Life : The Art of Non-Conformity

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Life

“There’s plenty of time.” (But what if there’s not?)

I've been working on a new, non-profit writing project that I'll share tomorrow. Here's a preview of the concept—for more on the project itself, see the note at the end or check back tomorrow.

A specter is haunting the internet. Everywhere you go, you hear about how you should slow down. First it was slow food (a good thing). Then there was slow living (not so good) and the rejection of striving and effort (even worse). The central part of this message is: “There's plenty of time. Stop hurrying and take it easy. Bake cakes, play in the forest, do what you want.”

Life

“What Should I Do With My Life?”

When I started AONC, part of the message I hoped to share was that it's OK to pursue an independent dream or idea. You don't need permission from anyone to do so. I'm not interested in criticizing anyone who wants a traditional life, but I also strongly believe in supporting those who want something different. The reality is that when you pursue your own agenda instead of someone else's, it's quite likely that some people won't understand. Yet, when you truly "wake up" from a life with terms dictated by someone else, the possibilities are endless.

Life

Happy Thanksgiving from the Homeland

Greetings from my corner of the world in Portland, Oregon. It's Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., a time when the internet shuts down and we all eat pie. Everyone else, feel free to enjoy the internet to yourself and eat pie along with us. Earlier this week I was in Cuba, my 174th country and final country in all of the Americas. I'll have more to say about my adventure there next week, but in short, I had a fantastic visit.

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Life

Second Chances

The first time I was busted as a juvenile delinquent, I wasn't actually arrested—apparently I was too young. I was eleven years old in a small town in rural Montana, and the way it was explained to me at the time, the laws in my state did not allow for juveniles to be charged with a crime before the age of thirteen.

My non-crime was burning down an abandoned house. I'd love to say it's a long story, but it's actually pretty short. I used to hang out in this abandoned house for fun, it had a lot of old mattresses lying around, and one day I decided to see what would happen if I lit one of the mattresses on fire. Surprise! When you light a mattress on fire and walk away, the whole house burns down. Homeschoolers, take note of this potential object lesson.

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Life

How To Put Off Making Decisions About Your Life

Everyone hates making decisions, especially ones that are important and determine the course of their future.

Thankfully, there's often no need to make such decisions.

Instead, you can simply put them off, often indefinitely. By shifting your life to autopilot, you'll be in good company, since many people prefer to let things come their way instead of making things happen.

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Life

The Quest

At first, you weren't sure you had it in you. Fear, doubt, naysayers, and what-ifs threatened to hold you back. You left anyway, determined to see it out. The people around you talked about consequences and the risk of uncertainty. Wouldn't it be safer not to go? Wouldn't you be better off homebound, shut off from the world in the comfortable setting you knew so well? You smiled and went anyway, knowing the real truth: consequences can just as well be positive. Unexpected surprises can be good. But if you don't go, you'll never know for sure.

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Life

Questions to Ask of the People Who Make the Rules

What, exactly, are the rules?

Why do these rules exist?

By whose authority are these rules upheld?

What's more important—the spirit or letter of these rules?

Life

A Placeholder Post for Mr. Jobs

I was planning to launch an online class today ("Working From the Road"), but when I heard the news last night, I knew it was better to wait. For those who are interested, we'll release the class tomorrow. Here at AONC, we never miss a scheduled post, so we're putting this up today.

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Life

This Time It’s Different

A common question in my Inbox reads something like this:

“I really want to pursue [activity, trip, or transition that involves change], but right now I can't because of [reason or roadblock]. I could spend the next [long period of time] preparing for the big change, but I worry if I wait, I may never do it. Should I apply myself for years to improve my situation, or should I find a way to do it now?”

Details vary, of course—but I hear versions of this question several times a day.

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Life

The End Is (Always) Near

Have you heard the one about the end of time? Yep—it's on the way.

Every day, we lose another 1,440 minutes that will never return. Farewell, minutes! Goodbye, opportunities.

The other day I noticed I had been thinking "I'll do that in the summer" about a lot of things.

Then I realized, hey, it's late August already ... seriously? How did that happen?

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Life

Things They Have No Right to Tell You

All of my relationships have failed, but here's what you should do about yours.

I've never written a book, but here's a list of everything that's wrong with yours.

My business failed, but here's how you should run yours.

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Life

What Are You Looking Forward To?

It's a fairly self-explanatory question: what's coming up in the near or faraway future that you're excited about?

I'll start. In the short-term, I'm looking forward to getting home from another long trip. It's been fun, beautiful, thrilling, and exhausting. I live on the edges and sometimes they catch up to me. But that's OK, because I'll be happy to do it again soon.

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Life

How to Do the Right Thing

From time to time, I write about the general subject of thinking for yourself—also known as why you don't need to take anyone's advice about much of anything. Whenever I do, I always receive lots of concerned emails from people who make their living by telling other people what to do, explaining why “surely” I don't mean to imply that their clients should stop giving them money to help them make their decisions.

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Life

The Moment You Knew

I've spent much of the past four months interviewing unconventional entrepreneurs for my next book, and throughout the process I learned what kind of questions solicit the best answers. For example, I often asked people whether their venture was "worth it," which might sound simplistic. Of course it's worth it! I've learned, though, that this question often leads to a good story, so that's why I ask. I also learned to ask if there was a specific moment when they knew for sure they would make it. These "moment they knew" stories can be fun and inspiring.

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Life

Legacy Projects and the Love of True Friends

When you begin to share your important work with the world, a funny thing happens: some of the people closest to you don't understand it. They damn you with faint praise, or they point out something trivial that could be improved. Sometimes they never say anything at all, which of course is the worst thing.

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