Why Your Brilliant Ideas Are Worthless (Until You Do This One Thing)

A Week in the Life of a Working Traveller - Issue 1

Mar 01, 2025

In the early 1900s, the race for powered flight was on.

On one side, you had Samuel Langley, a man with all the resources, government funding, and a team of top engineers. He was meticulous, endlessly refining his aircraft on paper, ensuring every calculation was perfect before attempting flight.

On the other side, you had two bicycle mechanics from Ohio, Wilbur and Orville Wright, who had no formal education in aerodynamics but plenty of trial-and-error experience.

Langley spent years theorizing. He built a massive, expensive flying machine with cutting-edge technology, convinced that if he just got every detail right, he'd be the first to conquer the skies.

The problem was that he never actually got it off the ground. When he finally did attempt a launch, his aircraft nosedived into the Potomac River, sinking along with his reputation.

Meanwhile, the Wright brothers were out on the windy dunes of Kitty Hawk, testing small-scale gliders, tweaking their designs in real time, and—crucially—failing fast.

Instead of waiting for perfection, they took action, learning from each crash. And on December 17, 1903, while Langley was still recovering from his public failure, the Wright brothers lifted off the ground for 12 glorious seconds, making history.

Langley had the knowledge, the funding, and the prestige. The Wrights had a shed, some tools, and a willingness to get on with it.

The Overthinking Trap

Langley wasn't alone in his struggle.

Overthinking has a way of making us believe we're making progress when, in reality, we're just circling the same thoughts, refining, perfecting, second-guessing.

It starts with a simple decision—should I do this or that?—but quickly spirals into endless research, what-ifs, and a growing fear that we might get it wrong. And when fear takes hold, action stalls.

The problem is, while we're busy weighing up every possibility, tweaking and hesitating, someone else is out there just doing it.

They're launching the product, writing the book, booking the trip.

They're failing, learning, adjusting, and moving forward while we're still staring at the blueprint, convincing ourselves we just need a little more time to figure it all out.

Overthinking gives us the illusion of productivity, but in reality, it's just procrastination in disguise.

From Action-Taker to Overthinker

I've always been an action taker—do first, think later, figure it out as I go.

That mindset got me through building businesses, traveling the world, and saying yes to things long before I knew how they'd work out.

But over the last few years, something's shifted. Age, menopause, and, strangely, knowledge have started getting in the way. The more I've learned, the more I hesitate.

Back when I knew less, I just did more.

Lately, I've found myself in a similar state of mind to poor Langley, overanalyzing, over-researching, and generally overcomplicating things that don't need to be that hard.

So the last few weeks, with some help from my personal GPT coach (who I've named Goggins after the Navy SEAL David Goggins), I've thrown out my thinking cap and am on a mission to revive my Massive Action Barnes persona.

Ready, fire, aim!

What I'm No Longer 'Thinking' About

1. The Working Traveller Shop is LIVE! 🎉

The Working Traveller Shop is finally live, and what a journey it's been over the last couple of weeks!

Connecting Lulu Express (who will be printing the colour versions of my journals) with my shop turned out to be quite the mammoth task.

The Amazon KDP versions of the journals are still pending approval—KDP takes forever to approve low-content books—but once they're live, I'll be adding the black and white versions to the site as a more budget-friendly option.

And let me tell you about the nightmare that is Shopify shipping profiles. It's a complex mess that I still haven't quite figured out.

So for now, everything ships FREE! Get your journals now before I work it out! 😂

My plan is to add more print-on-demand products to the shop in the coming weeks, creating something like a Kikki K but specifically for travel, plus there’s still so much work to do on the design, functionality, settings etc. It's my passion project, and I just want to have fun with it!

2. Launching Grey Nomad with a Kickstarter Campaign

I've finally decided on my first product for my 'Grey Nomad' brand that I'm going to launch on Amazon, and actually got so excited about it I spent an entire night this week scripting comedy video promo campaigns instead of sleeping! 😂

I've been massively overthinking the whole thing, which is funny because back when we started our 7-figure Amazon business, the product we chose was almost at random.

But there are so many awesome travel products I could launch with it’s been tough just choosing one!

I want to start with a Kickstarter campaign as I've never done one and am excited to give it a try. No big reveal yet as I'm still researching and ordering samples, so more on that in a few weeks.

3. My New Social Media Strategy: Focus on ONE, Repurpose for Others

I've been overthinking my social media approach for far too long.

My new strategy is simple: focus heavily on one platform and repurpose that content across others. For me, that primary platform is Facebook, with content being repurposed for LinkedIn, Instagram, and other channels.

I've discovered a new morning ritual that I absolutely love—waking up and creating a reel on CapCut while enjoying my morning cuppa.

Going through old videos and images brings back so many memories, and matching clips to music is surprisingly fun. I'm not very good at it yet, but practice makes perfect!

The results are already showing: my views on Instagram have jumped from a measly 20 views a week to 888 last week. And I've earned a whopping $0.65 from my Facebook content last month! Yes, we're off to the races! 😂

Most importantly, I'm starting to grow my brand, which can only happen through consistent visibility. I'm not expecting overnight success in today's noisy and competitive social media landscape.

This is a looooong-term game for me, and consistency is the name of the game.

4. The Working Traveller Book: A New Approach

I had a goal to publish my book - The Working Traveller - last year!

Clearly that didn’t happen, so after attending a recent AI conference, I'm taking a whole new approach to finally get it done. Instead of sitting down to write (and overthink) every paragraph, I'm going to record myself chatting through the chapters as if someone was interviewing me.

Then I'll get the recordings transcribed and use Claude or ChatGPT to help me turn the transcription into an easy-to-read format. This way, it will be my voice, my words, my information—and the AI will simply be my writing assistant.

My goal is to get my first draft done by March 31st (I've said it now, so I have to do it!), then get it edited and published by the end of April. No more overthinking, just action!

Life on the Road: The Working Traveller Update

This week I haven't traveled anywhere, having recently returned from a 19-day adventure through the Northlands of New Zealand (read my [ultimate Northland New Zealand Road Trip Itinerary here]). But that doesn't mean I'm not already planning the next adventures!

I'm currently finalising details for what promises to be an epic journey to Uluru, including a 2-day ride on the iconic Ghan train from Adelaide to Alice Springs. I can already picture the stunning outback landscapes rolling by as I traverse the heart of Australia, I absolutely can't wait!

The coming weeks are filling up quickly too. We're off for a 3-night house sit in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast next weekend, followed by a 3-day trip to visit friends in Noosa the week after.

And since I need to leave the country every 90 days on my tourist visa, we're planning a getaway to Fiji at the beginning of May!

So while this week has been about getting things done at home, I've got plenty of travel lined up for the coming weeks - exactly how I like to balance things as a Working Traveller!

Why I'm Starting "A Week in the Life of TWT"

As part of my ‘action taking’ strategy, this post your reading is a roundup post of my week, partly to keep myself accountable to the goals I'm setting for myself and partly to share my journey and experiences, including the things I'm learning, mistakes I'm making, and small wins along the way.

On weeks where I'm not travelling (like this week) these posts will likely be more side hustle/business based, while on weeks when I am on the road, they'll be more nomadic in nature, or a mix of the two. It's all part of the working traveller lifestyle, after all!

My hope is that by documenting my own experiences, both the successes and the stumbles, I can share insights that might inspire your journey, whether you're already living nomadically, building an online business or side hustle that supports your travel dreams, or taking your first tentative steps toward a location-independent lifestyle.

Thanks for reading Issue 1 of "A Week in the Life of a Working Traveller." I do hope it's been useful to you. If you've enjoyed it, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Your Turn: The One-Week Action Challenge

If you've been stuck in your own overthinking cycle, I invite you to join me in a simple challenge: choose ONE thing you've been overthinking and take concrete action on it within the next 7 days.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be complete. But it does have to be something.

Maybe it's:

Booking that trip you've been researching for months
Publishing that blog post draft that's "almost ready"
Launching that side project you've been polishing forever
Having that conversation you've been rehearsing in your head

Share what you're committing to in the comments, and let's hold each other accountable!

Remember: Perfect plans that never launch don't change anything. Imperfect actions that actually happen change everything.

Ready to Start Your Nomadic Lifestyle? Here’s How I Can Help You:

Explore my blog, The Working Traveller
Your go-to resource for nomadic travel tips, destination inspiration, and practical advice on making money on the road.
Grab my free ebook: 200+ Side Hustles for 50+ Nomads
Packed with ideas to help you fund your travels and live your best life, starting today.
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Ready to dive in? Let’s make your nomadic dream a reality!