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From countless encounters with failure, I can tell you that not everything works out the way you hope it will. If you keep trying, you’ll get where you want to go in the end, but there will undoubtedly be many stops along the way where you encounter a dead-end.
First, how do you know when it’s not working out?
Here are a few signs:
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You approach the project with neither excitement nor dread. You just don’t care.
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If it's a group project, discussions and planning become circular. People say the same things they said last time, and the time before that. There is plenty of conflict, but little resolution.
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You feed off crisis. The crisis drowns out everything else. When you have no crisis, you invent one or just wait for another to arrive.
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Most importantly, NOTHING EVER CHANGES. This kind of thing doesn’t usually get better on its own.
That’s pretty much how you know it’s not working out. So what do you do? The good news is that your options are limited. Specifically, you have only three:
1) Do Nothing
2) Quit
3) Change Something Major
Option #1: Do Nothing
Doing nothing is the most common response when confronting apathy. You suck it up and live with it. You keep going through the motions, dutifully showing up without actually doing much. You attend the meetings, wondering more about what kind of cookies will be waiting on the table than what will be on the agenda.
The agenda? Speaking of that, there may be a written one somewhere, but there is no driving force. Remember, it doesn’t usually get better on its own.
Effectively, you stop all pretense of caring what happens. When I worked in Africa, we used to call this “checking out.” Someone would be coming to the end of a long time in a difficult job, for example, and they had lost their motivation. They had “checked out.”
“Can we ask Steve to do this?”
“He’s checked out.”
“Oh.”
Time to move on to the next guy, because when someone checks out, it’s hard to get them back. If you're the one who has checked out, see the next two options.
Option #2: Quit
When you quit, you walk away as quickly as possible, consequences be damned. You’re in the wrong job, on the wrong team, working on the wrong project, pursuing the wrong goal. Or maybe you’re what’s wrong – but either way, you can quit.
If you start to feel guilty about it, or if someone questions you, you can give the age-old response: “Lots of other people are doing this too.” This response seemingly justifies any behavior, from smoking to discrimination or whatever.
But sometimes, option #2 may be your only choice, if for no other reason than to retain your sanity. When it comes down to that, I think hanging on to sanity is worth whatever guilt you feel for quitting. And if you were the problem to begin with, well, maybe things will be better for everyone else after you leave. You never know.
Option #3: Change Something Big
If you can’t stand the status quo and don’t want to give up, this leaves only one option: something must change. It has to be something significant; even outsiders should be able to look and say, hey, this is different.
Change is the lifeblood of innovation and the salvation of complacency, but beware: no one really likes change, and that’s why it can hard to introduce something that is significantly different after apathy has set in.
It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, however.
What can you change? Ideas include:
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The reason why you do this thing to begin with
- The way in which the goal is measured
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The group leader (if this is an independent project, see Option #2)
- The format of the meetings
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The responsibilities of everyone who is involved
Apathy is easy to diagnose but hard to treat, so there is no guarantee that Option #3 will work. For guarantees, do something easier.
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Here’s a fun game to play: think about one place in the world that you’d like to visit someday. You don’t have to make a long list, just think of one single place.
Even including people who don’t travel that much, most of us can think of somewhere we’d like to see before we die.
There are a couple of easy rules for this game:
1) You only get one place
2) It has to be somewhere you haven’t been yet
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Warning: this will be a long post! There are no funny pictures of cats, comic strips, or post-election opinions in it. It’s just good information that can help change your life if you let it.
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On a bus into downtown Seoul from ICN airport a couple years ago, I chatted with a French-Canadian guy who was interested in my travel experiences. He asked me a question that has always stumped me: “What is your favorite country?”
I never know how to answer that one, because I honestly have no idea. When I started traveling years ago out of a search for something indefinable, I think I expected that somewhere along the way I would find the perfect place. As long as I had that expectation in mind, I was continually disappointed throughout the journey – or if not disappointed, I was certainly unfulfilled.
Since then, I’ve heard the “favorite country” question countless times. Now that this site has a fairly broad readership, I do interviews for other blogs at least once a week. Whenever the interview is with a travel-related site, I can always count on that question coming up.
My favorite country… my favorite place... hmmm.
Somewhere along the way, I decided that I simply don’t have one favorite place in the world. There are still a lot of countries left on the list, and of course many places in the countries I’ve already visited that I haven’t been to, but as of now, I’m no longer expecting one clear favorite to emerge.
Instead, I’ve developed a larger perspective, where I have not one but several favorite places in the world. Maybe it’s a cop-out, but I think it’s also a reflection that many of us enjoy different things about different places. No single destination is the best.
Here are some of the most beautiful places I’ve been to since I got serious about travel.
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Ohrid, Macedonia – In the summer of 2007, I toured the Balkans by flying into Sarajevo (Bosnia) and out of Belgrade (Serbia). In between I took the long way around, traveling around through Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. In Macedonia I stopped for three days in the small town called Ohrid. I loved it.
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Cape Town, South Africa – On this I am fairly conventional: Cape Town is my favorite city in Africa. I have good memories of spending three weeks there in 2006. I usually return to Jo’burg at least once a year for transit, but I haven’t been back to Cape Town yet. I miss it.
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Pacific Northwest (U.S. and Canada) – Hey, I live here now – but I can still count it, right? I love Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland. I haven’t spent hardly any time at all in the interior part of the region, so I can’t comment on that yet. But here on the coast, life is good. I like the culture, the coffee, and the nature.
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La Gomera, Canary Islands – I’ve been to Tenerife at least six or seven times (I lost count) in between sailing from Europe to West Africa over the course of several years. It’s not a bad place to go, especially if you’ve been hanging out in Sierra Leone for six months before you visit. But one time Jolie, me, and a couple of friends took the ferry off to La Gomera, a much smaller and less inhabited island an hour away. We rented a car and drove on every road of the island, climbed to the top of the mountain, and watched the ocean.
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Faroe Islands – North of Scotland and technically governed by Denmark, I spent five days in Tórshavn, the capital. I flew in from London via Iceland and almost didn’t make the connecting flight due to it departing from a different airport. (I had no idea until I was on the plane.) Once I finally made it, the Faroes were as breathtaking as reported.
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The Old City in Jerusalem – I wasn't sure what to expect before I went, but this is one place that lives up to the hype. Wow. I enjoyed visiting the Western Wall and walking through the streets at all hours. It’s definitely worth a trip, especially if you are Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
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Image by NM
***
Update: Before I published this post, I asked on Twitter for other recommendations. Here’s what I heard in the initial replies:
Itpodcast: Cathedral cove, NZ. recently featured in Narnia: Prince Caspian
zoewesthof: Merzouga, Morocco and anywhere in Galicia (Spain)!
obsalah : Petra in Jordan, one of the 7 wonders of the world (the new ones) not much known kind of hidden away
eighteyes : Canyon Dechey, Sighisoara -> Romania, Mono Lake, Lost Coast
theo_chiari: Québec City
ElasticMind : White Desert, outside Bahariya Oasis, Egpyt
Earl52 : Hatteras Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina. Absolutely remarkable.
melissamcd: 2 of My Favorite Places: Camp Leaky (Tanjung National Park, Borneo); Bonaire National Marine Park
amoir : I adore ShinSekai in Osaka. ShinSekai is Japan at its most accessible, alive, vibrant, humble and real.
rose_w:The drive from Fairbanks, AK to the Artic Circle, desolate, breath taking and cool to say you've been there
krippl : Puerto Pinaso, Mexico. Better known as Rocky Point.
TheGirlPie: We LOVED our month at Ein Bokek at the Dead Sea in Israel in 10/01. No one else would though... it was beyond dead.
***
I’ll add to my list as I keep traveling. Early in 2009 I’ll be heading to a big part of Africa that I’ve never visited before – the region around Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. In the spring I’ll resume my OneWorld Round-the-World trip with visits to Haiti and South America. After that, I’m not sure what comes next.. but my journey will still be far from over.
But wait, what about you?
A couple weeks back I told you about 9 Overrated Tourist Destinations (and 9 great alternatives) and asked for your feedback. Is the Grand Canyon more than just a Not-Bad Canyon? Is Dublin worth visiting? I don’t think we ever came to a consensus, which isn’t too surprising considering how passionate people can be about travel.
Well, here’s your chance again – what would you add to the above list of beautiful places? Is there anything you’d take off? Let me know.
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Spelman College, Atlanta - Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionLast night, I had an unrelated essay about work all ready to go. It had nothing to do with the election, and since I figured everything else you’d read today would be about that, better to do something else.
But at 9:30 last night, I changed my mind. To post that other essay up this morning would be completely irrelevant. I’ll have to save it for next week, OK?
I’ve been in more than 20 countries this year, and almost without fail someone ends up talking to me about the U.S. election. Nine times out of ten, it’s not me who brings it up. I kid you not, nearly every conversation I’ve had follows the same storyline: we love America, but not your president. Why does America have to be so combative with the rest of the planet? So on and so forth, from Egypt to Mongolia to Latin America et al.
The next part of the conversation shifts to a young, first-term senator from Illinois, who the entire world has been fascinated with for the past 21 months. Almost everything I hear is favorable, but it usually comes out in a resigned way: “Of course, you’ll never elect him” is the most common way of putting it. From continent to content, I heard variations on that theme over and over this year -- America could never elect Obama because he doesn’t look like all the other presidents.
Well, yes we can.
As soon as the A.P. declared that Obama was the winner, I started flipping around to a bunch of world news sites to see how the election was covered elswhere. I checked the BBC, the Guardian, the South China Morning Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine, the Globe and Mail, Le Monde, and Le Figaro.
At the last French site I saw a reader poll: “Are you ready to vote for a black president in France?”
35% of respondents, I was sorry to note, actually said no. I realize that web site polls aren’t very scientific, and I also know the domestic politics in France are much different than those in the U.S… but still. 35% of people will actually tell you they won’t vote for a president based on his race? I guess there was a time you could say that about America, but last night proved that those days are over.
Anyway, the point of this short commentary is that I’m not a partisan hack. I’ve never belonged to any party or given money to any candidate. In 2004 I didn’t even vote, feeling somewhat apathetic as I was living overseas and uninspired by both candidates. This time, I voted for Obama because I believed he was the right choice for America, and for the world at large.
I’m not a kool-aid drinker either. The economy is seriously messed up, we’re fighting two wars, and a lot of things are broken. I don’t believe that any one person, even a president, can undo all the damage that has been done. I have friends who are far more liberal than me, and I suspect they’ll be disappointed when Obama governs from the center-left as he has pledged, and not the far-left as some people believe.
If you’re reading and you had a different preference in this election, I respect your opinion. This platform is not really about politics, and those of us who choose to be unconventional have to be willing to embrace ideas from different perspectives.
As I said, I’m no partisan hack. I watched Senator McCain’s concession speech and thought it was very gracious. Where was that guy during the campaign? The one I saw last night was like the old McCain, the one respected by moderates and even some progressives. Good for him.
I wish Senator McCain (and his supporters) the best. But I’m pleased that my country made the choice for Obama yesterday. As our new President-Elect said last night, “That is the true genius of America – that America can change.”
Yes we can!
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Greetings once again from Seattle, Washington. This past month saw the launch of a new product, the regular set of essays and posts, and a chance for me to catch up on a lot of things at home due to not traveling anywhere.
Each month I look back at what’s happened with ChrisGuillebeau.com in the previous month. If you’ve missed some articles, you can catch up here.
Writing
LIFE – I wrote about How to Fight Authority (and Win), The Link between Security and Complacency, The First Day of Your Life
WORK – I wrote about Working from Anywhere on the Planet,
How to Create an Incredibly Convincing Satisfaction Guarantee, Trust and Authority, Affiliate Marketing That Doesn’t Suck
TRAVEL – I wrote about 9 Overrated Tourist Destinations (and 9 Great Alternatives), Travel Hacking in an Unfriendly Environment, 35 Hours from Kampala to Dar es Salaam
Travel
Wow – for the first time since February, I had no international travel this month! Instead, I stayed at home… but I was busy with a lot of writing and preparation for future projects.
The "Working for Yourself" Launch
On October 8, I launched my second information product, the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself. By all accounts, the launch was a success. I sold 100 copies in the first 24 hours, and dozens more in the days following.
I now have a low-key, high-value affiliate program that pays 51% commission for a few carefully-selected partners who wish to offer my products for sale to their readers or customers.
If you have a blog, other web site, or newsletter list and are interested in learning more, read this here and then contact me.
What’s Coming Next
Travel – Like September, I expect to stick to a 20-mile radius over the next month, and my passport is safely tucked away in the filing cabinet. Rest assured that I’ll be dusting it off for some good trips in early 2009. I recently booked a Lufthansa awards flight that flies into Addis Abbaba (Ethiopia) and out of Asmara (Eritrea). My goal is to travel throughout the region, including Djibouti and Somaliand - but for now, I'm home in Washington.
Essays - The thrice-weekly essays will continue to be posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
This month I’ll write about the following topics, among others:
- The Hidden Messages of Passport Stamps
- Travel Hacking Part II
- The Power of the Amateur
- The first-ever AONC Writing Contest
I hope you enjoy my writing, and I always welcome your feedback.
The Next Unconventional Guide
My next Unconventional Guide will focus on advanced travel strategies, including Round-the-World travel and Awards tickets. I’ll detail exactly how I fly almost anywhere for an average of $300 per flight and go into
It will be a follow-up to the first product, the Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare. Stay tuned for the preview in about two weeks’ time.
Audience Participation
You can participate in the development of this project in several ways:
Leave a comment at the bottom of any essay. Feel free to add to the discussion at any time, and include a link back to your own site if you have one.
Join my newsletter announcement list or add me to your RSS reader.
Follow my real-time updates on Twitter.
Send other feedback. Use my contact form here to tell me what you think so far.
Tell your friends, or tell the world by submitting my essays to StumbleUpon or other social networking sites.
I appreciate the time you spend here. Don’t forget to change the world the way you think it needs to be changed.
-CG
Catch up on Previous Updates Here:
September 2008 (Seattle)
August 2008 (Seattle)
July 2008 (Karachi)
June 2008 (Amsterdam)
May 2008 (Vancouver)
April 2008 (Syria)
March 2008 (Los Angeles)
February 2008 (Seattle)
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Unconventional Guides:
Working for Yourself: Creating Personal Freedom
Discount Airfare: Surviving Stress and Maximizing Fun
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Image of central Kampala by CGA few years and many trips ago, I learned that it is usually better to travel by land whenever possible. I love flying, and I even love hanging out in big airports for hours, but it’s true that the experience of flying from one place to another often isn’t always that different wherever you are in the world.
When you travel overland, however, you’ll almost always meet people and experience life as it’s seen through more natural perspectives. When I have the choice, I usually try to fly into one country, travel overland for a while, and then fly out of another airport at least one country away.
I did this in Jordan two years ago, flying into Tel Aviv in Israel, traveling overland between the two countries and then throughout Jordan before leaving from Amman. I did it again a couple months later by taking a series of buses throughout the Balkans, including an overnight bus through Albania. I thought these experiences would prepare me well for an even bigger trip that took in the summer of 2007. For the most part, they did.
Incredible Taxi Park - Click to EnlargeMy trip began in Kampala, Uganda, where I visited one of the largest taxi parks in the world and spent some time with local NGO workers. After a few days sightseeing, I bought a one-way bus ticket to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania via a number of other cities along the way. The ticket cost $54, and the journey was expected to take 31 hours.
I showed up at 12:30 for the 1:00 p.m. departure, but I didn’t see a bus anywhere. I sat with all of the other passengers for two hours, waiting for the appearance of an elusive bus. It finally arrived close to 3:00. In a way, I didn’t mind the delay, because another passenger told me they were fixing the tires. Not having good tires is a major cause of road accidents in Africa, so better to be late with good tires, I thought.
Uganda to Kenya
After the delayed departure, our trip began well enough. Every seat on the bus was taken, but there was no overcrowding and no one standing. I was also the only Westerner for the entire trip, which definitely helped with getting a more natural perspective of East Africa. After we got out of Kampala, the driver’s assistant passed out ice cream samples to each passenger, a nice treat after not eating lunch.
For the next four hours, nothing much happened. I had hoped to use a big part of the trip for reading and writing, but the roads were far too bumpy for that. We rode along through Eastern Uganda until arriving at the Kenyan border directly at sunset. Border stops are rarely boring, and in Africa, they are often highly disorganized and corrupt. At this one, though, all the formalities went about as well as could be. I paid $20 for a transit visa, as I had expected, and headed back up the road to the bus after receiving the necessary clearances. The whole process took less than half an hour, complete with an amazing dust storm that I tried to capture in a couple of quick snapshots.
We had roughly seven hours more until Nairobi, where we were scheduled to arrive at 3:00 a.m. for a two-hour stop. Mid-point through the journey, the bus broke down. I wasn’t thrilled about this, and neither were the other passengers, but after a while the engine started up and we were underway again. We arrived in Nairobi sometime around 4:30, waiting at the bus station for a couple of hours, and got back underway just before dawn.
At this point my memory gets a bit fuzzy, because I had only slept an hour or two during the night and wasn’t feeling well from all the bumpy roads. I think it was about three or four more hours when we arrived at the next border, this time between Kenya and Tanzania.
This stop was also fairly efficient—we were through within 45 minutes. There were a fair share of “helpers” who tried to offer their services to me (to change money, expedite the visa process, etc.), but after I declined a few times they stopped asking.
Waiting in Arusha
Back underway and a couple more undetermined hours later, we arrived in Arusha, a Tanzanian city in the north of the country. We were told that we had to change buses, but no other bus was around. I spent the time in the transit area writing postcards from Kampala and eating peanuts, which in addition to two Cliff Bars I had brought from Seattle and the ice cream 24 hours earlier were my only food. I wasn’t really hungry, but I was certainly tired.
A new bus finally arrived two hours later. We were all relieved to transfer our bags and hop onboard, but there was just one problem: five other passengers had joined us at Arusha, and they had seat numbers for seats that were already occupied by those of us who had started way back in Uganda. Thankfully, I had already taken my seat when the mistake was discovered, so I didn’t have to worry about standing up for the remaining nine hours.
After a lot of arguing and the unsuccessful mediation efforts of the bus company’s employees, a woman stood up and addressed everyone. “Brothers and sisters in the Lord!” she began. “We are all Christians, so let us find a way to solve this problem!”
So far, so good, but some guys in the back were laughing and not listening to her, so she commanded them to “Shut up in the name of Jesus!” It was one of the most interesting social interactions I’ve ever been a part of. For better or worse, the evangelist was able to resolve the problem by acquiring some extra makeshift seats from the bus driver. Before we left Arusha after waiting far too long, she led the whole bus in a prayer for the journey. Even the Muslims supported a Christian prayer for a safe road journey to our final destination.
Kenya to Tanzania
A lot of other things happened along the way, but as we hit the 24-hour point, I was pretty exhausted. I vaguely remember running my hands through my hair and seeing them completely covered in red dust. I remember a collective bus stop for bananas, which looked nice but I couldn’t buy any because I didn’t have any Tanzanian currency, and I remember waking up after sleeping for three straight hours to find our bus about an hour out of Dar es Salaam. By then, it had gone well over the 31 hours we had expected to travel, so when people said we were an hour away I could hardly believe it.
We arrived at the Dar es Salaam bus station close to midnight the day after I had left Uganda. I stepped off the bus for the last time and walked to the gate where I navigated the usual throng of taxi drivers all shouting for my attention. Choosing one and negotiating a price of $8 (it was late at night and a fair distance away) to take me downtown to change money and then to a hotel near the port, I finally arrived at the beautiful sight of a hotel check-in desk shortly after 1:00 a.m. They had one last room available, which I was quite happy to accept sight unseen and without even considering the cost.
Before I feel asleep, I took two full showers in an attempt to shake off the dust from three African countries and 35 hours in a bus. For the next week, however, my shoes would set off a mini dust storm every time I put them on or took them off. When I finally got home two weeks later, my bags still had Kenya’s dust on them despite my best efforts to clean them with washcloths during my next two stops.
I decided to consider it evidence of an achievement that had personal meaning to me, even if other people might find it incomprehensible. I also decided that I wouldn't necessarily want to do this again... but I’m really glad I did it once.
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Related Articles:
5 Journeys to Cotonou, Benin
The African Dichotomy of Hope and Despair
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Now that our second Unconventional Guide is out in the marketplace, and the first one continues to sell every day, I’m ready to open up the affiliate program for these and future guides.
I’ll tell you about that in this update, but I’ll also tell you why most affiliate programs aren’t worth your time. If you have a web site, blog, or any kind of business, this should help you learn what NOT to do with affiliate marketing.
The short version is:
1. Most affiliate programs are heavily weighted in favor of the merchant. The merchant gets a lot of exposure and pays a token commission to its affiliates.
2. Then again, most affiliates don’t do any work or make any sales. In some cases, this can be as many as 98% of affiliates.
3. To fix this, the merchants need to restructure the terms and the affiliates need to add value somewhere.
My goal with the project is to create an affiliate program that doesn’t suck. That may not sound like a lofty goal, but as mentioned-- most affiliate programs are fundamentally flawed.
Here is how I’m trying to fix that with the small Unconventional Guides business:
1) By Application Only. We have to know each other somewhat before you can promote something I offer. This is not meant to sound elitist; it’s just that I don’t want you to waste your time with something that is not going to help you. And of course, I also need to maintain the integrity of the brand, so I won’t allow any promotion through unsolicited email, mature sites, etc.
2) High Commissions. I pay 51% on everything, meaning that my affiliates will make more money than me. I’ll also be adding a few bonuses to the program as more people get going with this.
3) Customized Promotions. This is where the affiliate’s work comes in. Putting up banners and hoping someone will notice does not work very well anymore (if it ever did). It’s better to take the time and write up something unique about what you choose to endorse. Why should people buy it? How will it help them?
On my side, I’ll help a bit with the custom promotions. If you have a high-traffic site or other responsive community, I’ll give you a special discount code exclusively for your readers. This will help increase sales and also ensure that all sales are 100% credited to you. If you want to do an interview for your audience, I’ll do my best to accommodate your request.
Regardless of whether my program is a good fit for you, think about these questions when deciding what you are going to share with people who trust you.
- Do I believe in the product enough to tell my friends and family about it?
- Is it truly win-win? (Will my visitors benefit from these endorsements or ads? Will I sufficiently benefit from taking the time to do this?)
- Is the merchant credible, both in terms of their general practices and with the specific products being offered?
- Is there any way I can use this to compliment something I already do?
If you can answer "yes" to these questions for a particular opportunity, it's worth considering. If not, there are better things you can do with your time and energy.
If my program sounds like something you’re into, send me a note with some info on how you plan to promote the guides. I’ll get back to you shortly.
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Here’s something to consider:
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
You’ve heard that before, right? Maybe it’s like Time Is Money – something we nod our heads to before we get back to all the stuff we have to do.
Hearing that today is a new, unique day at the beginning of a new week naturally implies both good news and bad news. In the spirit of realistic optimism, we’ll take the bad news first.
Bad News: You’ll never get today back. Once it’s gone, that’s it. On to tomorrow.
Good News: Right now, the day (and the whole week) is ahead of you. The choice is up to you: spend your time doing things that are unimportant or uninteresting to you, or spend it on things that move you closer to who and where you want to be.
It’s not much more complicated than that, although the actual implementation can sidetrack the best visionary or GTD guru. What can be done about this?
Today, the Beginning of Your New Life
On one hand, we have obligations and responsibilities. Not all of these bad – we have obligations to our loved ones, for example, that we would not want to break. The problem is that we tend to look at all obligations as non-negotiable requirements, when in fact many of them are unnecessary. We take them on because we like to be busy, we like to be needed, or because we’re not actually certain what we should be doing every day.
Instead of being completely mandatory, I’ve found that most plans can be canceled. Most obligations can be deferred without the world coming to an end. You really don’t have to do what other people expect you to all the time.
Some people think these kinds of metaphors are silly. I say, use whatever works for you. If motivation comes your way, take it. Don’t ask questions. There are enough skeptics out there already.
What if you know you’re on the wrong track?
I have one suggestion: change course as quickly as you can. Don’t wait. Someone said in the comments last week that complacency is like the “slow dying of the soul.” I couldn’t put it better myself. If the job is dead-end, if the college track isn’t working out, if you don’t like where you’re living, change it as quickly as possible.
Assuming you are on the right course, then the danger is more that you’ll be distracted by all the obligations and unrelated tasks that crop up along the way.
To combat this kind of resistance, answer these questions:
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Is there one thing you can do today that goes beyond your regular to-do list?
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Is there one thing you can do this week to work towards your 5-year goals?
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Is there one way you can help someone that no one else is able to do?
If so, I suggest that’s how you spend your time this week. It rarely works out to 100% efficiency, but the two steps forward, one step back approach gets us to the finish line eventually. The power of a single action, or a single action for each question above, should not be underestimated.
And when you get there, you’ll have done more than fulfill obligations. You’ll have more than money, and more than a well-stamped time card. You’ll be able to say that today was the beginning, and this week was an exceptional seven days.
Are you ready?
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Working for Yourself: Creating Personal Freedom
Discount Airfare: Surviving Stress and Maximizing Fun
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Six weeks ago, I went to downtown Seattle for an appointment at a big office building. The receptionist asked me to fill out a short medical history, which included questions about my self-esteem and physical appearance. After 10 minutes of waiting, I was ushered back into a small clinic down the hall.
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As promised, here is the analysis and full results from the latest product launch. But first, a few notes on trust and authority – the good kind, not the kind you should fight against.
Having established that all purchases are highly emotional, and that buyers conduct an elaborate, internal analysis about price and value whenever they choose to purchase something, let’s talk know about trust.
We experience a certain combination of fear and trust whenever we buy something. The fear is that we will have wasted our money; the trust is the expectation that we haven’t. We look for immediate validation. Is the first song on the record good? Does the first article in the magazine hold my attention beyond the title?
If trust is confirmed, good. If not, we get worried. That’s why it’s important, whenever you sell something, to work hard at establishing and keeping the trust of your customers. Validation can come in many forms (and it’s good to mix it up a little), but the more, the better.
“Working for Yourself” Case Study
Two weeks ago, I launched my second information product, the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself. I completed this one after a month of writing, including an all-night session in Sri Lanka, and a few days of recording audio after I had returned to Seattle.
It was no exaggeration to say that I was hesitant to create a product that had to do with making money. It’s not that I think there’s anything wrong with making money – we all need money, and I prefer earning it on my own instead of working for someone else. Aside from robbing banks, those are the only two options (and I suppose that bank robbers are technically self-employed).
I was hesitant because I knew that when you sell something even remotely related to finance and employment, certain people get twitchy on you. They think you are up to something suspicious, even if you have an established reputation you probably wouldn't want to squander.
By the way, most rational people don’t do this, only those who were suspicious or skeptical to begin with. The rational prospects look at the offer, consider the qualifiers and “reasons why,” and then make their decision based on the value consideration. If yes, they buy; if no, they don't -- but they don't usually think less of you for it.
It’s Kind of Like Saying Who You Vote For
This week I received my early voting packet for Washington State, and I was proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama. In 12 years of being an eligible U.S. voter, this is the only time I can remember being genuinely excited about electing a candidate. There are a lot of good reasons to vote for change, but for me one of the most important is that this election has the chance to restore America's standing in the rest of the world.
If you don’t like Obama, do I worry that you’ll be turned off by my saying who I voted for? Not really. I have friends who support John McCain, and I don’t suddenly think their opinions are invalid just because they have reached a different conclusion than I have. I read blogs that are somewhat critical of both mainstream candidates, and as long as they don’t hit me over the head with too much rhetoric, I don’t mind.
It’s only the people who decide that you are a bad person or somehow naïve for expressing an opinion who will get upset.
I don’t care much for intolerance anyway, so if someone stops reading because I say I like Obama, then I think they’d probably be offended at something else sooner or later.
In the end, I decided that the same kind of principle holds true for creating a product about finance and self-employment. A few people get mad because it’s “not what you are supposed to do,” and a lot of other people will happily support you. Others decide it’s not right for them, but that’s OK – because they still care about other things you’re doing. I'll show you all three groups in the analysis here.
When I launched the first guide on Discount Airfare, I was careful to explain my controversial (apparently) opinion that artists should be allowed to make money. I did that to preempt the complaints about selling a product, lest I be unfairly accused of "selling out."
This time I took the qualification process even more seriously, clearly explaining several good reasons to not buy my product at the beginning of the launch process. I did this because I wanted only the customers who I knew would be thrilled and find the product very useful to them.
The Launch Day
I always get up early when launching a new product. In this case, I set the launch time for 7am PST, and I usually need at least 45 minutes to review everything before the actual launch.
I used to launch products and web sites at 8am EST, which meant that after I moved to Seattle I’d need to be up around 4:30 a.m. to accomodate this preference – but I decided that 10am EST would be just fine for this one.
Test… test… test.
There are always a few surprises when you sell something new. No matter how many times you test things, something will always go wrong for someone. The order link won’t work, the thank-you message won’t go out, the site will go down – count on it. This is why it’s good to stay close to the phone and email during any launch.
This time I got up at 5:30 a.m., ran through all the logistics, placed a test order, and so on. A few minutes before 7:00, I made my coffee and uploaded the order page to the site.
The Response
Some of you said you liked how I was willing to share real sales figures in a recent update. I’ll do the same thing here.
My initial goal was to sell at least 100 copies of this product in the first week. Within 24 hours, almost exactly 100 copies had sold, helping me reach the goal six days early. Yay!
More copies have continued to sell every day since then, and a number of people have asked about setting up a consulting session – something I didn’t really like to do before, but now I’m considering as a limited commitment for people who have already started their very small businesses.
The total conversion rate from the first week of regular readers was about 3.4%.
Since 1% is a general marketing baseline and I deliberately tried to disqualify people from buying the guide if it wasn’t a good fit for them, I thought that 3.4% was great. If anything, I want to be sure that I don’t focus too much on this side business while I continue to work on the more important goals of getting my book contract (more on that in a moment) and building our community here.
After all, even though I sold about $4,000 in the first 24 hours, the figure of 100 buyers represents only a small subset of readers. I have to keep the focus on the reason why people come here to begin with: to hear about unconventional strategies for life, work, and travel.
You guys are why I am doing it, whether you buy something or not… although naturally, I greatly appreciate the support and endorsement of your investment.
Good News / Bad News
The bad news was that, like last time, I heard from a few people who were upset about something that seems fairly irrational to me. Without fail, these comments come in from people who have never bought anything, and in fact have never communicated with me before.
I’m going to quote from one of these emails below for your consideration:
You preach about everyone being the master of their own destiny, but expect everyone to buy your [expletive] ebook on making money. This was a good blog until you blatantly tried to rip us off. How could you possibly try to [expletive] tell me what to do?
At first I thought this guy had meant to send this message to someone else. Expect everyone to buy? Blatantly try to rip you off? Tell you what to do?
I’m at a complete loss as to how anyone could get these ideas. I actually told people why they shouldn’t buy the guide, offered a more comprehensive guarantee than any I’ve ever heard of, and said that the primary goal of the guide is to help people create their own freedom to do what they want. Ironic, isn’t it?
There’s not much I can do in these cases except say, “I wish you the best” and move on – never argue with a crazy person, my mom likes to say -- but it does make me a little sad to hear how misguided someone can be.
Anyway, I know that the vast majority of people don’t think that way. Such is life with any kind of marketing in the blogosphere, even the no-hype kind. I posted the email here not because I’m upset, but so you can see that there will always be critics out to write you off whenever you do something of interest.
The lesson for me in this case is to avoid being distracted by random, negative messages like that. Before the end of the first afternoon two weeks ago, I had 60 new customers who were excited about the new product. I should have been thinking about those 60, and then the additional 40, and then everyone else who is happy -- not one negative message that I don't feel is valid.
Here is a sampling of the feedback from new guide owners:
First of all, congratulations. You've put together a great guide. It's helpful, realistic and down-to-earth, and I think it's one of the best ebooks I've read in a while. Very well done, and I hope it gets picked up widely!
Every bit as good as I'd expected, so many congratulations on putting together such a fantastic resource. I know a lot of people will benefit from it, including me. I've been in business for more than twenty years, and my view is that it's loaded with invaluable tips and top ideas which I'll be putting into practice myself.
I especially enjoyed the strategies for starting a microbusiness - especially the parts where it's broken down into pros, cons, and next steps. Including actionable items that I could get started on NOW is extremely helpful, especially for getting me to get off my butt.
I have about 50 reviews like those so far, both from the new guide and the first one. I’ve also asked people to send in suggestions for what could be improved in a future version or an email series I’m doing for the buyers. The feedback I’ve received thus far from many of you has been excellent. We’ve already issued some new material on the basis of those comments, and more will be on the way.
What’s Next
I have three more Unconventional Guides outlined, but at least two of them won't be written until early 2009. For now I want to continue promoting the current guide and working with the affiliates who are selling it around the internet. I’ll probably do a short post on the unconventional affiliate program in the next couple of weeks, but for now if you’re interested, just check out that link and let me know.
My number-one, most important work priority right now is finishing the latest version of my "real book" proposal (it’s up to 40 pages; who knew such a thing had to be so long?) and getting the process for the publisher shopping fully underway.
Next spring, I want to take the business side of things further and do a series of webinars for those who are interested. The webinars will be like the guides, only in multiple sessions and highly interactive. Anyway, more on that later – as mentioned, the proposal completion and book shopping are the most important projects for me at the moment. Onwards and upwards.
Lessons Learned
Miraculously, I don’t think I made any huge mistakes with this product launch. I’m certainly open to constructive feedback, and I realize there are things I could have done to increase the sales further, but overall I’m happy with the results.
Here’s a couple of technical points, for those interested in the details:
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I haven’t quite made up my mind yet about using different domains for the different products. For now, the Discount Airfare guide and the Working for Yourself guide still “live” directly on this site, although I also have a simple structure set up on UnconventionalGuides.com. I should probably decide what I’m doing with the navigation before launching the next product
- Someone asked why I am using e-junkie and PayPal to facilitate the payments when I say in the guide that having your own merchant account is a better solution. Good question. The short answer is that I don’t want to comingle my bank accounts (at least, as little as possible) and we are coming to the end of the 2008 tax year. I didn’t really start this project to make money, but if it continues to do so, then I’ll probably incorporate a more complete payment processor in the beginning of 2009.
(If those two statements don’t mean much to you, don’t worry, you’re not missing out on anything terribly important.)
The Best Lesson
When people trust you, they know you are going to put out good work. Some of them are actually willing to pay for it.
I’m tremendously grateful for that trust. Thanks so much.
And for everyone who does not want a very small business, as promised, I am not “selling out” (whatever that means). As you can see from recent posts, I will continue to write about lifestyle design, world domination, unconventional travel, and whatever else I come up with that you guys enjoy.
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Unconventional Guides:
Working for Yourself: Creating Personal Freedom
Discount Airfare: Surviving Stress and Maximizing Fun
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Here’s a theory: the more secure we are, the less productive we become. The less risk and uncertainty we have in our lives, the more likely we are to amble along, getting by just fine but never really doing anything worth talking about.
Think about the sophomore album from bands that finally got their big record deal after years of struggling along. The first album is awesome; the second, mediocre.
Think about the reputations of professors at the last university you attended. If they were untenured (but on a tenure track), chance are they were more productive than tenured professors who had already obtained permanent job security.
You can probably think of other examples – bureaucrats, for example, who have safe but boring jobs.
Yes, there are exceptions to all of these. Some bands put out great sophomore albums, and some tenured professors become more prolific in their academic security. These exceptions, however, stand out because they are so unusual.
To simplify: complete security equals at least partial complacency.
I write this because we are living in uncertain times, at least financially speaking. Unless you have been living under the proverbial bridge, you’re probably aware that the U.S. economy hasn’t been performing as expected lately.
Where are our 15% a year gains? How come mortgages keep falling? And why are stocks still going down even though oil prices are also declining?
Someone else will have to answer those questions in more technical terms than I. Last week, I heard someone on Twitter say, “My 401k has become a 201k.” Ha ha. Except we’re not laughing, because as of right now, a great deal of wealth has disappeared into thin air.
As for me, I haven’t logged in to my Vanguard account since March or April. It kind of sucks, but what can you do? If you sell your retirement fund now, you’ve locked in your 30% loss. Better to stick it out, I say, and focus on what you can control.
If you were 100% secure, according to the theory of security and complacency, you’d become nonchalant about your most important work.
Complacency means you aren’t hungry. You don’t get out of bed in the morning excited about the day ahead. You don’t go the extra mile, and you settle for “good enough,” because you correctly suspect that most people won’t notice the difference.
This is sad, but common. I’ve let it happen to me many times.
I’m not sure why some people are able to succeed without any uncertainty. All I know is, I am not one of those people. I’m best as an untenured underdog. I’m best when the risk of failure is high and success is far from certain.
Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Riches
Because security can be such a demotivator, the opposite is true as well: a healthy amount of insecurity helps us Get Stuff Done. For example, I told you when I started writing here that I would post three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
You know what? I’m scared of missing a day, because I know if it happens, it will become a lot easier to miss another day sometime. I’ll discover that the world doesn’t end and no one is really that mad or anything. But then, I’ll get complacent. And that, I am absolutely certain, is NOT a good thing for me at all.
Steven Pressfield writes about this in The War of Art, the best little book (it really is little) I’ve ever read about the need for scheduling your creative work. Thus, I keep the schedule. I haven’t missed a day yet, even though there are a couple of times I’ve finished something at 11:45 p.m.
A Short Unconventional Guide Update
I’ll post up the promised analysis of the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself launch on Wednesday, but in short, it’s gone very well. A lot more people than I expected have purchased the guide, and in the beta-test for the new affiliate program (invitation-only for now), several affiliates are also having good results around the internet.
I talked to another blogger on the phone a couple of days before the launch, and I said that I hoped it sold well “but not too well.” He thought that was odd and had never heard someone say something like that before.
I realized he was right: it is odd. It’s just what works for me, and I don’t necessarily recommend you follow this model.
All I can say is that I want to keep the focus on the main group of readers, not just the small subset who choose to buy something from me. Anyway, I’ll give you all the details on Wednesday.
For now, bring on the uncertainty! The work will be better because of it.
Stay eager. Stay tough. Get up and fight. Nothing is guaranteed.
What else is there?
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Discount Airfare: Surviving Stress and Maximizing Fun
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In my trips around the world, I’ve been to a lot of conventional places and a lot of off-the-grid places. Among other things, these experiences have led me discover that some of the best destinations for travelers are not always “undiscovered.”
Many places have a well-deserved reputation for being cool, and some other places you’ve never heard of maintain that status for a good reason. Still other places have gained undeserved reputations for being somewhere you “must’ visit before you die – but whenever I’ve gone there, I’ve felt a bit disappointed.
I’ll tell you about 9 of those here, but…
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I was going to write about marketing today, but I found something more important: today is Blog Action Day, where at least 9,000 bloggers are writing about poverty. Here’s my contribution to that, and we’ll talk more about marketing next week.
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Hope and Despair
A lot of people have asked me to write more about Africa, and I feel somewhat conflicted about it. I’ve been waiting for a while in part because I’m not sure where to start, and in part because I want to avoid all the clichés and generalizations we tend to slip into when considering such a big subject.
The Blog Action Day inspired me to go ahead and get started with the process, and I know that some of you won’t hesitate to let me know if you think I’m on the wrong track.
A few years back, when I first started thinking seriously about writing (this came before the actual writing, ironically), I assumed I’d end up writing mostly about Africa. I figured I’d write a series of essays on my views of international development and a memoir of my time on the continent.
I even had a great name for it. Are you ready? Here it is:
Hope and Despair: Four Years in the Poorest Countries of Africa
Isn’t that great? Well… not really. The problem, as I found out the more I read, was that almost everyone who writes about poverty in Africa ends up using a similar theme.
This is because when it comes to the status of poverty in Africa, there is a lot to be hopeful about, and a lot to be sad about.
It’s fashionable these days to present positive images of Africa, which is good since a lot of people still picture famine, war, and desperate poverty when they think about the continent. That is not the only Africa, and I’m glad to read about a detective agency in Botswana, for example, where life is simple but good.
The problem, of course, is that many Africans still live in the desperate poverty we don’t see from the positive images. Many of them are still threatened by war or other violent conflict – in Somalia, Sudan, Central African Republic, the D.R. Congo, Angola, Guinea-Bissau – just to name the places that come to mind right away.
To avoid this fact seems to be untruthful. If some people are suffering and you talk only about how happy some other people are, you’re only giving one side of the story. I’ve been to too many refugee camps, usually with thousands of people living in tight spaces and depending on handouts from the U.N., to do that.
Sierra Leone was the first African country I visited, which was (and still is) ranked #177 out of 177 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index. In other words, you could credibly say it was the poorest country in the world.
It was a country of joy and sorrow, and thus we come to the clichéd dichotomy that is hard to escape. When I think about Africa, I can’t forget either one.
The Campaign to End Sell Poverty
In addition to one-sided hopeful stories, I’m also troubled by the marketing of poverty on the other end. While I do think it’s good that caring about what happens in Africa is now fairly mainstream, I find it jarring that images of poor people are regularly used to induce guilt and solicit money – in which case, the donor’s guilt is relieved until the next war or natural disaster.
I realize it’s probably for the better that people in the West are now actually paying attention to what happens in the rest of the world. Surely it’s better than not caring, which has been the norm for decades. But still, I think “cause marketing” has a long way to go, and I suspect that a few years from now we’ll look back and realize how pathetic some of it was.
A couple of years ago, it was fashionable around the University of Washington to wear Stop Genocide in Darfur t-shirts and bracelets. I confess to feeling somewhat cynical about that – although let the record be shown that I never tried to discourage anyone from being informed, because that would be evil.
But the heart of my cynicism, truth be told, came from the indisputable fact that wearing clothing with a nice slogan does not really help anyone. If a bracelet can prevent people from being killed and removed from their homes, I remember thinking at the time, will I help twice as many people if I wear one on each arm?
I believe the Generation X prophet known as John Mayer put it best in his song Belief:
Is there anyone who
Ever remembers
Changing their mind from
The paint on a sign
Is there anyone who
Really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time
Unfortunately, that’s not how genocide in Sudan will be stopped. Neither will shopping at the Gap or having a red iPod instead of a white one introduce a cure for AIDS.
Sorry, again. But because hope co-exists with despair, there is usually some good news along with the bad.
The goal of any good anti-poverty campaign, as I understand it, is to help people become rich enough to choose for themselves.
Hope relates to the ability to make your own choices. When you can make choices about healthcare and nutrition, you have more freedom. When you can make choices about the kind of employment you pursue and what kind of education your children get, you have even more freedom.
Despair is related to the lack of choices, and thus the lack of freedom. When poverty prevents you from choosing much of anything, it’s hard to be hopeful.
Food aid sent to Zimbabwe from Nebraska does not help increase wealth or opportunities for Africans to choose for themselves. Governmental aid in general, for the most part, doesn’t usually help either – at least it hasn’t for the last 40 years.
The best solutions usually come down to helping people create the opportunities to make their own choices. There are a variety of ways to do this – eradicating malaria so that children and elders don’t die from a mosquito bite, bringing clean water to villages, helping women become entrepreneurs and thus more independent, and so on.
The Action Plan (What We Can Do)
It’s not fair to tell you what I think is wrong with our understanding of poverty without telling you what I think can be done to help.
Here’s a few ideas:
Give freely of your time, not just your money. Yes, you can do something more than write a check. Really. There are local charities that need board members to serve and people to help host events. There are immigrant populations, and often resettled refugees or asylum seekers, in most major Western cities. These groups usually need help with all kinds of things, from grocery shopping to English lessons.
I believe that everyone should take the time to discover what they can give that no one else can. This sometimes takes a while, and it can be a process with a lot of false starts, but in the end, it’s worth it for everyone. And in the beginning, it’s OK to just start helping wherever you can. If you’re brave enough to start helping anywhere, you’ll probably figure out what you’re best at before long.
Create a strategy for financial giving instead of using the shotgun approach. In North American and European culture, it’s considered modest to underestimate your wealth. But don’t underestimate too much. If you’re reading this, the chances are you are incredibly rich. Seriously.
Where much is given, much more is required. After spending so much time in Africa, I could lose everything I had and I would never think of myself as poor. I’m not saying it would be fun; I just mean that I’m well aware of my privileged status in life. I don't always give as much as I should, but I'm trying to help as much as I can.
When in doubt, give anyway. Naturally, you should be careful about who you give your money to, but being too careful isn’t good either. One time Jolie and I met a couple on the bus ride from North Seattle to our apartment in Wallingford. The guy kept looking at us, and I decided to be a nice city-dweller for once and say hello.
He told me a story about how he and his wife were down and out, trying to find work, so on and so forth, but all he needed now was $15 to get transportation somewhere.
I’d heard similar stories many times over, and I wasn’t convinced. Jolie had a good vibe about them, though, so we went with her judgment and helped them a little. And as she put it later, what if we were wrong? We could afford the cash, which was less than we had just spent on dinner an hour earlier.
In the worst case scenario, we were wrong, they had lied to us, and we were out $15. It’s not that bad. What would really be bad is if they were telling the truth and we had refused to help when we were able.
Emergency relief efforts are important, but they rarely help with long-term development. A little-known secret of international development is that most emergencies are greatly overfunded, but most ongoing development projects are not.
I ask CARE, World Vision, and the other organizations I support to not send me “appeal” mailings. These are the emergency requests that arrive right after any major world disaster. They are effective because people tend to respond better to an urgent crisis than to something that will help people improve their lives for long in the future.
In reality, the best charities are focused not only on disaster response (which is often well-funded by governments) but also on long-term projects of 15 years or more that will truly help families and communities have more choices.
I like the model of CARE, which has made a number of courageous decisions to back away from accepting government funding that is tied to questionable practices. If you're looking for an organization to support, they do good work in 69 countries.
I will probably remain hopeful about some aspects of world poverty and not hopeful about others.
I wish it could be simplified further, but I don’t know how to do so. I'll keep trying to think through it, and I hope you'll do the same from your side over there. Regardless, I hope you'll agree that poverty is too pressing of a problem to ignore.
Today is a day where many of us are thinking about it, but I hope it won't be forgotten after the day is over.
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More Reading:
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For an older (but still stimulating) perspective, check out E.F. Schumaker’s Small Is Beautiful
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Jeffrey Sachs and William Easterly have an ongoing feud about the solutions for world poverty. I think Easterly is probably closer to the truth, but I admire Sachs’ persistence. See The End of Poverty and The Elusive Quest for Growth
- Mountains Beyond Mountains, the story of Paul Farmer and Partners In Health, is one of my favorite books of all time. After I read it the first time, I bought six copies to give to friends. Then I read it again. It’s that good.
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Unconventional Guides:
Working for Yourself: Creating Personal Freedom
Discount Airfare: Surviving Stress and Maximizing Fun
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Image from Copenhagen, Denmark by ilmungo“I fight authority; authority always wins.” –John Mellencamp
Citizens, consumers, and rebels of all kinds have been fighting authority for as long as history has been recorded. Sometimes they lose, as John Mellencamp sang in a great rock song, but other times, the underdog manages to unseat the strong and mighty.
I should say from the beginning that I don’t necessarily think all authority is bad. I’m in favor of gentle government regulation, general law and order, and checks and balances that prevent abuse of power by anyone. For this, you need authority. Anarchy is not a useful system of governance anywhere.
But sometimes, authority is dangerous and outright harmful. In these cases, it should be resisted in full force. Other times, authority may not be that bad, but it is used to prevent you from doing something that would be good for you without being harmful to anyone else.
In many of these cases, it’s worth it to stand up to authority… but you need a strategy.
From authority wielded by college administrators to world dictators, here’s how you fight it.
First, count the cost.
Be convinced you’re in the right before taking action. Fighting authority can be a long and lonely road, so take the time to make sure you believe in your campaign enough to sacrifice for it. (Yes, there will usually be sacrifice, and we’ll come back to that in a minute.)
Second, count the rewards.
Because the cost can be great, you have to decide if it’s worth it to you to challenge deep-seated authority. What will happen if you win? How will your world – and hopefully more than just your own world – be different?
In the Civil Rights Movement, for example, the reward of equality was clearly worth fighting for, but it was only fully achieved for a future generation – the children and grandchildren of the movement’s participants. Regardless, the participants believed in their cause so much that they were willing to suffer for something that would not be fully realized right away.
Other challenges to authority may not have the same level of rewards as an entire social movement, but there will always be a relationship between cost and rewards. Since you can only fight so many battles at a time you might as well pick something important.
Then, decide on Direct vs. Indirect confrontation.
One decision you’ll have to make when fighting authority is whether to do it directly or indirectly. The indirect way will usually be easier. You may be able to get what you want by simply going around the authority and finding your own way.
Direct confrontation is another beast altogether. Fighting authority one-on-one can lead to bloodshed – or at least hours on hold with customer service – but sometimes, there’s no other way.
To help you make the decision, first answer these two questions:
#1: “Is there another way to do this?”
When you’re confronted with authority that tries to prevent you from achieving your goals, think about whether there is any other way you can do what you need to do.
For example, there is usually another way to graduate from college, another way to earn a living, another way to get the airline to waive the baggage fee, another way to get a visa to Pakistan, or almost anything else.
Again, count the cost and count the rewards. If the traditional path isn’t that difficult, save your authority-fighting for something more important.
#2: “Can I simply ignore the authority standing in my way?”
Direct confrontation can be dangerous, because authority does not like to be challenged. Sometimes you can simply ignore authority and go through the back door.
In most of the African countries I lived in from 2002-2006, the government was relatively weak. Most citizens paid no taxes and lived nearly all their life outside the realm of the law. Disputes were resolved personally or by small, informal authority figures such as tribal elders.
If the citizens in most of these countries were to directly confront the government, the government would put up a fierce fight to put them down. No expense would be spared, and the fight would be brutal since no one likes to give up their power. But if the citizens were to just live their lives without challenging authority, the dictators (often benevolent, sometimes not) who ran the country would look the other way when the people chose to ignore many of the laws.
(In this system, citizens receive few benefits from the state, such as law and order, legal protection, and recognized home ownership, so it’s not necessarily a good way to live – but that’s another story.)
Next Stop, Sacrifice
A fundamental principle of lifestyle design is that you can usually have anything you want if you’re willing to work for it, but you can’t have everything. Tradeoffs must be made, and if you’re fighting authority, you may lose time, status, sleep, money, or worse. The bigger the challenge, the higher the risk of great sacrifice. Consider yourself warned.
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Successful Challenges to Authority
Let’s look at two examples of successful (but quite different) challenges to authority: the American Revolution, and the rise of online resistance to the mega-corporation.
The Pursuit of Happiness“I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.” –Thomas Jefferson
The American Revolution was remarkable in that it changed the norms of government for most of the Western world. Until America declared independence from the British Monarchy, most people took it for granted that a king would always be around to tell them what to do.
Just a few years later, the French Revolution followed the American one. In a short time, two of the world’s most powerful monarchies were dismantled or permanently weakened. Every world democracy, especially those who have overthrown monarchies or dictators to install a system of self-governance, owes a debt to the instigators and sustainers of the American Revolution.
Later, the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) followed the path of these revolutions by exposing the great conflict in American society: that even though “all men were created equal,” until the CRM, some were more equal than others.
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Shoppers Bite Back
Challenges to authority need not be governmental in nature. Consider the popular site The Consumerist. This is a great example of how the internet and adoption of social media has helped underdogs (consumers) fight authority (corporations).
For a long time, consumers who had somehow been cheated by corporations had few places to turn to for assistance. Sure, advocates like Ralph Nader helped us get seat belts and deal with major injustice, and perhaps the local news station’s investigative reporter could help once in a while, but for the most part, consumers were left to suffer the perceived injustice on their own.
Not so now. When a company like Best Buy screws someone over (judging from the site, it appears that Best Buy is a frequent target), the Consumerist posts up all the details. Thousands of people read it within minutes… and so does the company, because they are finally beginning to understand the destructive power of negative P.R.
In contrast to their preferred methods of communication, corporations have been forced to respond to many consumer complaints posted on the site. They do not always give in, but accountability has been introduced to the marketplace because of sites like the Consumerist.
Wrap-Up
I’ll have more to say about authority later, because this is a big topic… but for now, what do you think? What are some other examples of authority being successfully (or unsuccessfully) challenged?
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P.S. A quick note to everyone in Canada who is reading today -- Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you guys are enjoying your holiday. There is no need to fight authority up there at the moment, unless someone tries to take your pumpkin pie.
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