Mini adventures
Photo: A summer wedding turned mini adventure weekend in Steamboat, Colorado, 2026.
You're familiar with the concept of mini adventures, even if you've never heard the term before. Everyone does this at least a few times per year. What I'd like to propose is that we try to increase the frequency. Take more mini adventures.
What is a mini adventure? It's a broad term, so let's define it.
A mini adventure can be...
- A long weekend trip
- Doing something you enjoy, but requires effort
- Anything that's exciting to think about doing, but it scares you
- Trying something new for the first time
- Saying "yes" to a last-minute invite
- Staying close to home, but visiting a new part of your city (local tourist)
Side note:
In 2017, at the age of 25, I quit my job and took a great big road trip that changed my life forever. Since then, I've tried to create an opportunity annually for me to take off for an extended period to travel. I was addicted to these annual long-term travel experiments. I looked forward to them. They were the bookends of every year in my late 20s and early 30s. Work for 10 months, travel for two (or more), repeat. I've been a habitual sabbatical-stacker. Another name for this? A word popularized by Tim Ferriss, the mini retirement.
But this is NOT what we are talking about today.
We're focused on its little baby brother, the mini adventure!
Since I've landed in Colorado, my main focus has been finding work-life balance again. I have a key to an apartment, a work commute, my weekly city bike routes, friends I see regularly and the same few favorite restaurants I revisit every month. This routine feels comfortable, which can be good, but not always.
With any routine, I never want to step into the dangerous territory of forgetting mini adventures. I've lived in Denver for 72 weeks now, about 17 months. I'll take a mini adventure at least every month, and sometimes in back-to-back weeks. They might be spontaneous and happen without thinking, and other times they're a deliberate choice, a planned adventure.
These memorable events break up the monotony of everyday life. Our lives need structure, we need goals and plans and consistent good habits. Without them we'd wander aimlessly and struggle to find purpose and success. But we also need to push ourselves out the door to try new things, go to new places and meet new people.
The mini adventure affects the time-feel of life. The years I was more adventurous felt like they lasted much longer than the years I played it safe and went to the same bar every weekend. We can manipulate how we experience and feel the impact of time by increasing the number of new things we do.
I love finding my favorite places or activities and going back again and again. But I also force myself to keep an eye on the new. A "What's over there?" mentality.
A good goal is to plan one mini adventure every other month. That's six highly memorable events every year. If you're 30 years old now, and live to 80, that's 50 years for a total of 300 mini adventures.
Want to be even more ambitious? Double it. How about once a month? Now you'll create memories of 600 mini adventures in the years to come. Imagine having an unforgettable event that reminds you of every single month of your life.
"April 2027? Oh yeah! That's when we learned how to make bread and invited friends over for a taste test party." Doing something just for the sake of doing it. Unattached to a desired outcome or output. Make bread and share with friends, because you like bread and you like your friends.
600 is a large number. It's hard to come up with a list of 600 new things to try. But the mini adventure has a magical feature, it can fall in your lap and happen before you even planned it. 300 of these mini adventures might be totally unplanned, with the other half marked on the calendar ahead of time.
How? Pay attention, notice and listen. Be more open to potential adventure, such as following your curiosity or accepting that random invite from a friend. It's an amazing feeling when you say "yes" to a thing with an uncertain outcome, and upon reflection you realize you had a remarkable day.
Sometimes we can get in our own way by stopping ourselves from doing a thing we want to do in the moment. Your rational brain is not always your friend. At times it will protect you, but other times it will block you from a mini adventure. Trust your gut and intuition.
This is the constant battle of fear vs love. You fear doing a thing that you think you'll love. When this happens, let love win by doing it, rather than fear win by avoiding.
It's also possible to find adventure within an activity you might define as "routine." I ride my bicycle every week. This is a routine habit of mine, but I can still create a mini adventure out of it. Most of my rides are in the city. I'll often cruise between Denver's major city parks on a daily or weekly ride, hitting several parks in one go.
But last Sunday, instead of riding out my front door onto city streets, I put my bike in the truck and drove 20 minutes to a trailhead I'd never been to. Riding a gravel path beside a creek that turned into a dammed river, with golden aspen trees and rocky peaks along the way. I passed within 15 feet of three bighorn sheep huddled together on the road. Cool fall breeze and sunshine on my face. What's better than that on a Sunday morning?
A normal routine thing (bike ride) turned into a mini adventure (new, memorable place) after a simple spontaneous decision. Now I'll remember October 2026 as the month I rode Waterton Canyon for the first time.
Another great mini adventure is the long weekend trip. I try to abide by a strict "three night rule." If I'm visiting another city, I'll stay for three nights minimum. This is the perfect amount of time that doesn't interfere (too much) with either week on the front or back end, but also allows the trip to not feel too short. Give yourself a two-day buffer in between travel days.
❌ Friday (travel) > Saturday > Sunday (travel)
✅ Thursday (travel) > Friday > Saturday > Sunday (travel)
Side note again:
On camping trips, one or two nights is fine. I prefer two or three, but sometimes a single night still feels enough to qualify as mini adventure in the Rockies.
It's too easy to get locked in the groove of autopilot weeks. Work the job every week, do familiar stuff every weekend. 52 weeks later, and every week mirrors the next. 10 years go by, and what stands out? What's truly remarkable and memorable? An exaggerated example, sure, but we can all afford to give ourselves an adventure boost from time to time.
This idea applies to everyone. Even if you don't like to travel, work a demanding job with few vacation days, run a business around the clock, or have a busy house full of kiddos. You can find those precious pockets of time to do a new thing.
Adopt the concept of mini adventures, and make it a priority every month. Time will feel like it moves slower while your life improves and memories stack like finished books. Choose love over fear. And enjoy the ride, just don't get run over by a bighorn sheep.