Why Your Best Adventures Leave Room for Surprise: Beef Jerky, Fly Rods, and a Colorado Road Trip

Why Your Best Adventures Leave Room for Surprise: Beef Jerky, Fly Rods, and a Colorado Road Trip

Most of us spend our lives trying to optimize everything. We map the route, fill every hour, and work hard to make sure nothing goes wrong. But somewhere along the way, we may have stopped leaving room for surprise. In this episode, Chad loads up a Jeep with homemade beef jerky, fly rods, camping gear, and a loose plan, then heads west toward Colorado. Along the way he retraces a 30-year-old memory, fishes a legendary canyon, reflects on a summer that quietly shaped his life, and discovers that the best adventures—and often the best parts of life—rarely follow the itinerary. In this episode, you'll discover: * Why leaving margin in your schedule can create room for some of life's best moments. * The forgotten story hiding behind one of Colorado's most beautiful rivers. * How places from your past can quietly shape the person you're becoming. * A simple question that may help you rediscover wonder instead of trying to control every outcome. * Why your next adventure doesn't have to be a Colorado road trip—it may simply be the decision to leave room for surprise this week. If you enjoy these kinds of stories, join the Sunday Trail Notes for weekly reflections, behind-the-scenes stories, photos from the trip, and practical next steps inspired by each episode. You can sign up at lifeoffthemapshow.com [http://lifeoffthemapshow.com]. Related episodes: * Ep 28 - When Your Life Gets Rearranged: Fishing Boats, Art Studios, and King Kong * Ep 27 - What Most Men Are Missing - A Story from the Blue River * Ep 25 - The Summer Edit: Less Busy, More Alive, More You

When Your Life Gets Rearranged: Fishing Boats, an Art Studio, and King Kong

What does a canoe in Chicago, an art studio in Oklahoma, and a giant movie monster have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, Chad reflects on a season of unexpected change and the people who taught him a different way to move through it. Along the way, you'll meet a grandmother who opened her home to artists and friends, a father who created adventures out of ordinary moments, an actor who found purpose outdoors, and a few surprising lessons from Adam Sandler, Nick Offerman, and King Kong. When life gets rearranged, some people retreat. Others seem to come alive. This episode explores the environments, relationships, and creative practices that help us stay open to wonder, connection, and growth—even when the map no longer looks like we expected. In this episode: * Why creativity often grows during seasons of disruption * The hidden power of creating experiences for other people * What fishing boats, campfires, and art studios can teach us about joy * Lessons from Nick Offerman on the outdoors and a meaningful life * Why relationships and creativity are more connected than we realize * How to stay open when your life gets rearranged Related Episodes: * Episode 26: When the Map Stops Making Sense - A Crew Convo with Ernest Shackleton * Episode 25: The Summer Edit: Less Busy. More Alive. More You. * Episode 27: What Most Men are Missing - A Story from the Blue River & Feeling Like Yourself Again

What Most Men Are Missing - A Story from the Blue River & Feeling Like Yourself Again

Most men don't need another productivity hack, leadership book, or five-step framework. They need to feel like themselves again. In this episode of Life Off the Map, Chad reflects on a weekend in southern Oklahoma, a river full of men in camo and pickup trucks, and a question that wouldn't leave him alone: What if men aren't falling apart all at once? What if they're slowly drifting away from the things that make them feel most like themselves? What starts as a fishing trip becomes a conversation about friendship, campfires, marriage, kids, solitude, God, and the strange way a river can tell the truth before you're ready to say it out loud. In this episode, we get into: • Why "What's wrong with men?" may be the wrong question • The quiet drift from adventure, friendship, challenge, beauty, and play • The difference between escapes that numb you and sources that bring you back • Why responsibility without restoration slowly changes us • One practical way to make room for what restores you in the next 30 days If you've been tired, restless, numb, or weirdly unlike yourself lately, this one may get under your skin in the best way. To get our Sunday Trail Notes with practical applications, refelctions and challenges, go to: lifeoffthemapshow.com [http://lifeoffthemapshow.com] Related Episodes: • Episode 24 — Joy Isn't Accidental: How to Feel More Present, Grounded and Alive • Episode 19 — Who Are You When No One Needs You? • Episode 15 — You Don't Grow Alone: A Crew Convo with Stephen Van Cauwenbergh

When the Map Stops Making Sense - A Crew Convo with Explorer Ernest Shackleton

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out to do something no one had ever done before: cross Antarctica on foot. He never made it. His ship became trapped in the ice. The expedition failed. The dream died. The map no longer matched reality. Most people know how to start an adventure. Far fewer know what to do when the original mission dies. More than a century later, we still tell Shackleton's story—not because he completed the mission, but because of how he responded when the mission fell apart. In this special Crew Convo episode, I sit down with virtual "Ernest Shackleton" and other documentation to explore one of history's greatest survival stories and what it teaches us about leadership, resilience, and finding a new mission when the original one disappears. In this episode: • Why Shackleton's original Antarctic mission failed before it ever began • The leadership decision that saved 27 men from disaster • How to adapt when the future you planned disappears • Why clinging to an outdated map often creates more suffering • The surprising relationship between failure and meaning • What it looks like to lead yourself and others through uncertainty • Why some of life's most important missions are the ones we never intended to take Life Off the Map is a podcast for leaders, builders, adventurers, and high-capacity people who want more than success. Each week, we explore what it means to live with greater courage, purpose, adventure, and aliveness. To sign up for Sunday Trail Notes, visit: lifeoffthemapshow.com [http://lifeoffthemapshow.com] Related Episodes: • Episode 25 — The Book Started Editing Me • Episode 24 — What Fear Does to Your Story • Episode 22 — Field Notes: What the Trail Keeps Teaching Me

The Summer Edit: Less Busy. More Alive. More You.

Somewhere in the middle of editing his upcoming book, Chad realized the questions he was asking about the manuscript had quietly become questions he was asking about his own life: What belongs? What doesn't? What's making the story better? And what's just making the story longer? In this reflective solo episode, the host shares a story from a construction project that unexpectedly became a turning point in his own life, along with lessons from writing, creativity, Donald Miller, Anne Lamott, Elizabeth Gilbert, and the surprising connection between editing a book and editing a life. If you've been feeling busy, scattered, stuck, or stretched thin this summer, this conversation is an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and make room for what matters most. In this episode, you'll discover: • Why growth often comes from subtraction, not addition • The difference between a full life and a meaningful one • How to quiet the competing voices fighting for your attention • Why motion beats inertia when you feel stuck • What stories reveal about what matters most to us • How to make room for what matters most this summer Along the way, Chad shares reflections on writing his second book, rebuilding a staircase during a difficult season, fear, creativity, identity, and the question that kept following him through every chapter: If you were editing your life right now, what would remain? Related Episodes • Episode 24 — Joy Isn't Accidental • Episode 22 — Field Notes from a Rebuilding Season: The Version No One Talks About • Episode 20 — Start Again. Drop the Story. For weekly reflections, behind-the-scenes book updates, and our Sunday Trail Notes, sign up at LifeOffTheMapShow.com [http://lifeoffthemapshow.com].