FIRE Observations, Overall Philosophy, Terrific Travel

“Completeness”

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.

11 thoughts on ““Completeness””

  1. Hello, I am a Type A project completer, but I don’t need any help.

    Apologies to followers of Bill W.

    My mind is one that does not stop which is why consulting in retirement which is completion of projects is good for my mental wellness.

    I have goals of reaching a certain net worth, which fortunately have been met and exceeded many times. I could never be a “Die Broke” person.

    Yesterday I attended a committee meeting in which three studies for organizations to be accredited for Excellence were approved. I had authored one of the studies. There was criticism from the committee that each study was not fully completed when added to the agenda. This was due to each author needing to push the organization to complete the work needed. Yes, criticism from people who don’t understand deadlines, yet expect projects to be completed timely.

    I pointed out that mine was rushed due to staff turnover at the organization and because I forecast that the next meeting would have more studies to be approved than time permits.

    Yes, Type A get things done people make life efficient for everyone else.

    What is also interesting is that this is a low stress enjoyable activity for me. I use my analytical skills along with teaching skills and someone pays me to do so……Bonus!

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    1. I am sure that is what made you successful and not due to an early retirement. What non-paid activities are you also focused on completing?

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      1. I am one who is satisfied with what I have done. Some goals such as visiting Thule Space Force base which has a new name is unattainable. My father did the early site work and construction, but it is a highly sensitive area does not open to the public.

        Our goal is a major trip in spring and fall and we have plans through May 2028.

        Fall 2026 Italy

        March 2027 Cruise Barcelona to Corsica, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria and Morroco.

        Fall 2027 Visit Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City

        Spring 2028 Cruise London to Cork, around Atlantic Side of Ireland to Scotland and ending in Belfast.

        We will have other domestic trips as well

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      2. That looks like a fantastic schedule of international trips through 2028! You’ll love that Mediterannean cruise. We’ve done a couple of those. We only plan one international trip a year as we spend the winter at our Florida place for 4 months already. This fall we have Iceland & Ireland. 2027 is a cruise with friends between Australia and& New Zealand (having picked out the cruise yet). 2028 is the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (in the USA, but sort of international).

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  2. I have a similar completeness list:

    • Reach all 50 States-I am at 40
    • Reach 50 Foreign Countries -I have been to 46. A planned trip next year will get me to 51.
    • Collect MLB Ballparks I only count the current ones-25 out of 30. Will have to add Las vegas to the list soon!
    • Frank Lloyd Wright Designs Not sure how I would count these. I have been to Fallingwater, the FLW house in Oak Park and viewed the other homes in the neighborhood, and visited one outside of Madison, Wisconsin
    • National Parks / Monuments Not sure how many-but I’ve done a number of the major ones: Bryce, Zion, both rims of the Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase/Escalante, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, the Statue of Liberty,.
    • Sports Championships Zero-no interest
    • Regional Waterfalls only a few-my favorites were Niagara, Multnomah and Taughannock.
    • Disney Parks / Disney Historic Sites Not sure how to count these either. I have been to all of the Walt Disney World Parks, both Disneyland Parks in California, and both Tokyo Disney Parks
    • Quirky Experiences / Roadside Oddities Do you mean like the giant ball of twine?

    We have friends that had a State Capitol building completeness list. They got to all of them! They also had a goal of visiting all of the Presidential libraries. I doubt I will get to them all, but the ones that I have visited have been really interesting: Both Roosevelts, Truman Kennedy, LBJ, and the younger Bush so far. I am looking forward to touring the Obama library.

    I wanted to visit every continent and acheived that goal this year.

    I also wanted to visit all of the world’s oceans, and have been to 4 out of the 5. The Artic ocean is the only one which has eluded me.

    Thanks for your post. This was a fun exercise!

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    1. Wow… A lot of similarities!
      Why do you only count current baseball Parks? I have been to quite a few state capitals, I have never put them into a list, though.

      For presidential libraries, we have been to Truman, Nixon, Reagan, and Kennedy.
      There is an Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois that I also think they call a library right now. It includes his original house and neighborhood in Springfield.

      Quirky is a funny category with a few dimensions. There are places, like roadside oddities. One of the largest ball of twine is in Minnesota! Experiences include riding on the Goodyear blimp. Achievements include being inducted into the White Castle slider Hall of Fame.

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      1. I’ve only been to 2 baseball stadiums other than the current crop ( I include Oakland because LV has not opened yet). I started my quest later in life with my husband. I’ve only been to 2 old ones (Shea Stadium and the old Yankee Stadium). My husband is old enough to have visited Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan as a very young kid. It was nice to grow up in the NY area with fathers who worked for big companies and got free box seats sometimes. I went to Yankee Stadium for the first time as an 11 year old-did not tell my Dad that I was not feeling well until the train ride home because I wanted to see Mickey Mantle play-turned out to be chicken pox which appeared the next day!

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      2. Wow – that’s some great baseball history there. I’m a big baseball fan, but didn’t go to a game until I was 12 years old in 1978. We saw Tom Seaver pitch for the Reds against the Cardinals in StL. I was a big Tom Seaver / Reds fan at the time. I’ve been to 33 total MLB ballparks. 22 current and 11 closed.

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  3. Completeness often involves taking on what seems an insurmountable task by chipping away at it for a set amount of time every day, week, or month eventually achieves your goal.

    Completeness means really being complete instead of just ticking off an item. You need to scrutinize your work and sometimes have to correct course or redo a job that didn’t work out the way you planned.

    One of my current completeness projects has been clearing the burned trees from the Palisades Fire on my property for the past year. My son and I have been spending about an hour and a half every week filling a 3 cubic yard bin with cut trees. At the end of each week’s session, we look like coal miners. We are almost at the end and are now trimming the surviving trees and landscaping. For perspective, 52 3 cubic yard bins of cut trees equal around 15 large dump trucks.

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