How many times have you been at a job interview, longing to explain your adventure to Nepal, or to describe how you took responsibility for organizing the senior center softball team? You want to be seen for who you are, to recount some of the adventures that say more about you than the computer programs you know. Yet a typical job search doesn’t seem to have space for your adventure history.
What if we made a place to explore the deeper part of ourselves? If we knew ourselves more at an essential level, a job search could gain a depth that acknowledges our values. You can find your way here by creating what I call an Adventure Resume, a map of your life experience. Not the jobs you’ve had and the practical skills you’ve acquired, but a course charting the peak experiences of your life. By embarking on this vital exploration, you can learn a lot about yourself. You see where you’ve made choices. You notice where you’ve taken risks or learned lessons. Rather than a list of what you’ve done, let the adventure resume be a guide to how you’ve been. How have you created your own path and followed your original impulse?
I created the Adventure Resume one afternoon when I was bored and wanted to draw. I soon was sketching a river and for landmarks I drew my experiences in the world. Here I had stayed in France after a year as a student to work as a dishwasher in the south of France. There I had hitchhiked from Amsterdam to Barcelona, meeting adventure every step of the way. There I had taken the graduate school plunge only to realize after one semester that the school was not for me. These were the turns that I had taken that make me unique, that mark my life as one of adventure.
When I had sketched out the whole map, I realized a profound lesson: I could die and I would have already accomplished something. I had always hated the thought of dying, afraid that I wouldn’t do what I was meant to do. After looking at my Adventure Resume, I recognized that I traveled, I taught and inspired people, and I had learned. I had already lived the kind of life that was important to me. This was a huge relief. While I am not completely ready to pass on, I lost some of the anxiety about not living up to my potential.
You can also see your personal values reflected in your Adventure Resume. The first thing I do with my clients is to help them create a list of their values. This represents a pivotal piece in creating a fulfilling life: when you are living according to your values, you tend to be more happy and satisfied. You can make decisions according to your values, not someone else’s. Some of my most treasured values, travel and learning, were honored throughout my Adventure Resume. Your own Adventure Resume will reveal some of your values.
Create your own Adventure Resume. Yours will express your unique path and should reflect your values. You may express this in any way appeals to you. It may be written chronologically. It could be drawn, painted or colored with pencils or markers. One client envisioned a three dimensional Adventure Resume, with little figures representing experiences.
What to do with your Adventure Resume once you’ve completed it? Ask yourself the following questions:
- What have I learned from this process?
- What values can I see from the choices I made?
- How does this affect the way I live my life today?
Is this something you would show to a potential employer? Perhaps. It depends on the kind of job you are applying for and how much you are willing to share who you are. More likely you would show it to close friends or family as a way to encourage discussion about the bigger picture of life. More and more we are invited to express our creative selves. Employers look to hire creativity; creativity has become one of our greatest assets. Your Adventure Resume will show potential employers a more dimensional you.
This is a valuable tool that can help you when you are looking for a job, when you are reassessing your priorities, when you are making big decisions. Drafting your Adventure Resume will give you perspective, confidence and renewed energy for future adventures.
Pssst…
Your journey is blessed by the travel gods.
It’s also been an incredible check for me to keep making my own leaps. What kind of coach would I be if I didn’t live large? When I went to Paris in 2003 for the Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival, I was terrified. I called my friend Rachel for support. She came through as always, and left me with a funny and powerful phrase that I still use: “Go big or go home.” It’s become my rallying cry when I quake in the face of a big leap. 
