How to Be Laird Hamilton (10 Tips For Living An Adventurous Life)

Adventure?

You’re about to discover 10 tips on living a more adventurous lifestyle.

I learned these tips from a 47 year old big wave surfer called Laird Hamilton.

A guy who became so successful, that he broke out of his chosen niche and barreled his way into the mainstream.

A modern surfing legend. Someone who knew what he wanted – then went out and got it. But most importantly – someone we can all learn from …

If you’ve ever wanted to break free, create and fund your own “dream lifestyle” – then you must read this post …

You see, Laird travels around the world surfing the biggest waves, and he gets paid for it. And yet, he is not a professional surfer and he rarely participates in surf competitions.

He is something different. Something of his own making …

Laird Hamilton is a free surfer and a big wave surfing specialist. By building his own brand and monetizing it, Laird Hamilton created and paid for his own dream lifestyle.

Discover 10 “Laird Hamilton” tactics to live a more adventurous lifestyle …

Adventure starts in the mind …

1. You’re never too old to start something new

Picture the scene. I was in San Clemente, a southern California surf town, at a pizza joint.

Surf posters lit up the walls, and surf magazines covered the tables. I reached for a glossy magazine and Laird Hamilton graced the front cover.

He was frozen in time, inside a big blue barrel, taming a wave the size of a house.

I’m not sure why, but something inside me clicked. A burning desire to experience the exact same feeling that Laird must have felt, riding that monster life changing wave …

I turned and said to my friend, “Oh my God, I want to do that. I want to experience that.”

His response was certainly not encouragement, “Buhahahaha. Yeah right.” he replied.

“You’re a chubby geek and don’t know how to surf. Dream on. Besides 31 years old is too old to learn how to surf.” he added.

Right after that a young kid with sun bleached blond hair, wearing a wetsuit half pulled down around his waist (he was a surfer for sure) leaned into my booth in agreement, “There is no way in hell you can learn to surf barrels like that.” He said.

I was pissed. How could these turds tell me what I can and cannot do! That little punk motivated me more than any self-help book ever could.

I changed my lifestyle, began fitness training and started surfing. After 7 years of hard work, I am finally riding some pretty sick waves.

Don’t let other people set your limits. You are never too old to start something new.

Checkout the video at the top of this post that I quickly threw together some of my waves and friends waves from this year so far.

Adventure requires spare time …

2. Free Up Your Time

Living an adventurous life requires free time. If you’re currently feeling overwhelmed, then dreaming up and going on adventures may seem frivolous.

To free up your time – you must free yourself from financial burdens.

The best adventurers (like Laird), build multiple income streams doing what they LOVE. You can profit from your passions and it’s easy!

If you’ve ever wondered if you have “what it takes” to do something a little more adventurous with your life (instead of just working for someone else) – then I suggest you read a blog post I wrote on how to Make money and achieve true freedom and adventure.

It can change your life!

3. Develop Your Personal Brand

Other surfers compete and become professionals so they can surf, but Laird Hamilton didn’t like competing. Instead, he actively promoted himself as the greatest big wave surfer ever.

Because of this, he’s been in many movies – surf movies as well as Hollywood films. He’s even written a book, had his own clothing line and now has a stand-up paddleboard company.

You don’t have to become an egomaniac, but it’s essential to build your personal brand like Laird. Why?

Your personal brand is the ladder you use to escape the average.

A well-built personal brand will help you attract attention from the right kind of people.

It will set you apart from competitors in your niche.

It will help you develop some notoriety.

I strongly urge you to download this practical guide to branding called “Rockable Personal Branding”. It’s free, and it rocks!

Rocking your own personal brand can give you more of what you want!

4. Setup Your Honeypots and Network of Bros

For the last 7 years, I have been free from all constraints. I have traveled the world, year round, in search of the most epic adventures.

Steep and deep untracked powder to ski

Un-crowded waves to surf

The strongest wind for kite boarding

The best places for a family to be together

I constantly monitor the weather in different parts of the world, and keep in touch with my bros.

It’s easy to keep in touch with your friends these days using email and social media like Facebook and Twitter.

It’s really exciting to login and see what sort of adventures are going on with my friends, where the best conditions are, and where I want to be.

When conditions are perfect – then my family and I travel there on a moments notice.

But, to be honest … it can be a real pain in the ass dragging all your adventure gear around the world.

So I setup “Honeypots” (little compounds) – at key locations.

Each Honeypot has a place to stay, a vehicle and all of the gear we need. We can fly in, and not miss a beat, and be up on the mountain or out in the water the same day.

For example, our Mexico Honeypot is all about surfing and the ocean.

So we have jet skis for tow-in surfing and fishing, a 4X4 truck and camper for surf trips, kayaks, fishing gear, kite surfing gear, surfboards, etc.

We also have Honeypots in Utah, California, Alaska, Argentina, Central America, and the Mentawaii Islands. I’ve been working on adding some new honeypots in Europe.

However, just recently I’ve started thinking about simplifying everything, and owning less, and not constantly adding more, more, more.

In that vein, I’ve been thinking about turning our Honeypots into a club of sorts – allowing “members” to use each facility as they like …

I can imagine a situation where we offer workshops at each Honeypot for members.

Creating a club is just an idea right now, but if I go that route, I’ll let you know.

If this idea appeals to you, please let me know in the comments, and subscribe to my email list so I can keep you informed.

5. Become the Fittest You

To have the most fun on your adventures, you need to be as fit as you possibly can.

Skiing down massive mountain lines in Alaska is not too fun (or even safe), if you have to stop 10 times to rest on the way down. You want to ski those lines from top to bottom.

In order to do that, your legs have to be trained, flexible and strong.

Same goes for surfing. It doesn’t make sense to fly half way around the world to go on a surf adventure, to paddle out and retire to the beach after 2 hours, because your arms and shoulders are too tired to continue.

When the surfing conditions are good and it’s pumping, you will want to stay in the water for 4 to 6 hours and milk it for everything it’s worth. Don’t let your body let you down!

The beauty of fitness is that it is a system you can implement and automate. The way you automate your fitness is by turning it into a habit.

To turn your fitness system into a habit, do it consistently for 90 days. After exercise becomes habitual, every day you will look forward to doing your fitness training.

It may seem hard to believe now, but it’s true!

The fitness system I do takes an average of 45 minutes a day, 4 days a week.

You can do it anywhere, at home, while traveling. It doesn’t require a gym, but you can do it in a gym if you wish.

It is a mix of: circuit training, functional fitness, strength and balance, cardio, and yoga.

If you are interested in learning the system, you can download the free video training here.

6. Always keep learning and practicing

This could very well be the real secret to happiness:

Learning new (exciting) stuff + Practicing = Happiness

Learning and practicing new things keeps you firmly rooted in the present moment, a place of tranquility.

When you are learning something new like: playing an instrument, speaking a new language, marketing, or surfing, you can’t think about much else other than what you are doing.

In that moment of practice – when all of your other cares fade away in concentration, you have a quiet mind. Paradoxically, this is also when our best ideas usually come to us.

There’s a great book on this subject called “The Practicing Mind” by Thomas M. Sterner. Grab it now, I guarantee you will LOVE IT.

7. Take some risks and overcome your fears

Though I’ve been described as a risk taker, I am quick to let people know that I am a calculated risk taker. Big difference!

There are many activities I don’t do because I consider them too risky, like base-jumping for example.

When I go surfing or skiing, I stay safe within my limits. To me it’s an average risk.

To a bystander with no experience in the sport the risk is absolutely crazy. I kind of like it that way actually, people thinking I’m a bit of a nut for doing what I do.

If you’re an adventurous person, you might be falsely labeled “fearless.”

Fear is a great motivator and attention getter. That’s why the media, politicians and corporations spend time and money trying to convince people that the world is a scary place.

It’s not. Even for the most adventurous people, disaster rarely strikes.

The secret to overcoming fear is to acknowledge it, feel it, and then take the risk anyway.

8. Develop a clear vision of what “adventure” means to you

To some people adventure is making it to the next level in their favorite video game. Sure that can be fun but it’s not REAL ADVENTURE.

Grab a pen and paper and spend 30 minutes writing down everything that comes to mind when you think of Adventure.

What types of Adventures excite you?

Perhaps like me you enjoy the great outdoors and traveling.

Or maybe you prefer exploring ancient ruins, trekking, hiking, or going on a safari?

Maybe you prefer something entirely different.

Be creative. Whatever comes to your mind, write it down. This helps you plan your dream lifestyle.

9. Set some Adventure Goals

10 out of 10 of us die! That’s a fact! You can’t avoid it.

Another fact is that life is short and if you don’t take charge, it can pass you by.

Commit to experience the adventures you want to go on – before you die.

Choose 5 to 10 adventure goals that you’re most excited about from your brainstorming session.

Pick one that you will do within the next 3 months. Then pick another that you will do in the following 3 months, and so on.

Your first goal should excite you, but it also needs to be reasonable so you can achieve it and build momentum.

With that momentum and faith in yourself you’ll go on to achieve the rest of your goals.

10. Take Action – Just Do IT! Get Your Ass Out There!

Be strong and tough with yourself and commit to giving yourself the gift of an adventurous life.

Don’t just stare out the windows or plan to do something later.

Get on it, and take action right now!

Do the brainstorming session.

Set some Adventure goals, and choose the ones that excite you most.

Choose one adventure goal to complete within the next 3 months.

Then figure out what is the first action step you can take towards your first goal.

Maybe it’s doing some research on the Internet, or asking people some questions. Figure out what that first step is.

And then….TAKE IT!

Life is an Adventure!

Here’s to living an adventurous life!

Yes Laird Hamilton taught me all this. Thanks Laird.

Leave me a comment if you would, and let me know what you thought of the adventure video and of the tips.