The same type of urgent emails started to drop in in the beginning of August.  Young men and women asking the same type of question:

“What exactly do I have to do to become an explorer?”

Or:

“How do I take the next step after doing all the preparations and necessary research to start a life as an explorer?”

I have written quite a few articles on the subject. Even a typical help yourself american style guide how to become and explorer, see here, I have asked other adventurous people like Sharkman, who also have exploration/travel/adventure as a profession to write about the issue, read here, or I have written an article where I even dwell on the issue how to define what is an explorer, see here, and these are some of the articles I ask these young people to read and when having digested this information come back to me. Most do. I can feel their frustration. They feel they have tried everything, done what is expected and still nothing happens. They ask for help. Advice. An indication how to proceed. A word, advice that is still not there among all other articles written on the subject. A mantra.

I want to help. And I understand their worry to get stuck in a predictable and at the end of the day, a boring life where you forget to live to its fullest.  And I have asked myself if there´s a magic mantra how to do it that I have forgotten. I have talked quite a lot to other people who have chosen this direction in life and what I can figure out from it all is that the mantra is the same as anything else in life anyone wanna achieve. Simply this:

• Figure out a plan, work hard, don´t ever give up, sacrifice, take risks all the time and make new plans!

I am afraid except these words and other advice given in other articles I have referenced to here, there´s no easy route to take. Getting inspired by others, figuring out how they did it, attend exploration schools, this may help, but at the end of the day, you have to do the work needed. Figure out an idea, believe in it and stick with it. as long as it takes.