Author: Steve Bloom

How to Risk More, Fear Less and Gain Everything

Steve Bloom 32 Comments

Climbing Journal Mount Rinjani package

Last week I read a news story about a pharmaceutical company called Valeant.  They had just announced the acquisition of an eye health company called Bausch and Lomb.

The cost of the deal: $8.7 billion dollars.

By anyone’s measure, the deal is a risk.  When you plan to spend billions of dollars to buy a company, you’d better know what you’re doing.

But even though the costs are huge, the rewards are even greater.  Through this deal, Valeant is expected to cut $800 million dollars in annual costs every year plus get all the revenue from the new business.
Continue reading →

How I Saved Up $10,000 to Fund My Travels

Steve Bloom 22 Comments

IMG_7793

When I reached my early 20s, I saw something I thought I’d never see.  My bank account rolled over into five digits as I passed the $10,000 mark for the first time.

I rarely tell people this because I don’t want to come off as boastful.

I’m saying this now because a lack of money is a huge obstacle preventing people from traveling.  So I want to write about what I did to save up so much money to see the world.
Continue reading →

Finding the Beauty in Everyday Life

Steve Bloom 26 Comments

Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans with viewer

Sometimes the bad parts of the world seem so overwhelming.

There are so many sad and depressing things going on in the news. People are killing other people, a natural disaster is destroying someone’s home or the economy is back in the dumps.

Even outside of the news, I see sad things. Every day I walk past the homeless as they beg on the streets. It’s hard not to look at them and feel as if the world is an uncaring, ruthless place.

It makes it hard to see the beauty going on around me.

But even among all this negative input, I can still manage to find something beautiful to focus on every day. In fact, there is a lot of beauty around you if you just look closely enough.
Continue reading →

The Goal of Learning Everything

Steve Bloom 46 Comments

Some Books

You might be surprised to read this, but one of the first goals I ever wrote when I created my first bucket list was to “learn everything”.

It’s certainly an ambitious goal – impossible even.  With all the information out in the world, learning everything would probably take several lifetimes.  And that’s assuming you could even pinpoint a finish line to the process.

But even if no one could possibly accomplish it, I still believe it is an extremely useful goal.
Continue reading →

9 Ways to Be Unremarkable

Steve Bloom 31 Comments

BadBokeh (Tongue firmly planted in cheek)

We all want to stand out from the crowd.  Even Oliver Wendell Holmes was once quoted as saying, “Nothing is more common than the wish to be remarkable.”

Still there are some common pitfalls to avoid when standing out.  They’re ones we’ve all been guilty of from time to time.  I’d be lying if I said I haven’t done a few of these in my past.

But if you’re looking to be just a little more memorable, you might just want to stay away from some of these.
Continue reading →

Developing an Adventurous Mindset: Loving Fear and Uncertainty

Steve Bloom 21 Comments

Monte Verde Verde!

A few years ago, when I was preparing to travel to Belize, a friend of mine asked me what my plans for the trip were.  Specifically she wanted to know if I had a place to stay arranged before I arrived.

When I told her no, she was aghast.  What would I do if I got there and there wasn’t a room available anywhere?  She wouldn’t have been able to handle traveling so far away without making those arrangements beforehand.

I guess that’s what separates me from a lot of people.  I get a big thrill out of not knowing what is going to happen next; it’s adventurous.
Continue reading →

Why Couldn’t it be You?

Steve Bloom 19 Comments

Leave

“I would never be able to do that.”

“I don’t have what it takes to get there.”

These are some of the excuses I hear from people who tell me they aren’t able to do things others are doing.  For some reason, they see an insurmountable barrier between themselves and these people.

But one important question to ask is this: “why couldn’t it be you?”

It’s a legitimate question.  Is there a good reason why you can’t do what some other people are doing or are you just making excuses?
Continue reading →