No Matter What Adventures 2026: The Hero’s Journey Made Real
NOVEMBER 3, 2025
Your greater potential can only exist beyond what you’re already familiar with. Only by crossing the threshold (not intellectually, but experientially) can we realize greater versions of ourselves.
Commit to an experience that will force you to leave your comfort zone
Every great story begins with a call.
Not a phone call. Not a calendar invite. Not a travel plan.
A call from within… to step beyond what’s familiar and find what’s real.
I’ve felt that call. And we created No Matter What Adventures to be able to share that experience with others.
Throughout human history it’s been evident that transformation arises not from predictability, but from uncertainty. . It can’t. It happens when we leave the “village”. When we cross the threshold into the unknown.
That’s the core design of every No Matter What Adventure. Each journey mirrors Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey — not as metaphor, but as lived experience.
Separation: You step away from the world you know: your roles, routines, and responsibilities, into a landscape that demands presence.
Initiation: Through physical challenge, cultural immersion, and inner work, you face what’s been holding you back.
Return: You come back clearer, stronger, and ready to lead differently, with renewed courage and purpose.
It’s not sightseeing (although these locations are breaktakingly beautiful). It’s soul work.
And it’s built for leaders who are ready to grow, no matter what.
Research in psychology, leadership, and neuroscience affirms what ancient hero myths have taught for millennia: true growth arises when we choose to step willingly into the unknown. A 2020 Harvard study on adaptive leadership found that intentional exposure to challenge — physical, mental, or emotional — activates neural pathways related to resilience, creativity, and empathy.
That’s why these adventures aren’t vacations. They’re threshold experiences intentionally designed to take leaders beyond the ordinary and into the transformative.
When we asked past participants what changed for them, they didn’t talk about the miles they hiked or the altitudes they reached. They talked about what broke open.
“This wasn’t a retreat. It was a moment in my life I didn’t know I needed — and now I’ll live differently because of it.”
— Birame, Serial entrepreneur“This proved that the “impossible” is often just untested potential—pushing me mentally, physically, and spiritually beyond what I once thought I could do.”
— Jason, Pilot, Entrepreneur and Speaker
These aren’t just reflections… they’re returns. The same as every hero’s journey ends, not with escape, but with integration. Bringing the treasure— insight, clarity, courage — back to their companies, their families, and their lives.
Our 2026 adventures carry the same DNA: challenge, culture, and transformation — expressed through these extraordinary locations:
Each experience is guided by Sterling Hawkins, Haviland Hawkins and a small team of expert facilitators, rooted in local wisdom traditions, and framed by pre- and post-adventure integration sessions to ensure what’s discovered out there changes what happens back here.
To be clear, these aren’t casual retreats. They’re for leaders, founders, and change-makers who are ready to confront themselves as fully as they confront their goals.
Each adventure is intentionally small, curated for chemistry, readiness, and shared purpose.
Applications are now open, but with a few important notes:
Returning adventurers have first priority.
After that, applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-considered basis.
Every participant is personally vetted to ensure alignment mentally, physically, and emotionally for their growth and the group’s cohesion.
Because when you step into the unknown with others, who you go with matters as much as where you go.
Now… I know from my own experience that there’s a point in every story where the hero hesitates.
They want to say yes, but comfort whispers, “Maybe later.”
But you already know… later rarely comes.
If you’ve felt that pull, that quiet voice that says there’s more to you, more to life, more to lead from, consider this your invitation.
The map is drawn. The thresholds are waiting.
Now it’s your turn to answer the call.
Key Idea
Growth begins the moment you leave what’s known. Your greater potential can only exist beyond what you’re already familiar with. Only by crossing the threshold (not intellectually, but experientially) can we realize greater versions of ourselves.
Takeaway
Commit to an experience that will force you to leave your comfort zone
Build your Movement
What threshold in your life is calling you to cross — and what’s waiting for you on the other side?
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