In Made to Stick, brothers Chip and Dan Heath explain why most ideas don't survive and define the factors required to really make an idea impressionable, memorable and ultimately: stick. One of these factors is 'Credibility', which introduces a simple, but interesting, concept known as the Sinatra Test:
‘In Frank Sinatra’s classic “New York, New York,” he sings about starting a new life in New York City, and the chorus declares, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” An example passes the Sinatra Test when one example alone is enough to establish credibility in a given domain. For instance, if you've got the security contract for Fort Knox, you’re in the running for any security contract (even if you have no other clients). If you catered a White House function, you can compete for any catering contract. It’s the Sinatra Test: if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere’ (Made To Stick, pp. 151)
Now of course the difficult part of this is getting that one client, job, or investor that will allow you to take advantage of the Sinatra Test in the first place. And this is an experimental travel blog so what am I getting at? Well, whilst travelling you will hopefully find yourself in unique and virgin situations every day. Share this knowledge and life experience with your readers, create funny anecdotes to tell your friends on a night out, suck others into your reality and open their minds to unknown places and ideas. Don't just make your ideas stick, make yourself stick.
I don't watch television, I don't play computer games, and my wardrobe is a limited selection of questionable garments. Instead I put my savings and time towards two things: life experience and books. Whilst the media plunder brain cells from the mainstream society through news feeds and advertisements, I'm constantly growing as a person; out there doing the things that most people only ever experience through the box in their living room. The fact that some people choose not to read baffles me. In the immortal words of Mark Twain: "A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." People have made an effort to extract and write down their pearls of wisdom gained from decades spent in a chosen profession or field so that others can learn from their experience in a tiny fraction of the time. Take advantage of these gifts to enhance both your life and others around it. Combining this ever-constant flow of knowledge through text with tales of excitement and adventure, and sharing them passionately with others will truly make you stick.