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Scholarships for Real Life: Now Accepting Applications!

unnamed Link: Scholarships for Real Life 2016 Applications

The WDS Foundation seeks to put the right resources in the hands of amazing people who are acting on the three core values of WDS—community, adventure, and service. We do this by providing what we call "Scholarships For Real Life."

The goal of these scholarships is to empower individuals to pursue their dreams and positively impact a community.

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Life

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“Don’t Pursue Something that Someone Said You Should Want”: Derek Sivers at WDS

19482941249_1d60667f8b_z In early spring 2016 we’ll release the last (small and final) round of tickets for WDS 2016, a global gathering like no other! If you'd like to join us, be sure you're on the waiting list for first notice.

But first, we’re rolling out speaker videos from the 2015 event. Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, author of Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, and all around non-conformist shared with us his secrets of success.

Check out the video!

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Life

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“Pain Deserves Acknowledgement, Not Repair”: Megan Devine at WDS

Next week we’ll release the first round of tickets for WDS 2016, a global gathering like no other!

But first, we’re rolling out a series of speaker videos from the 2015 event. Megan Devine, author of the audio book, When Everything is Not Okay: Practices to Help You Stay in Your Heart & Not Lose Your Mind, challenged us to approach life's challenges differently for ourselves and the people we love.

Check out the video!

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Life

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“Your Heart Will Always Lead You Home”: Lissa Rankin at WDS

Soon we’ll release the first round of tickets for WDS 2016, a global gathering like no other!

But first, we’re rolling out a series of speaker videos from the 2015 event. Lissa Rankin, physician and New York Times bestselling author of popular books like Mind Over Medicine and The Fear Cure, spoke to us about listening to our heart to find our purpose.

Check out the video!

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Life

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“Most of Us Have a Deep Desire to Be Great”: Lewis Howes at WDS

In just a few weeks, we’ll release the first round of tickets for WDS 2016, a global gathering like no other!

But first, we’re rolling out a series of speaker videos from the 2015 event. Lewis Howes, host of the popular podcast The School of Greatness, shared his own story about how he found the secret to greatness.

Note: In this video, Lewis shares a number of personal stories for the first time, including one that contains sensitive information.

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What Happened at WDS 2015? Unfiltered Attendee Reviews, Round II

Here's Round I.

After spending hundreds of hours in preparation and then hosting a week-long adventure for thousands of awesome people, I don’t usually say much about it afterward, at least not on the blog. I’m a writer who doesn’t do a writeup.

Thankfully, our attendees do a much more thorough job—and wouldn’t you want to read the unfiltered reviews anyway?

Every year we see hundreds of blog posts from attendees. Here’s the first second round of unfiltered reviews and opinions on a variety of topics related to WDS.

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One Log Cabin and 800 Yoga Mats: Some Unconventional Tax Deductions from My Life in 2014


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My tax return is complicated for a lot of reasons. First, I run several different businesses which all have their own set of accounting. WDS, our annual gathering, has its own legal structure, including a foundation that is completely separate from all my other projects. Last year we started an all-new event that also has its own legal structure.

So yeah, it’s complicated. It takes about 20 hours just to prepare all the info for my accountant, and as with most tax-prep tasks, it’s not usually a fun process. But I do enjoy seeing some of the charges on my statements from the previous year. They remind me of the crazy life I have, and the many fun experiences that I'm fortunate to participate in.

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“Scholarships for Real Life” WDS Foundation Is Now an Official Non-Profit

In 2013 we announced that all profits from WDS will go toward our new foundation, featuring Scholarships for Real Life.

In 2014 we announced the first grantees and $60,000 of initial awards to three individuals working on sensitive, important issues: a “kids-first” ADHD movement, LGBT empowerment, and life-skills training for youth.

Minddrive The process of gaining 501(c)(3) status is cumbersome and often takes more than a year. I wish it took a bit less time, but I do understand the reasoning. The IRS wants to make sure that non-profits are legit, so you have to work for it!

Anyway, I was excited to hear from our foundation’s Executive Director, Katie Hurst, that we are officially legit. All donations to the foundation are now tax-deductable, though for now we aren’t actually soliciting deductions—we’re just funding the account through any surplus WDS revenue.

The next phase of applications for this year’s awards will open next week.

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