Mindset Shift: Adventure Drives Happiness

Welcome to the OPPO FLOW Storybook. 

Each week I fly an entertaining and motivating story that provides actionable items to inspire growth towards your success and happiness.

The weekly flights bring you one of the following:

A MINDSET SHIFT to prepare for opportunity and build better habits towards success. 🤩

AN OPPORTUNITY STORY sharing pivotal moments from someone’s life that changed their trajectory in a positive way. 🚀

Let's get you introduced to our AMAZING CO-PILOT!! ✈

Journey Payroll & HR provides a refreshing way to payroll and HR to small business through their top technology and dedicated payroll service team. With over 98% client retention YOY, Journey brings heart to the forefront of how they serve their clients, because they care.

JOURNEY PAYROLL

FYI - If you’re interested in being a sponsored Co-Pilot for an upcoming FLIGHT, please SEND ME AN EMAIL

My family and I go camping up at Woods Canyon Lake every Summer. 🏕️

If you’re not familiar, it’s a beautiful little lake in the pines up at the Mogollon Rim in Arizona. Just outside of Payson.

There is no cell service, so you can’t check email or make phone calls. 📵

Our activities are simple…

• We fish. 🎣

• We hike. ⛰️

• We laugh. 😂

• We play games. 🃏

• We make s’mores. 🔥

• We look for shooting stars. 🌠

• We watch Bald Eagles swoop down to catch trout. 🦅

• We enjoy each other in the quiet mornings and talk about life. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

WE RECONNECT.

It’s a perfect annual trip that I look forward to every year to unplug, reset, refresh, and spend quality time with my family and friends.

Camping is just one ADVENTURE we take every year.

We plan multiple weekend getaways, vacations, staycations, or even just daily adventures throughout the year and we ALWAYS have the following one planned/booked before going on the next one.

That is the key. Plan our next one before going on the one upcoming.

This provides us with something to always look forward to.

Travel and experiences rewire our brains to become more creative and accepting of new ideas. It brings a mindful RESET and REFRESH.

SOUNDS QUITE AMAZING, RIGHT!?!

Now, adventure doesn’t always have to be about travel, though. It can also mean being adventurous.

Being willing to take risks and try out new methods, ideas, or experiences.

This is highly important required for growth minded individuals.

Successful people take risks to find out what’s possible. They make adventure a priority to achieve their overall happiness. 😊

They are ADVENTUROUS.

I just hit the six year mark since launching my first business, Journey Payroll in PHX. 🥳

It's kind of wild to reflect back and realize all that we’ve accomplished so far.

There were sooooo many long days and nights. Long hours is not just something entrepreneurs say.

• I was in it.

• I lived it.

• I experienced the burn out.

• I worked wayyy too much, but I had to.

I love what I do, but at times, I felt like there was never an end in sight.

All I was doing was work and it was tough to have fun in my personal life. There wasn’t time for it.

I lost a little bit of that joy and happiness around my family and friends.

Okay, maybe more like a lot a bit. And turned to unhealthy choices to cope.

As the business grew, emails and calls were non-stop gaining new clients and supporting our current ones.

I was gone from 7am - 6pm Monday through Friday. Then, would pop back into the home office after dinner until late night working on whatever I couldn’t get to that day.

Sprinkle in my efforts during the weekend to catch up and the idea of taking a long vacation without having my laptop or cell phone was non-existent.

My wife, Kimberly, is AMAZING. 🥰

She knew that all my time spent working on the business was extremely important, and my hard work would eventually pay off for us as a family, but she also made sure I didn’t screw it up with the kids as they were growing up.

She always said, “I’ll be fine and we’ll be fine, but you have to make time for the kids. They don’t know any better and just want to be with Dad.”

She could see I was struggling to be everywhere all at once, and the kiddos needed to be a priority. In order for that to happen, I needed to take care of myself and find happiness again.

She knew I needed breaks, and couldn’t stand that I wouldn’t take them, if nothing else for my health.

I needed that JOY back into my life during to challenging days of getting our business off the ground.

Adventure Drives Happiness.

UNPOPULAR OPINION: Adventure is does not have to be a week long vacation for a reset.

In fact, an hour long adventure, such as going for a hike, shooting hoops, or a drive jamming out to your favorite tunes, can have some of the same benefits as a long vacation out of town.

Often times, when we think or hear about what an adventure should be like, we think it has to be some big extravagant vacation for it to be a true unplug and reset time away, to make any sort of impact.

Don’t get me wrong…

… A nice long escape to the beach 🏖️ or the mountains 🏔️ is a trip that would most definitely give you a RESET and REFRESH.

And it’s actually proven…

According to this STUDY, an 8 day vacation twice is year the most ideal amount of time to truly unwind and refresh.

Everyone should figure out a way to make that happen for sure, but 16 days is not enough adventure to maintain your happiness year round.

You’re also the happiest during the days leading up to an adventure, because of the anticipation and thoughts around all the FUN you’ll be having.

If that is true, the question now becomes, “How do I get more Adventure in my life?”

At JOURNEY PAYROLL & HR we offer unlimited PTO for our AMAZING team. 🙌

We encourage everyone to take the time they need for a RESET and REFRESH, even if it’s just one day.

WHY? 🤔

Because we’re HUMAN. We need time away from the workplace. This is where CREATIVITY and new ENERGY is born. 🙌

We become better, stronger, and more balanced because of it.

ANY adventure, big or small, with the right mindset and plan that works for you, can achieve what you need to rewire and recharge your mind, body, soul.

ANNDDD…

Adventure doesn’t even have to be anything about travel or vacation.

Here are five ways you can incorporate being more adventurous weekly or even daily to achieve and maintain overall happiness…

1. ADVENTUROUS ACTIVITIES: Exploring new places, trying new things, or taking up thrilling challenges can stimulate the brain and increase dopamine levels.

2. STEPPING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE: Challenging yourself on Purpose to see what comes out on the other side brings a sense of accomplishment, expanding your horizons, and boosts self-confidence.

3. EMBRACING THE POWER OF NATURE: Being surrounded by green spaces, fresh air, and natural beauty uplifts your spirits and increases feelings of happiness.

4. FOSTERING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS: Engaging in activities with other like-minded individuals develops strong bonds and relationships, which brings a sense of belonging and trust.

5. EXPLORING NEW MUSIC: Seeking out new genres and artists opens you up to a whole new world of musical discovery, which promotes further self-identity, connection, relaxation, and personal expression.

Focusing on these small adventures during the early days helped me reconnect with my wife and kids, let alone redefine who I was and where I wanted to go as a new entrepreneur trying to figure it all out.

This laid the foundation for my current habits and helped redirect the focus on my most important priorities to achieve overall happiness back into my life.

This is the MINDSET SHIFT. 🤯

Life is Short.

It should needs to be Fun. 

It should needs to be an Adventure. 

It should needs to be full of Happiness.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Reply to this email and let me know what ADVENTURES drive your HAPPINESS and what’s on the books next.🤩

Until our next FLIGHT, enjoy your Song of the Week! 👇

Remember, Opportunity is Everywhere!!

Cheers! Steven

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