Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, our Unconventional Guides crew unveiled a new product to help people travel for less. But what did we miss?
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Things I found on long walks in foreign cities or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter
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Toward the end of next week I’ll head out to conduct my Annual Review, an extended exercise to reflect on the year that’s coming to an end and prepare for the next one. This has been quite the year with a lot of ups and downs, so I’m not entirely sure how I’ll process everything—but…
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This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.) When no one else believes in your dreams, sometimes they get lost in the shuffle until you find the strength to believe yourself. Lola Akinmade Akerstrom was a systems architect who’d dreamed of making a living of travel since she was a child. Tell us…
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I remember a Christmas in which I spent the day entirely by myself. Strategy #1: sleep as late as possible. Strategy #2: fill up the day with as many things to occupy my time without feeling lonely. It didn’t work, at least not completely. I was sad and depressed for much of the day. I…
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And other ways of applying perspective. “Guy from Minnesota says it’s cold in the winter. Guy from Mexico disagrees, says it’s hot in the winter. Both have a hard time realizing they’re each right based on their own unique life experiences. They call each other idiots in the comments section of news article that has…
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From Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: “As you evaluate an option, think about the single most important criterion for that decision, and then simply give each option a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it lower than 90 percent, then automatically change the rating to 0 and simply reject it. This way you avoid getting…
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I got an interesting question from Allan about the nature of quests: I really enjoyed “The Happiness of Pursuit.” It appealed to the adventurer in me. I understand that you are encouraging others to pursue whatever quest they are passionate about, but my question is, “Do you notice that people who pursue quests that give…
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You might remember Daniel Pink from his New York Times bestsellers, A Whole New Mind, Drive, and To Sell is Human, or from his hugely popular Ted Talk about motivation. Using behavioral science, Dan has done some really interesting things to show us why we do the things we do. His newest project is a…
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I went to the Apple Store to buy a new computer. I had already done my research and knew what I wanted. I just needed to verify a few things in person, which I did with the helpful associate. “OK, I’m ready,” I said—and then I logged on to a website from the in-store computer…
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I’m a big fan of 99U, an offshoot of Behance that exists to help people implement their great ideas instead of just brainstorming more and more ideas. Last week they published have a new book of collected essays, and I contributed one about “Recruiting an Army of Allies.” You can check out my essay below,…
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Things I found on long walks in foreign cities and perhaps when someone posted them in Twitter.
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“One of the unspeakable things that I think might even be the most unspeakable way of carrying on is this idea of not improving from an experience, not becoming a better person, not having a redemption. Our culture is so obsessed with the idea that you’re going to go through a crisis or some difficult…
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On my recent book tour, I usually began each night’s talk with a story about playing Super Mario Brothers with my grandma. Her name was Regina but we all called her Nana, and she's been one of the most important people in my life
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Graham Green on writing a book: “I was trying to write a book that simply would not come. I did my daily five hundred words, but the characters never began to live. So much in writing depends on the superficiality of one’s days. One may be preoccupied with shopping and income tax returns and chance…
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