Intro [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taylor Ten, a fast paced, ten minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead. 

Bruno Forcine [00:00:17] Hello, my name is Bruno Forcine. Welcome to Taylor Ten. I'm here with Tom Turcich, the 10th person who walked around the world and author of the book The World Walk. It chronicles Tom's time on the road, how he came to set the sights on this goal and how he faced all the challenges that came along the way. Tom, thank you for joining us. You're very busy with all things related to the launch of this great book. I'm three quarters the way through. I'm almost finished. So I guess what we're hoping to pick your brain about today is kind of like a key element of your book, and it's kind of integral to the start of your journey, which is the power of audacious goal setting. When I think of setting goals, I think a lot of the time they're these nominal, trackable, realistic, conservative steps towards achieving something. And while that's all great, I think it's something expected, you know, it tracks towards an expected result, especially in this kind of corporate setting. So when you talk about audacious goals, like what do you mean by that? And like, what have you discovered in that process of setting goals? 

Tom Turcich [00:01:17] I think speaking to your what you said about, you know, the smaller goals, it's easy to set smaller goals and then have the expected results. But if you set an audacious goal, you set a massive goal it makes the smaller things kind of just little hills rather than these mountains. Like, for example, for me, you know, each year I would decide on an end point. First year was like Panama City. And then I'm walking through incredible heat now 100 degrees, 100% humidity in Costa Rica, and it feels much smaller because this is just one little section on this larger thing. But when you are setting a goal, the key to setting a goal that will last and that will sustain you through these challenges is that it's value based. If this is just some arbitrary aim that isn't deeply rooted into who you are or into the corporate structure of what you value, it's not going to last because it'll be pushed aside for something that is aligned with your values or that where you want to spend your time. And so the first thing in setting a massive goal, the first thing you need to do is figure out the things that you value. And for like a for a person, it's what do you value out of your time here. You have one life. How do you want to spend it? You got to reflect on that and then find a goal or build a goal even that aligns with your values you know something specific. And in a corporate structure too it's a similar thing where you have to know, okay, what is the point of this company? What do you want to create? What do you want to put out into the world and know those things very clearly and then you set a very specific and the more specific you can be. But for me, it was the World Walk is this idea of walking around the world in any goal. You have to you're going to have to make sacrifices, basically, you know. And so for me, again, it was leaving behind the family. It was, you know, living out of a tent for seven years, basically eating pasta most nights and peanut butter and jellies for lunch. And so when you set this very specific goal that comes with, you know, only following one path and sacrificing a lot of others, but when it's aligned with your values, again, it becomes sustainable. And there's little things that could be mountains kind of become molehills and becomes a little easier to pursue. 

Bruno Forcine [00:03:40] Right? I imagine to some degree, some of that comes with knowing yourself a bit because I feel like it's such your coming out of high school, early 20s, college age, you know, your values may shift rapidly and then you hope to land on things that you can carry with you and you've made decisions to lean into things that you value long term. But did you feel like you had a point around then? Were you like this? This is like solid for me. 

Tom Turcich [00:04:03] In a terrible way. I was very fortunate that my friend died Emory when I was 17. And so that was this ground breaking revolution for me where it just changed the way I thought about life. And of course, you know, I would. Trade her living versus me having my life altered. But it really forced me to reflect at that age. I was like, man, I can go at any moment. And so if you get one shot at it, what are the things that you value? I wanted to travel, wanted to be forced into adventure because I was shy and introverted at the time. I want to grow out of that. I wanted to understand the world. And then. From there it was eight years of saving and planning and then walking for seven years. And it probably wasn't until after the walk that I was really able to kind of put those values. I was like, okay, I did that thing. You know, the, the the goal, the audacious goal was complete. And I still have a desire to travel to some extent. But I really did sort of ease myself ease like my existential self and living this life that I wanted to live. And now like you said, you know, the values have shifted and I'm living with my fiance here while she's doing residency in Kentucky, where I never imagined myself living ever after walking around the world in particular. But, you know, I, I spent so much time with myself walking and really refining and thinking about the things I value. Now, what I value is much more, you know, owning my own time, spending time with Bonnie and, you know, doing things that are like intellectually stimulating and also sharing what I came to learn after living this very unique life. 

Bruno Forcine [00:05:46] And it's nice. It seems like you're able to start enjoying the things that I kind of like more typical life allows. There's going to be a lot of people that set audacious goals and maybe  don't meet them. If you didn't accomplish your goal, but you still, you know, made progress towards it, would you have felt like the struggle was worth it or felt like the growth you maybe received from trying would have even been worth it otherwise? 

Tom Turcich [00:06:16] Yeah 100%. So after the first three years you read about in the book but I had the bacterial infection and I thought I was going to die in like two months or three. I was like wasting away. I weighed 122 pounds at my lowest. And I thought at the time I was like, well, you know, I gave it my best shot. I at least I walk the Americas. At least I had I tried it. And so, yeah, I mean, it brought me it brought me a lot of peace. And I think the success is actually irrelevant because there is no success. It's not like you get to I did the world walk the thing, I completed it and there's maybe like one night or three months of like, okay, this is success, quote unquote. But it doesn't last. And so it's more about just moving in the direction that you want to move. And over and over and over again every day. That's why you set the goal aligned with your values just so you have a direction that in life can bring you satisfaction. And, you know, the failures are guaranteed it's going to happen. So I wouldn't even worry about like the success of things. Just try and get moving in the direction you want to move in. 

Bruno Forcine [00:07:22] In the beginning, you know, whether it was people threatening you with weapons or being, you know, left alone to set up camp or missing visas, as you took these challenges on one by one, how did you manage to power through these knowing a lot of the stuff came relatively early. It's not like  you made it halfway and then hit your first snag knowing that there was so much left ahead of you. How did you power through those initial setbacks? 

Tom Turcich [00:07:47] Yeah, I was lucky that in a certain way I was lucky that it took me eight years to begin to walk, you know, 17. And then I began to walk the day before I came. 26. So by the time I reached that first year, I was so on fire with the idea that I was living my dream that there was nothing that was going to stop me. I know when I walked through El Salvador at the time was when you go back in history, it was the most violent month and its most violent year in modern history, basically. And I knew it was dangerous going in. It's like, Hey, I'm already out here. I'm going to do this thing and and Mexico and messing up the visa and, you know, all these other encounters. I think I was just so on fire with. The possibility of what was in front of me, that I was actually doing this thing that I dreamt about for years. And every mistake was in a certain way and ultimately an opportunity to learn and and to grow. Yeah, in the beginning you're going to lose some toenails and get a lot of blisters until you get the right shoes. 

Bruno Forcine [00:08:50] Since the walk has ended, what pieces of the trip stick with you in this kind of more tethered lifestyle that maybe you appreciate the most. 

Tom Turcich [00:09:00] This is like very maybe abstract. But Georgia, the country really affected me a lot. It's a small, young democracy. And when I was there, I stayed with a friend of a friend, his parents, who he was the economic advisor to the president. All his friends are members of parliament. And they had just won this protest basically to make their parliamentary republic like more democratic. And, you know, spending time with them and all these really influential and well intentioned people, it's given me a better like feel for the world, I would say, than I ever imagined I would have or thought I could have. 

Bruno Forcine [00:09:42] Thank you so much for for taking the time. And I hope that the book tour continues to go successfully.

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