Thinking of adventures in terms of an outcome an asset

Summer time is adventure time! It goes without saying that our adventures are incredibly fun. However, the activity itself doesn’t give us the reward.

The payoff is the whole experience — our enjoyment, achievement, performance, satisfaction and success. In other words, what we desire (our purpose for an adventure) is about an “outcome” rather than the activity itself. This equation is applicable for all adventures —mountaineering, backcountry hiking, sports fishing, dip-netting, hang gliding, trail biking, berry picking, gold mining, four-wheeling, bore tide surfing, flying, boating, hunting and all other adventures are performed to produce or experience a specific outcome(s).

My point is as simple as it is important: Thinking of adventures in terms of an outcome is an asset. Why? Resources are always limited yet from June through September the adventuring opportunities are virtually unlimited. Choices must be made and sacrifices co-occur with choices. Outcomes-based thinking helps maximize our resources and mitigates risks across-the-board.

In addition, achieving a desired outcome is rarely an accident nor born from trial-and-error, guesswork, luck or hope. These are not strategies; these are risks and threats that jeopardize your resources and opportunities. Failing to plan based on the outcome desired puts your success in the “hope it goes well” category. Not to mention potentially putting your health, safety, well-being and life at risk. Here’s a blueprint for how to do it:

First, visualize your adventure. Think of the events as if they’ve been achieved already. Hold in your mind that vision of what success means to you for that adventure. This is your desired outcome.

Next, identify what’s necessary for achieving this outcome — physical and mental conditioning requirements, competencies and skills, gear, equipment, clothing, safety and survival tools, foods, you name it. Write it all down on paper or text it to yourself. This is a critical step in your planning and preparedness; the data will make it easy to pack for the trip and help avoid forgetting items. Then, determine what risks pose a threat to any aspect of the adventure — risks that threaten your enjoyment, achievement, performance, health, safety, satisfaction and success.

Finally, determine how specifically you will prevent, avoid, mitigate or manage these risks.

These steps are an exercise in strategic planning and preparedness. Hold an open mind throughout the process. Do not make any assumptions regarding the risks and/or your needs. The closed mind allows no input or learning and assumption-driven decisions drive risks, costs and consequences. Thinking of your adventures in these terms develops multiple levels of awareness: self- and situational awareness; risk awareness; awareness of all activity-specific and conditional or potential needs. This level of awareness is invaluable. Nothing, absolutely nothing is more important.

Brian “Mac” McDermott is a Wasilla-based business health consultant with a diverse background in healthcare, sports medicine, fitness and wellness. This column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications.