- Noah Jacobs Blog
- Posts
- On Adventures
2025.12.07
CXXIX
[The Most Incredible Adventure; Side Quests; Starting a Company is an Adventure; Panda Express; Mundane Adventures; Balance & Sacrifice; Allons-y]
Thesis: Intensity and presence can make anything an adventure… so, you can always be adventuring
[The Most Incredible Adventure]
I'm writing this post at the start of a pretty incredible adventure. I'll spare you the details for now, other than the two most critical ones:
I’ve fallen in love with a girl who does not live in the United States
At this exact moment, I am not in the United States
(iykyk)
No matter how it ends, this is an adventure I will not regret taking.
You don't have to get on a plane to go on an adventure, though. I really just think it's about being present.
[Side Quests]
I'm really fortunate to have been able to go on many wacky adventures in my life. Here are some notable ones:
Roadtripping from San Diego to Seattle with two friends
Backpacking for a week in the Olympics in Washington, which involved a number of incredible close ups with (black) bears
Staying at a pop up founder residency in Costa Rica for a month
Living in a hacker house (a number of times!)
Spending a week roadtripping around Lake Michigan (yes, the whole thing) with some friends in high school
Going to the 2024 Paris Olympics
Go to Electric Forest on 48 hour notice
Flying to Iceland for 3 days to see a volcano erupting
Run a marathon, swim 2.3 miles in open water, and attempt 130 or so miles cycling in one week
Go skiing for the first time with some good friends and, on the same day I first learned, making it down a blue diamond (barely!)
Played Hostage in Northern Michigan
Jumping off a number of different bridges
Acted as a vampire in a film
And then there may or may not be a number of redacted adventures involving illict activities. If such adventures exist, perhaps they'll be written about once the statute of limitations is up.
[Starting a Company is an Adventure]
In the above section, I only included things that involved physical activities and travel, but these are not the only kind of adventures.
Going to live at home with my parents to begin BirdDog seems like the opposite of the above adventures, but really, it's not.
Starting a company is one of the greatest adventures there is, assuming you focus on it deeply. You learn a lot, you experience new things, and you have fun doing it (especially if your co founder is as awesome as Jack Porter).
This is part of why I think it’s just intensity and presence that defines an adventure. When you’re intensely focused on something and engaged with it and present, it’s hard not to feel like an adventure, even when you’re coding for hours at a time and doing marathon sales calls.
When you think about it that way, the number of things that are categorized as "adventures" greatly expands.
[Panda Express]
I try to avoid "half doing things" and really do optimize for trying to be present. It’s not always easy, but it is very fulfilling when it happens.
In high school, when some friends & I would hang out, we would drive 30 ish minutes to Panda Express, eat, and sometimes be harmless hooligans in a nearby supermarket (we're talking building pillow forts in the beanbag section).
Why?
For one, Panda Express has very tasty food.
More important than that, though, going on the trip helped us all be present.
Rather than sitting around a TV, drinking, and concurrently doomscrolling, we had an objective, a mission, and really, a ritual.
It seems simple, but the difference was night and day. The conversations flowed and we all were open to "having fun" and being present.
In this way, even driving 30 minutes to Panda Express was an adventure.
[Mundane Adventures]
When was the last time you watched a film without looking at your phone?
I can tell you that if you do, you will get so fully engrossed in the movie that it will be a totally different experience than if you are checking texts and doomscrolling during it.
Assuming the movie is half decent, you'll be so deeply invested in the plot that you might even forget about your own problems for a little, or see them in a different light... after all, that is what good art is supposed to do!
More broadly, I can’t emphasize enough that you don't have to catch a flight to have an adventure. You can really just focus on something intensely, and it will be an adventure.
Some other ideas:
Go rock climbing
Go on a hike without your phone
Go to a martial arts class
Cook a slightly complex dish with a friend
Study a language
Go to a restaurant you've never been to and try something you've never eaten
Write a short story
Take a class for some random sport
If you are in a snowy place, try to sit shirtless in the snow for 5 minutes
There are a million and one adventures, it's just up to you to pick one and go for it.
[Balance & Sacrifice]
The hardest part of saying yes to an adventure is feeling like it will get in the way of something else you value or are obligated to.
hmmm where in the world did noah write this from?
If it’s no adventure vs adventure, take adventure. Most challenging decisions involve real trade offs, though. One adventure vs another.
A couple of months ago, I bailed on a short adventure because I had put myself in the position where saying yes likely would have conflicted with some other commitments and big opportunities I had in regard to BirdDog.
I still wonder if I could have made both work at the same time, but I am proud of myself for making a hard decision.
In life, we choose our regrets.
I’d be lying if I said I had some airtight heuristic for making these calls. A few things that help, though:
If you are stuck choosing between adventure and adventure, you should rejoice—you have a champagne problem with something interesting on either end.
Which decision will bring you closer to being the person you want to be?
In regards to 2, the answer to that question can be different at different times. Had the adventure I said no to been 2 or 3 weeks in either direction, I would’ve been much more likely to say yes.
And the adventure I’m on now?
It’s one I’ve been waiting a very, very long time for. It’s one that the person I want to be would have called me a fool not to take.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe below to follow along with my journey of becoming the person I want to be while I build BirdDog.
[Allons-y]
If you’re present and focused and accept the intensity of experiences, you’ll constantly be going on adventures, even if you’re “just” driving to go get food.
In my book, there is no better way to live.
Adventure, adventure, adventure.
And if you get stuck choosing between two different adventures? Congratulate yourself, it’s the best problem to have.
Live Deeply,
