The Art of Non-Conformity

Life

A Short Note to My Amazing Readers

Hey everyone,

First, if you read the blog: you really are amazing. Thank you.

Second, I’ve written here for more than seven years without a break—and I'm not anywhere close to being burned out. Why put a pause on something you love and find meaningful? Breaks are boring.

This week, though, my family experienced an unexpected loss that has left us all shaken. While I would like to keep publishing posts without missing a beat, the reality is that I need to step away from the blog for a bit.

How long is a bit? I’m not entirely sure right now. It will probably be at least 2-3 weeks, and possibly longer.

I promise to be back as soon as I can. I love this work and will miss it while I’m gone.

In the meantime, WDS is coming up in full force in Portland. We’re extremely excited to welcome thousands of people to town for our fifth annual celebration. If you’re coming, know that we have a highly capable team ready to welcome you. (And I’ll be there every moment too, of course.)

Until we meet again, grace and peace be with you all.

Chris Guillebeau

Profiles

The Five-Year Road Trip: Two Adults and Two Teenagers Live Full-Time in an RV

This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

Dissatisfied with the typical suburban lifestyle, the Boyinks packed up their teenagers and hit the road. For the past five years, they've lived together in an RV, traveling America, meeting like-minded families and having adventures.

Originally, we traveled based on what we wanted to see. Now, we focus on who we want to be with. We’ve made friends with other traveling families and route planning is more collaborative.
Admittedly, there’s been some talk of finding land where we could all park our RV’s, let our kids hang out, grow a garden together, and just come and go as the need arises. The more we talk about it the more it starts to sound like a hippie commune...but maybe that isn’t so bad.

Work

Creative Ways to Succeed in the Knowledge Economy

Reading:

***

I enjoyed each of these stories that have been floating around.

If you want to be negative, there’s at least one major point you could critique about each of them. The woman making tons of money on Etsy isn’t actually handcrafting most of her items, which is the guiding value of Etsy. The Rideshare Guy is essentially trading time for money. The poets, well, I guess you could say it’s more of a party trick than real poetry.

Et Cetera

6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XLVII

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Courage, Happiness, and Gratitude -- What if you took the stage with no idea of what to say?
Jordan from the Air -- An aerial tour of one of my favorite countries
The Modern Nuns -- From a Star Trek enthusiast to a former trade union worker, women share their stories about why they chose the religious life
Amazon Publishing -- Interview with a newly published author
All Our Sons -- A real-time map of sunrises and sunsets built from Instagram posts
How Small Could You Go -- Awesome photos of a hidden, tiny Japanese hotel

Travel

Ending Soon: Earn $200 or 20,000 Points with No-Fee Offer Before June 24

Link: Double Signup Bonus for Chase Freedom

While I’ve been writing a book and preparing to welcome a few people to town, I’ve been greatly neglectful in mentioning several great travel offers as of late.

At any rate, there’s still time for this one: for the next few days, you can earn TWICE the usual signup bonus for one of the best no-fee offers out there, the Chase Freedom card.

Technically, it’s described as $200 cash back after a low $500 minimum spend, and you can certainly get the card and put $200 in your pocket. There’s no annual fee, ever.

However, the better use of the card for many people is to convert the $200 into 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points. Those points can then be used to transfer to any number of airline and hotel partners directly, and in many cases you’ll get a much better valuation than $200.

Profiles

All-Female Film Crew Hikes 338 Miles of the California Aqueduct

This is a quest case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

Drought is on the minds of every Californian these days, but Samantha Bode took the water shortage a step further. First, she began to think about the water of Los Angeles itself—where it comes from, and why. This thinking led her on an exciting journey.

My name is Samantha. This summer, I'm backpacking all 338 miles of the Los Angeles aqueduct, from Owens Valley in Inyo County to Upper Van Norman Lake in Granada Hills.
The city of LA gets most of its water from hundreds of miles away, often leaving ecological destruction in its wake. On top of that, California is experiencing its worst drought on record, and people are not conserving water at the rate they need to in order to preserve this resource they need to live.
We’re taking the journey and making a documentary, The Longest Straw, to raise awareness of water importation and management. We hope to encourage people to form a personal connection with their water by seeing where it comes from.

A Simple Thing You Can Do To Improve Any Relationship

What if there was one thing you could do to be a better friend, partner, or spouse?

It's pretty simple: to improve any relationship, honor the other person’s dreams.

Figure out what they want to do, to become, or achieve, and then help them do it. Don't do it for them—it's their dream, after all—but show interest and offer tangible support.

How can you do that today?

Profiles

“We Don’t Know What it’s Like Not to Travel”: On the Road with Sarah Glashegal and Scott Haywood

Sarah and Scott are at an exciting time in their lives: after incorporating regular travel into their routing, they're now transitioning from a rooted life in America to a more nomadic lifestyle. Here's their story.

I’m Sarah, and my partner is Scott. We met several years ago and fell in love - not just with each other, but also with the realization that we could fulfill lifetime dreams of traveling the world with the one we love.

We've lived mostly in the Midwestern U.S., but Scott recently took a job teaching at a middle school on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas, where I’ll soon move full-time.

One of our passions has been learning about the work of artisans we meet in our travels. This turned into an online business called From Around the Globe to help these artisans reach a wider audience. In doing this, we’re actually aligning with our core values: to be respectful, caring, and helpful members of the world community.

To Be More Creative, Schedule Your Work at 80% Capacity

I'm fortunate to work with great partners, including a wonderful design studio right in Southeast Portland called Jolby & Friends.

I was recently with the Jolby crew on a site visit, and one of them mentioned something about how they deliberately operate their studio on an "80% capacity" model.

The idea is that they schedule themselves only 80% full in order to be available for last-minute client requests, as well as their own work. I thought this was really interesting!

I wrote to Steven, the studio manager, to ask more about how it works.

Profiles

Going Back to Kindergarten at Age 28: Melia Dicker’s Quest

This is a quest case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

Have you ever wanted to go back to part of your school days knowing what you know now? In her part-Billy Madison style, part-personal development quest, Melia Dicker did just that.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a kid, I loved to write stories and draw, but as I got older, I began to focus on school at the expense of everything else. I put immense pressure on myself to get perfect grades and test scores.
I operated under the assumption that doing well in school would lead to a life as a happy, self-assured, and financially stable adult. But six years out of college, I realized that I was none of those things. The habits that had made me an excellent student were the very habits that made me terrible at being an autonomous adult.

Work

You Don’t Have to Win at Everything

I had coffee with an aspiring entrepreneur who was struggling with priorities.

“I worry I’m doing everything wrong!” he said.

Everywhere he went, people gave him free advice. They told him about email marketing ... and webinars ... and the latest new social network ... and all the things he had to do to keep up.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to do all these things," he continued. "I can hardly keep up with the list!"

Well, that’s the thing. First of all, it’s very hard to fully "keep up" these day. There’s always a new network to learn, a new tool to master. There’s always one more thing that can be done.

Et Cetera

6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XLVI

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Quiet Revolution -- an inspiring new community for introverts, made by our good friend Susan Cain
The Man Who Loved Only Marbles -- Video of a man who's been spending several hours a day with marbles for more than 60 years
Saving $150 in Airfare by Searching Better -- When connecting in a hub city, sometimes it's best to search for each segment one-by-one
Graffiti Just Like Grandma Used to Make -- Because seniors like to tag, too
Elevator Training -- Why Germany now requires people to be trained before using some elevators
The Fabricant Way -- A new webcast series featuring stories of artisans and creative entrepreneurs

Life

Don’t Make a Bucket List; Make a List of 100 Dreams

OK, it’s kind of like a bucket list. But it’s a really big one! From Laura Vanderkam:

In 168 Hours, I recommended creating something called a “List of 100 Dreams.” This exercise, which was shared with me by career coach Caroline Ceniza-Levine, is a completely unedited list of anything you might want to do or have more of in life. It’s like a bucket list, but most people don’t get all the way to 100 when creating a bucket list. The point is to really think about what you might like.

I also wrote about these lists a lot in The Happiness of Pursuit. I call them "life lists," on the theory that the lists should be well-rounded and not only consist of adventure travel kinds of goals.

But hey, whatever you call it, make a list! I love the challenge of trying to get to 100 items.

Travel

“Make Your Dream Trip a Reality”: Live Wrap-Up Tomorrow at 9am

Link: Live Broadcast (Friday at 9am Pacific)

Hey everyone! After nearly thirty lessons in our #DreamTrip course, we're going back to Seattle tomorrow for a live finale and our final lesson.

You can join Stephanie Zito, myself, and a few audience members live at 9am PDT Friday morning and ask questions or tell us about your own Dream Trip.

This has been quite the journey with many of you. And if you haven't seen any of the course before now, don't worry—we'll be recapping key points and telling you how to catch up.

Profiles

A Traveler Who Loves Coming Home: On the Road with Megan Cain

This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

I love finding people who are able to incorporate travel into their lives without making it their whole life. Here's how Megan Cain has done just that.

After college, I lived in San Francisco before packing up and moving to a rural, 100-person town in Missouri to live at an eco-village and learn how to garden. I felt a pull towards growing my own food. My move was a leap of faith that changed my life forever. I lived in a 90-square-foot cabin, met my future husband, and started the basis of a career in sustainable living. Mark and I are now have jobs, enjoy owning a home and being rooted in Madison, Wisconsin, while incorporating longer travel adventures into our lives.

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