Did you invent the word?
Now and then I cross paths with an individual who checks out the message on the T-SHIRT I’m wearing (in this case, “Are You Moteventurous?” design), and is curious enough to approach me to ask what that phrase actually means (others simply pull out their smart phone and google it or access the URL printed on the back of the shirt).
With this being the weekend, I thought today’s post would be a great time to discuss how I (indeed) invented the word, why I thought of that term, and what the adjective-version of the word (Moteventurous) actually means to me.
“Moteventure” IS an invented word that is actually a combination of three different words that feature characteristics I personally admire or aspire to utilize more in my own life.
There is a word, portmanteau, that is defined as “A word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two or more others, for example motel or brunch.”
To find my way to “Moteventure”, I used an online tool that generates portmanteau options, and I altered it slightly to find the name i preferred.
What are those words?
MOTIVATION
A noun, the word means “the act or instance of motivating or providing with a reason to act in a certain way.” The word is tied to other words like “incentive”, “inducement”, “impetus”, and “inspiration”. Those are all great words to have or add to your personal character traits.
EVENT
Nearly a decade ago, I became involved in a non-profit charity-driven committee within my regular job that helped me discover a creative side of my personality that I swear I wasn’t aware of at the time. Drawing on my experience creating “reality show” themed birthday parties for my young daughter (“Survivor”, “American Idol”, and “Deal or No Deal” for example.), I worked with exceptionally talented people within my organization to create our first event.
“The Amazing Race” was one theme I’d always wanted to do with my daughter’s birthday but found it hard imagining sending children running haphazardly through the neighborhood while still retaining a level of safety for them.
The work committee began looking for ideas to motivate our employees and opportunities to have fun while building team-oriented camaraderie. In the back of my mind, I began formulating what would be the first of our 3 seasons of “The Amazing Race” at work. We included the best part of the CBS television series (roadblocks, detours, yields, and the mat at the finish line) while having the entire game happen once a week over summer, with one team eliminated each week.
Subsequent years, we began to branch out with “Survivor: United Island” (we raised funds for United Way), “Relentless” (a game patterned after the NCAA basketball tournament), “Cliffhanger” (utilizing stunts from movies with teams not knowing what points they can earn with choices and therefore not knowing if they will be eliminated until 4-5 days after the week’s competition). Collectively, these events raised more than $100,000 for charitable causes.
ADVENTURE
Who doesn’t feel adventurous at one time or another? Motivation and adventure are two sides of the same coin, as motivation leads to adventurous outcomes in life. Who’s living that isn’t taking a calculated risk every now and then in hopes of being rewarded for their efforts? With our events, we always did our best to rachet up the risk, cognizant of corporate levels of safety and OSHA regulations (no repelling off the 3 story building unfortunately). We had to keep employees within the grounds of our building and the outdoor areas, which only motivated our group to find ways to amp up the adventure and creativity in each day’s tasks, and the teams loved it!
So, with the name in place and experience with planning and executing competitive corporate events, I began to put together the site that would market my business skills and ideas for other companies and/or individuals.
Let’s go back a bit to my earliest posts here on Moteventure, specifically to February & March of 2018. Here are the first posts where I started to explain my vision for Moteventure.
ENTER THE “PANDEMIC”
In March of 2020, as most of you know, the Covid-19 pandemic began in earnest, with lockdowns, masks, political power plays, and the advent of remote working from home. Naturally, the corporate competitive events planning went by the wayside, with the future of work changing so drastically overnight.
Because of the creativity that Moteventure unleashed in me, I wanted to find a way to continue to build the following I’d started to see and looked for a way to continue in the spirit of my original vision for the site.
Our daily feature “Today’s 10” sought to find information across the web that I could aggregate to support the spirit of Moteventure, including health and fitness, entertainment, success and motivation, while also including interesting mysteries, pets, technology, healthy (and sometimes not so healthy) recipes, select news items (I tend to avoid politics and Covid-19), and other topics that attract my attention and I hope attract my reader’s attention as well.
SUPPLEMENT WITH “VALUE ADD”
To expand on the change in format, I looked for things that appealed to me (and by extension my readers), including a simple feedback tool I called “This…or That?“. The purpose was to get readers to choose between two or more known items to see which is more popular via a simple poll. To date, we’ve posed more than 15 match-ups with always surprising results.
With other regular features (“A Moteventurous Cookbook“, “Moteventure Marketplace“, “Monthly Top 10 Posts“, “Moteventurous #1’s“, “Our Ten Music Series“, and the episodic posts of our novel “Relentless“), the site continues to evolve into what I hope appeals to a broad audience.
Do you have a feature idea you’d like us to include on the site or would you simply like us to know how you feel about the site? Complete the feedback form below. It only takes a minute or two and is very helpful for us to continue to improve and be “more moteventurous”!
THE MOTEVENTUROUS FUTURE?
As with every endeavor, the future is oftentimes an unknown enigma. With artificial intelligence seeming to permeate every part of technology as of late, it will be interesting to see how we can incorporate AI into future posts. We’ll also be looking to relaunch planning of events in the future, introduce “Moteventure Reactions” next month and add new features as we learn from you, our readers.
Thank you for being a part of the site and sharing it with friends and family!
MOTEVENTURE 
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