Several years ago I was on a photography expedition with my best friend Aaron and his photography partner, Willie, shooting waterfalls up in the Columbia River Gorge area when I realized that I was wearing head to toe Patagonia. My interest in Patagonia up to that point was mostly about the quality of the product and guarantee.
When we got talking about my Aaron said “You really are a Patagonia Fan Boy. You should buy the domain”. We brainstormed about what the domain would have and somehow we landed on the idea of visiting all the Patagonia stores. We started small, aiming for all the stores in the US.
Fast forward to now. I’ve visited 28 stores, there are 32 total. Each time I stop in and collect a sticker and talk to the staff and see what is different about each store. Patagonia is unique in the fact that they really try to work with existing buildings and work within the space instead of completely redefining the space to their brand. This means that each Patagonia store is unique and different. Visiting them all actually has some value.
I have four more. Two of them on are on Oahu and the last two are in Ventura. The plan has been to visit the stores in Ventura last. One of the stores in Ventura is the original first store of the company.
The whole problem came when I realized that I was going to be in Southern California for about 2.5 weeks in September but didn’t really have time get to Hawaii. At one point I was planning to fly out for a weekend for a super short trip to visit the two stores in Hawaii. I started talking to friends about this aggressive plan and many of them met me with skepticism. Everyone felt it was a really quick and somewhat pointless to go to Hawaii for such a short period of time. The thing was, when I stopped to think about it, I agreed with them.
The other stores I was able to visit by either traveling with friends or stopping by as I drove across the country. They were, essentially, not too far out of the way.
The other part is that visiting Oahu is on my list. I want to visit the Island, I want to surf or sail there. I want to experience that culture and while I could travel there just to see the stores.
This lead me to me to re-evalute the goal. Did I want to postpone my visit to the Ventura stores until after I made it to Hawaii? That didn’t feel right. Did I want to post-pone my visit to Hawaii and just finish the contiguous 48 stores? This really felt right for several reasons. Aside from the fact that is is a more attainable, this is still store 29 and 30. I’m going to make the Tin Shed my 30th store. There is enough significance there for me.
The point of this is not just to talk about my goal. Yes, I’m proud of this, but it is for me. It is something interesting to talk about, but that isn’t why I’m doing it. The goal is mine, and I have the ability to change it whenever I want.
More than all of this, sometimes we get it stuck in our head to complete audacious goals. I hope I learn something here: it’s okay to redefine your goals.
When I take my photo in front of the Tin Shed, I’ll be proud.