nebraska and create “crop art.” Take my daughter, Elle, to La Tomatina in Spain, the world's biggest food fight. Find a way to help a guy I know named Jesse return to his beloved surfing, even though he is paralyzed. Have a gourmet romantic dinner with my wife, Louise, on top of the erupting Stromboli volcano. Take Oprah Winfrey skydiving, or something (she deserves it; plus, I owe her one for putting me on her show). Complete the Hawaiian Ironman triathlon before I turn 40. Finish training for my pilot's license and fly a small plane around the world. Free-dive with 3,000 singing humpback whales off the coast of the Dominican Republic. Have a barbecue at the South Pole.

Incredibly enough, it happened—and in the years that followed, I took part in hundreds of on-camera adventures as host and producer of an internationally syndicated TV series called Keoghan's Heroes and then another series on the Discovery Channel called Adventure Crazy. After that, the next leg of my journey took me around the world, as host of CBS's Emmy-winning The Amazing Race—a series of grueling-yet-exhilarating races spanning the globe in 36 madcap days.

Oh, the Things I've Done! Played “speed golf” in the deadly Australian Outback Renewed my wedding vows underwater with a scuba-diving priest and a dolphin in attendance Changed a light bulb on top of New York's 700-foot Verrazanno Bridge Skied behind a reindeer at 30 miles per hour Slept in a tree in the Costa Rican jungle White-water rafted the Jordan River of Israel Set a world record for group bungee jumping Won a cow-patty throwing competition 174 feet (53 meters)! Was spiritually cleansed by a witch doctor in Asia's Golden Triangle Tracked a Florida panther through alligator-infested waters Went scuba diving with a dog Hunted a giant rat in the Venezuelan rain forest Drank cobra blood Won a spaghetti-eating competition (now that almost killed me)

But even a race around the world now seems like a modest quest compared with my newest adventure, which represents the biggest, most meaningful challenge of my life. It is called No Opportunity Wasted (or, for those who like to cut to the chase, N.O.W.). It is the basis of both a new television series on the Discovery Channel and the book you are holding in your hands. But more than anything else, No Opportunity Wasted is a philosophy and a way of life.

IN ESSENCE, No Opportunity Wasted is about learning how to live while you still have the chance, about letting go of the handrails, taking off your tie (and maybe taking off a lot more while you're at it), and swerving off that predictable road you've been following for years—onto a strange and bumpy path that just might, with a bit of luck, get you lost. It is about taking the time to enjoy experiences you've denied yourself. But it is also about sharing experiences with other people you know. And connecting with people you don't know. Beginning with yourself.

The philosophy is rooted in the notion that each of us must follow our many and varied dreams in order to lead a fuller, richer life. But first we must figure out what those dreams are—and write them down on a list. That's not something to be taken lightly. This book will help guide you as you create your own personalized, meaningful “List for Life.” The goal of No Opportunity Wasted is not to put forth a rigid set of rules, a one-size-fits-all approach, or a generic list of “things that I think you should do with your life.” I hold firmly to the idea that my List for Life is just for me, and your list—which perhaps you haven't written down yet but which exists nonetheless, etched in your soul—is entirely different from mine, and should be. While I dream of scaling Mount Everest, your quest may be to walk the entire way around New York City's Central Park in one afternoon. Indeed, you don't necessarily have to go halfway around the world to follow your dreams. Opportunities for unforgettable moments and deeply meaningful experiences are all around, if you open yourself up to them.

N.O.W. Moments: How Many Have You Had? What is a N.O.W. moment? Think of it as an immortal memory. Something you did that stays with you. It makes you smile when you remember it, and you tend to tell others about it years later. It was a singular experience in your life. It needn't have been a momentous accomplishment. A friend recalls discovering a golf driving range in the Caribbean that faced out toward a beautiful ocean horizon. At sunset, he got himself a tropical drink in a plastic cup and spent the next glorious half-hour sipping his drink and driving golf balls into the golden setting sun. That's a “N.O.W. moment,” and he made it happen by being alert to the possibilities. Occasionally, such moments are handed to us by fate (the birth of a child, for example). But those are relatively rare. If you want more N.O.W. moments, you must shape and create them, using ordinary moments as your clay. So let's take stock: How many immortal moments in your own life can you think of? Jot them down on a piece of paper. Take some time to think about this. Mull it over, and ask your friends and family if necessary. When you've exhausted your memory, see how many moments you have written down. And now ask yourself: Am I content with the number of N.O.W. moments I've had? If you've come up with, say, 10 moments, that doesn't seem too bad—except when you consider how many minutes you've lived in, say, the past 2 5 years (to be exact, that would be 13,148,640 minutes). So: Ten great moments out of 13 million—are you really happy with that ratio? Don't you think you can do better?

You can live a N.O.W. life without spending a lot of money. Imagination is your currency when it comes to acquiring great experiences. And you don't have to risk your life, either. This is an important point to emphasize, because people often assume that “adventure” is synonymous with extreme risk-taking. But my personal belief—and the philosophy of No Opportunity Wasted—is that “being adventurous” is really about taking mental leaps. It's about being willing to move beyond your comfort zone and try something different. And there are countless ways one can do that, most of which have nothing to do with jumping out of planes.

In fact, there are so many ways to experience the No Opportunity Wasted life, so many different possibilities to put on your own list, that the sheer abundance can be overwhelming. Having too many choices can make it hard to come up with a definitive list of things you want to do. And so one of the functions of this book is to help you sort through those endless possibilities, organize them, and categorize them. To that end, the book lays out eight categories or “universal themes,” encompassing almost every type of experience imaginable. These themes address deep, basic urges that most of us long to fulfill in some way, such as the need to “face one's fear,” to “express oneself,” to “get lost,” or to “test one's limits.”

This book will focus on the featured themes, examine why they're deeply important to us all, and take a look at firsthand stories of how ordinary people have responded to these particular needs by trying something new and life-changing. Some of the people you'll meet here are referred to as the “N.O.W. dreamers;” these are some of the thousands of people who've submitted letters and applications describing their lifelong dreams to the No Opportunity Wasted television series.

The Eight Great Themes Face Your Fear Get Lost Test Your Limits Take a Leap of Faith Rediscover Your Childhood Shed Your Inhibitions/Express Yourself Break New Ground Aim for the Heart

Those who were selected for the TV series were given a budget of $3,000 and 72 hours to turn their dreams into reality (as you'll see, some of them truly made the most of that opportunity). Other people you'll meet in these pages are those I've personally helped as they've taken on fears or challenges. And still others are remarkable people who've inspired me during my travels and adventures around the world. But all the people have one thing in common: They're determined to live out their dreams.

In each of the theme chapters, once we've looked at how other people are pursuing great experiences, we'll then explore ways you can seek out a more personalized experience that ties in with that overall chapter theme. From wild to mild, we'll cover a broad range of possible experiences—with “milestones” designed to help you begin with small steps and build up to bigger ones. The book is structured to guide you step-by-step as you construct a List for Life that makes sense for you and truly speaks to your dreams.

© 2004 by Phil Keoghan and Warren Berger. All rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

About the Author

Phil Keoghan is currently in his fifth season starring as host of the Emmy-winning CBS primetime series, The Amazing Race. This fall Keoghan will star in and produce the N.O.W.: No Opportunity Wasted reality television series on the Discovery Channel. He has co-created and co-produced a number of original series, including Phil Keoghan's Adventure Crazy, one of the highest-rated worldwide series for the Discovery Channel. He has been profiled in People magazine and TV Guide and has been featured repeatedly on Oprah.

Warren Berger is a longtime contributing editor at Wired Time magazine, and his writing also appears frequently in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, GQ, and Men's Journal. His book Advertising Today was named one of the "Best Books of 2001" by Barnes & Noble.