2016 : The Art of Non-Conformity

Profiles

The Anti-Nomad: How one Woman Created a Home Base while Opening Up to Life on the Road

How do you preserve that special feeling you get from travel? For Sofie Couwenbergh, keeping the magic alive meant not turning traveling into a full-time pursuit. Learn how she forges her own path.

I was born and raised in Belgium. I’ve always known that I wanted to do "something with writing,” so I studied literature and got a job as a copywriter and marketing coordinator. I’d even picked up an amazing boyfriend along the way, and together we'd found an affordable apartment we loved. But wait, I'm not that boring!
Whenever things seem perfect, they usually aren’t.
I was miserable at my first job and later I was miserable at my second. At the same time, the more I saw of the world, the more I wanted to see. I used up all of my vacation days (and we have many in Belgium!) and even took unpaid leave — but it wasn't enough. Not only was traveling not enough, there was something missing in general. I thought I just needed a creative outlet, so I started a blog. Through blogging, a whole new world of freelancers and digital nomads opened up to me.
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Et Cetera

This Summer: Hack Your Book, Learn the Science of Happiness, & Become a Financial Badass

Link: WDS 2016 Academy Registration Is Now Open to Everyone!

Every year since 2011, I've produced and hosted an global gathering known modestly as the World Domination Summit (WDS). More than 10,000 people have participated in WDS main stage events, and starting in 2014 we expanded to feature half-day workshops known as Academies.

Registration for Academies is now open to the general public, and this year we have something special: an all-new experience called WDS Connect.

When you register for WDS Connect, you'll get access to hundreds of meetups and special sessions that aren't open to the general public. You'll also get access to one complimentary Academy of your choice.

Work

Improve the Right Kind of Skills (They Probably Aren’t What You Think)

Lesson: Improving “soft skills” can increase your value no matter what kind of career you have.

Hard skills are things you learned through technical or academic training: how to make architectural drawings with certain software, how to properly administer medication as a nurse, and so on.

Soft skills are just as important—if not more—but aren’t usually taught in school. To be more effective (and to become more valuable), spend time improving your soft skills in writing, negotiation, conflict management, and follow-up.

Travel

Top 3 Credit Card Signup Bonuses for Miles and Points: June 2016

Every year I earn well over one million Frequent Flyer miles and points. Although about 250,000 of them come through actual travel, the rest come through travel hacking: the art of seeing the world on a budget.

One of the easiest ways to earn a lot of miles all at once is through credit card signup bonuses. This post contains the best current card offers as of Friday, June 3rd. If getting every card from this post, you'd earn more than 175,000 points or miles. Happy travels! In this edition:

Et Cetera

Get the “Born for This” Audiobook FREE with Your Audible 30-Day Trial

Link: Free “Born for This” Audiobook with Audible Trial

Hey, everyone!

I had an amazing time on the road over the past couple of months, speaking to audiences almost every night (I don’t take many breaks...) about how to find the work you were meant to do.

Personally I love print books, and I also read some Kindle titles on my iPad—but I also know that there’s a large group of people who enjoy listening to books. With that in mind, we recently released the audio version of Born for This. It clocks in at just over 8 hours, long enough to enjoy on a flight to Europe.

Life

Reflections at the End of a 30-City Tour (At Least For Now)

Just a couple of weeks ago I was going from city to city, a different one every day.

I had the routine down: every afternoon I’d roll into a new place, usually arriving by air and then transferring to Uber or taxi to my hotel. Settling in, I’d do an hour or so of work and catch-up, then change my clothes and head to the venue.

Sometimes the venue was a bookstore, other times a co-working space, and every now and then a theater. The 6pm-10pm was usually fully occupied with the event, which runs two hours start to finish but for me there’s always pre- and post-work.

Life

It’s Not About Overcoming Your Fears; It’s About Acknowledging and Moving On

How do I overcome my shyness? How do I conquer my fears? I want to take a big leap, but I can’t bring myself to approach the ledge… what do I do?

These and similar questions fill my inbox on a regular basis. Many of us long to overcome fears and limiting beliefs, because we think that these are obstacles in our way.

And here’s the thing: it’s not about overcoming. If you're shy or introverted by nature (I am, too) you don’t “get over” these things. In fact, they aren’t things that you’re supposed to “get over.” They’re part of who you are, and they can be weaknesses or strengths depending on what you do with them.

Work

Do You Have a Side Hustle? Tell Us About It!

Out of everything I wrote about it in Born for This, readers have responded the most to two things:

“Winners never quit” is a lie. Winners actually quit all the time. They aren’t afraid to walk away from something that isn’t working to try something else.
Not everyone should be a full-time entrepreneur, but everyone should learn to think entrepreneurially.

On the second point, one of the best ways to learn entrepreneurial skills is through a side hustle—a money-making project you work on apart from your job.

A side hustle isn’t a part-time job, it’s something you create that you have ownership over. It’s not a hobby; it’s something that produces income.

Work

When You Need to Escape, Build Your Own Countdown Clock

Before my dad packed up his cubicle and moved to a beachside office, he created a spreadsheet that displayed the number of days that remained until his retirement age.

It soon became a topic of dinner table conversation: “Hey, Dad, how much longer at the day job?” I’d ask. He’d respond with something like, “Oh, I don’t know exactly . . . well, I guess I do. Looks like I have 673 days and 4 hours to go.”

When you’re trying to escape a dead-end job or any other undesirable situation, create a calendar and count down the days to freedom.

Profiles

“Turning 50 Is Extremely Liberating”: One Woman’s Path to Her Dream Job

I love second act stories! It's never too late (or too early, for that matter) to create a new life for yourself and change the world while you're at it. Tonya Hobbs took a big risk, and she couldn't be happier.

Here’s her story:

Finding the work I was born to do was the result of a full-blown, midlife-crisis. I had changed careers and returned to school for a master’s degree in social work at age 40, but as 50 approached I was plagued by the question “Is this all there is?”
I worked in a field I loved. My job was never done. Yet I longed for something more... I just had no idea what “more” really meant.

Life

Hope, Expectations, and Winning the Lottery

Most people know that the lottery is not a good investment plan. It’s not rational to invest large amounts of money in lottery tickets, because you’re almost certain to lose no matter how much cash you spend at the gas station or convenience store.

Buying a single lottery ticket or two, however, is actually quite rational. Most of us don’t play the lottery as an investment in anything other than dreaming. For a few minutes after you buy the ticket and before you scratch off the numbers, or maybe even for a few days if the winning numbers aren’t announced until later, you have the opportunity to walk around with a dream in your pocket.

Work

How to Start a Blog or Any Website for Less Than $5

Link: Start a Blog for $5/Month

Since starting The Art of Non-Conformity eight years ago, I’ve been writing and posting regularly on the blog. A lot of things have changed since those early days, especially the way that people communicate on different networks, but my love of the format remains.

When you write a blog, you can publish immediate, unfiltered information to the world at large. There are no gatekeepers or censors. You can write about whatever you want, and you're free to expand your domain as you see fit. If you want to publish video or audio, you can do that on your blog too—but you don’t have to.

Starting a blog doesn’t need to be expensive. In fact, you can do it for free over at Wordpress.com. Free is fine for a lot of people and it might be fine for you, but many of us will find that it’s better to invest a small amount of money and get more benefits and features.

Work

If Plan A Fails, Remember that You Have 25 Letters Left

*My brand-new book, Born for This, is all about helping you find the work you were meant to do. This series explores some of these lessons.

Lesson: Craft backup plans. They will allow you to take more risks and make better choices.

There’s no shame in having a plan B, or even plans C–Z. Use the “if this, then that” method to make a backup plan for every career choice, and then make a backup for the backup. If one strategy doesn’t work, move to the next.

Travel

The Easy Way to Earn Extra Points on Everything You Buy (No Annual Fee!)

What if you like the idea of travel hacking, but don’t want to pay an annual fee? There's a new way to earn cash-back or points—your choice—on a card that never has a fee.

The new Chase Freedom Unlimited card will give you $150 Cash Back just for getting the card (remember, there's no fee). You can "cash in" your free money at any time by applying it to your statement balance.

Alternatively—and often a better choice—you can transform your cash back into Ultimate Rewards points, as long as you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or another Ultimate Rewards-earning card.

Profiles

“Busy Is a Bullshit Word”: How 16 Days Rafting the Grand Canyon Changed a Life

How do you escape the disorienting world of always being busy yet never appreciating your life? For Angie Stegall and her husband Nelson, they took a forced vacation that turned into an epic adventure.

We weren’t happy, Nelson and me. With each other, yes—but with our lives, not so much. Our busy lives were lived in a city we felt very “meh” about. So when we had the chance to check off an item on Nelson’s bucket list—rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon—for 16 days, we decided to do whatever it took to go.
As it turns out, that white-water journey changed the trajectory of our lives.

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