Writing

Chris at Coffee Shop on Capital Hill, Seattle

You write in order to change the world…. The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” -James Baldwin

Manifestos

If you’re new here, start with my free PDF manifesto, A Brief Guide to World Domination. There is also a resource page with reviews from bloggers, a video update, and more information.

The sequel, 279 Days to Overnight Success, tells the story of this web site in the form of a case study with lessons for anyone interested in writing and social media.

International Travel

I have been traveling to far-off places for most of my life, although in the past five years I’ve increased the pace. You can read about my trips on the master list of where I’ve been or in the trip reports archives.

These articles provide an introduction to my thinking about travel:

28 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Traveling. When you first head off to places in the world that are a lot different from where you live, a number of things change. You have to learn to adapt. I still make a lot of mistakes everywhere I go, but I try to learn from each of them.
Packing List. Everything I take with me for a two-week trip around the world.
100 Countries or an S.U.V.? A few years ago, I calculated the cost of visiting 100 countries and determined that it would equal the cost of a large car. Which would you choose?
Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World. A short manifesto for the values of international travel versus traditional work.
A Short Narration of my Travels So Far. Everywhere I went prior to beginning this web site in February 2008.

World Domination

I believe you can do great things for yourself while helping others at the same time. These articles provide an introduction to my thinking about personal development and life design:

How to Be Awesome. If you can be awesome, a lot of other things don’t matter. However, telling someone to “go and be awesome” is frustrating, even to people who are completely capable of being awesome. How can you really do it? This list is a good start.
How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review. Every year since 2005, I’ve spent the better part of a week in late December planning my life for the next year. Overall, this is probably the best decision I’ve made in terms of working towards multiple goals simultaneously.
How To Respond to Critics. When you set out to change the world, critics will inevitably try to stop you. Here’s how you deal with them.
The Decision To Be Remarkable. You only get one life. You can be average like most people, or you can really do something great.

Work and Entrepreneurship

I haven’t worked at a real job in more than 10 years, choosing to earn a living instead through several changing forms of self-employment. From 2002-2006 I was a volunteer executive for a medical charity in West Africa, after that I built a small publishing business while attending graduate school, and I now write full-time for this site and the related Unconventional Guide business.

These essays provide an introduction to my thinking about work and entrepreneurship:

Unconventional Business Ideas. Give everything away, help people, avoid meetings, ignore competition, don’t listen to anyone. (It really works.)
Why People Hate Marketers. Abundance versus scarcity in internet marketing. Which would you choose?
Creating a Legacy Project. Grad school, check. New city, check. Business, travel, volunteer work, marathon training, check. But despite the fact that these were worthwhile ways to spend my time, I knew something big was missing.
How To Stand Out in Any Job. The clear alternative to showing up and ambling through a workday.
The Flip Side of Entrepreneurship and Freedom. Freedom is the greatest benefit to working for yourself, but it also presents challenges of its own.

Syndication and Guest Writing

Some of my travel writing is syndicated weekly on Huffington Post. Other versions appear on Anderson Cooper’s 360 site and CNN.com. I write a monthly travel column for the Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon, and additional blog posts for OregonLive.com.

My guest writing has appeared around the web on BusinessWeek, LifeHacker, Zen Habits, Copyblogger, Get Rich Slowly, ProBlogger, Unclutterer, International Affairs Quarterly, and a few academic journals.

Some of the articles include:

Complete Archive

View the full Art of Non-Conformity archive by topic below:

279 Days, Entrepreneurship, Gratitude, Life, Miscellaneous, Nonconformity, Personal Development, Postcards, Travel, Trip Reports, Site Updates, Unusual Experiences, Video Posts, Work, World Domination