I just got back from a long weekend, driving 888 miles around the state of MN in my Jeep.  I was continuing my quest to reach all 68 of the state’s parks – I’m now up to 55. 

Along the way, I also stopped at a variety of roadside oddities, historical places, and interesting sights.  It’s the 7th trip I’ve taken like this since I started during the lockdowns.

I flew solo this weekend, although I’ve taken many of the trips with my wife or friends.  Before I left, while packing up my Jeep, my wife asked, “why are you trying to do this, anyway?”  She knew that I’m like the comedian Jim Gaffigan when he talks about camping, “I’m indoorsy”.   While my son is an Eagle Scout and we camped more than 100 nights outdoors together, I’m not a rugged, MN outdoorsman.

Still, I enjoy the challenge and adventure of it all.  After reaching so many state parks over so many years, I’m not about to quit now.  I guess I have a “completeness” gene that has instilled in me a certain amount of tenacity and commitment to finish what I started.  Once I got past about 30 state parks there was no turning back.  

At one point of the trip, I was listening to an episode of the Freakonomics podcast and they had a guest named Angela Duckworth, who wrote a book called “Grit: The Power of Passion & Perseverance”.  She’s a college professor and has studied what makes people successful.  The book gets a 4.5 stars on Amazon, although I haven’t read it yet.  

She said people that are high in task completion also score high on conscientiousness in the “Big 5” personality trait model, which has been highly validated.  These people focus on delivering results, rather than leaving projects half-done.  

They earn reputations of reliability and completing difficult tasks instead of abandoning them.  The conscientiousness trait shows up repeatedly among successful entrepreneurs, executives, physicians, engineers, skilled tradespeople, and athletes.  Talent matters, too – but persistence often separate high performers from equally talented people who don’t work as hard.

While I don’t have a career anymore, I’ve applied a lot of grit to other aspects of my life.  While some people might think how I spend my time is frivolous, I feel a bit programmed to approach even silly things with a good degree of ambition.  

With respect to travel, here are some of the missions I’ve been set on completing over the last 10 years …

• Reach all 50 States (Done!)
• Reach 50 Foreign Countries (38)
• Collect MLB Ballparks (33)
• Frank Lloyd Wright Designs (16)
• National Parks / Monuments (64)
• Sports Championships (10) 
• Regional Waterfalls (75+)
• Disney Parks / Disney Historic Sites 
• Quirky Experiences / Roadside Oddities 

I guess the lesson here is that if you approached your career with a “Type A” orientation, don’t expect that to change too much when you are retired and on your own.  You’ll just come up with your own mountains to climb. I always deferred when my wife called me a “Type A” personality at work, but now in retirement, I guess I see that she was right!

What activities have you busy trying to complete?

Images: (c) MrFireStation.com; MN State Park signs from this past weekend.