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non-conformity

98 essays

1. Killing Time

   I did a media call for a journalist on the subject of “time management” recently. When I heard the topic, I was worried: one, I don’t think I’m that great at

2. Lower Your Standards and Keep Going

   The second-best advice I ever heard about writer’s block came from a quote in last month’s Atlantic Monthly, where Sandra Tsing Loh said, “When faced with

3. Redefining Risk: On Disasters, Pre-Mortems, and Making Ideas Happen

   I recently had the chance to participate in the 99% Conference, a gathering of creative professionals produced by Behance.

4. Dreading the Holidays? It’s Not Just You.

   Do you find yourself dreading the holiday season, or just not excited about it? If so, I promise you’re not the only one.

5. Dreading the Holidays? It’s Not Just You.

   Do you find yourself dreading the holiday season, or just not excited about it? If so, I promise you’re not the only one.

6. Thelonious Monk and the Search for Value

   A long time ago, I was a jazz musician. I listened to Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans.

7. Starting a Business While Working a Full-Time Job

   For every self-employed person, there are a lot more people who would like to be. But many of these people already have jobs, and everyone is busy.

8. A Tale of 9 Startups

   Jon was inspired by a blog post that told him to quit his job and start a business.

9. Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World

   It happens to me every time I travel overseas. I talk with people who hear about where I’m going, and they always say the same thing: “That sounds amazing!

10. How to Fight Authority (and Win)

    “I fight authority; authority always wins.” –John Mellencamp Citizens, consumers, and rebels of all kinds have been fighting authority for as long as history

11. How to Write a Life List

    What if we could come to the end of our lives with true fulfillment, looking back on a rich history of experiences, relationships, and accomplishments?

12. What Makes a Community?

    A community is more than an audience. Here's the definition I keep coming back to—and the specific things a community needs to survive and grow.

13. All the Things You Don’t Need

    Have you seen the site Unnecessary Quotes? It’s fabulously sarcastic, offering a collection of signs that have quotation marks in all the wrong places.

14. Going to Extremes

    On the flight back from South America last week, the airline was showing Yes Man, a film starring Jim Carrey.

15. Notes on a Full Life, Live from CX 883

    Originally posted on August 20, 2009 — Hi everyone. I’m high on life and writing in from the Cathay Pacific LAX-HKG flight.

16. Fearless?

    This one goes out to all the people in the world who are afraid of something. Oh wait—perhaps I need to choose a smaller audience.

17. Why Not Try It All?

    Just say no. Assert your boundaries. You can’t do it all. There’s a time and a place for everything, sure, but is that always the best advice?

18. Mountain Climbing, Motivations, and The Deep-Seated Fear of Failure

    When I first started doing media interviews in 2008, I noticed that one question would almost always come up: “Why are you so obsessed with travel?” (I

19. The Good Student

    A while back I needed a reference letter from a professor from graduate school. I went to see the first guy I thought of, who was widely-known in the field

20. Beware of Life

    From January to September 2009, 21,833 people died in my home state of Oregon. Just like that, each one of them left the world—here one day and gone the

21. The Small Man Builds Cages for Everyone

    Every year I choose a personal theme, and in December I decided that 2010 would be the year of SCALE and REACH.

22. Starting With What You Have

    A couple weeks ago I went to Powell’s and heard J.D. Roth talk about taking personal responsibility over your financial life.

23. Fear and Permission

    When you speak at a Carnegie Mellon University event with Fearless as the theme, you’ve got a couple things to consider. One: it’s TedX!

24. Non-Independence Day

    I didn’t write an Independence Day post last week partly because I’ve been on the road.

25. The Four Burners Theory: What Do You Have to Give Up?

    The Four Burners Theory divides life into family, friends, health, and work. Does success always require turning one of them off?

26. Generous People Have More To Give

    A few weeks ago in Miami I only had a $5 bill when it came time to get out of the airport shuttle.

27. If You Love Something, You Have to Protect It

    You might have heard this advice before: “If you love something, set it free.” But I’m not so sure about that.

28. What Would You Do if You Knew You Would Not Fail?

    I like thinking about hypothetical questions, and this one is a good start. Most of us have some kind of dream trapped within us that has somehow become

29. Peak Moments

    Here’s a fun exercise: take 60 seconds and write down the peak moments of your life.

30. Who You Are and What They Say

    If you are confident, they will say you are arrogant. If you are deliberate, they will say you are too sure of yourself.

31. Chasing Daylight: Some Thoughts on Mortality

    I recently read two books about the choices people make when faced with the knowledge of their forthcoming death.

32. Not Realistic

    Realistic is the adjective of cynics. Wherever you encounter skeptics, naysayers, and charlatans, you will always encounter this word.

33. Worth Living For

    When I was a kid, I sat in the back of a lot of dramatic, late-night church services.

34. Lessons Learned from 11 Years of Travel

    Last weekend I had the honor of speaking to 600 people at Frequent Traveler University , a conference devoted to the world of points and miles. A longtime friend, Gary Leff , asked me to share a few l

35. “We’ve Got Plans for You”

    Amy returned from a working trip abroad. “Welcome home!” her boss said on the first day back at the office.

36. Whose Side Are You On?

    Originally posted on April 21, 2011 — Last week I went to see Ani DiFranco at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland.

37. The Need for Change

    I talked with my seatmate Rachel on the flight to Singapore. She was 6G, I was 6H—Cathay Pacific Business Class.

38. An Important Thing No One Will Tell You

    I talked with someone who was in the process of calling fifteen people to get their opinions on a project.

39. The “Hell Yeah” Roundup: Your Turn

    A lot of people mentioned that they liked the “hell yeah” test for making decisions mentioned here and condensed as follows: We all have to make decisions

40. 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.

41. 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

42. Things They Have No Right to Tell You

    Most of my important relationships have failed, but here’s what you should do about yours.

43. 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?

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. Life In the Tower, Somaliland Edition

    Many thanks to everyone who has been reading or supporting the launch of The Tower, my new manifesto.

47. An Academic Confession

    A long time ago, I sent a thick packet of information to Yale, explaining in considerable detail how awesome I was and why they should accept the honor of my

48. What to Do About Those People Who Sidetracked Your Life

    This article doesn’t have much to do with travel hacking or unconventional work. And in fact, it will only apply to a minority of the people who read it.

49. Warning Signs

    People will take over your life if you let them. How do they do it? Step 1: They begin by taking over your time.

50. The Reward for Conformity

    “The reward for conformity,” Rita Mae Brown said, “is that everyone likes you but yourself.” Thankfully, it’s not always quite that bad.

51. How to Do Big Things

    If you want to change the world, follow a dream, or otherwise find your own identity, you need to be able to do big things.

52. What Is Freedom?

    For me, everything began with the notion of freedom—the ability to determine the course of my daily schedule and overall life direction.

53. Powerful Words

    The words we use matter. Here are some examples of words or phrases that are especially powerful. Once upon a time. The most powerful words in storytelling.

54. Lessons from Illustrating The $100 Startup

    I’m back on the road to meet readers of The $100 Startup ! After a summer break where I hosted WDS 2012 with a great team, traveled to Yemen and Congo, and began work on an upcoming business pro

55. The Goal

    1. To wake in the morning full of life and energy, awaiting the day with anticipation and purpose.

56. Changing the System

    I’m back on the road, talking with interesting people every night. Many of them ask questions about “changing the system.” Everyone agrees it’s broken and

57. Will It Always Be Like This?

    The problem is that you want a new life, or at least some kind of substantive change.

58. Special Broadcast from the End of the World

    Dear friends and readers, Last week I made it to Norway, my final country after more than a decade of going everywhere.

59. What Does Independence Mean to You?

    What does independence mean to you? I asked our community on Facebook and Twitter this week, and here are a few things I heard. *** You don’t answer to someone else. You determine your own sched

60. Reducing Decisions to Focus Better

    From Robert Genn’s recent letter to artists: Choreographer Twyla Tharp’s Creative Habit, describes her morning routine of rising early and going through the

61. Giving the “A” Grade for the Person You’ll Become

    I’m flying to Tokyo for the weekend, which I’d say is a long story but it’s actually a short one.

62. Audit Yourself to Improve Your Circumstances

    From time to time, it’s good to sit back and ask yourself a few questions. Here’s a starting point. *** Are you happy? Are you doing something you enjoy?

63. Opportunities and Missing Bicycles

    The sun came out over Portland on Saturday morning in what felt like the first time in weeks.

64. The Past Wasn’t Better. Choose the Present Instead

    “The past always seems better when you look back on it than it did at the time. And the present never looks as good as it will in the future.” -Peter

65. Visiting the Art Museum

    A while back I was emailing with Julien, and one of his questions reminded me of a story I like to tell… “A lot of people probably relate to the idea of

66. The Virtue of Insecurity

    “When I wake up in the morning, I feel like any other insecure 24-year-old girl. Then I say, ‘Bitch, you get up and walk the walk today.’” ―Lady Gaga One

67. Don’t Join the Popularity Contest: Make It Happen Yourself

    Many times a day, I hear from someone who asks for help promoting a cause. They have something they’re working on and want to share it with me—totally fine.

68. How Can You Help Someone for Free? A Social Experiment

    Dear Readers and Amazing People, Greetings from Austin, Texas . I had a fun time yesterday with many SXSW attendees and residents of this great city. Special thanks to BookPeople for hosting, to Betty

69. The Bravest Thing

    What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done? I asked this question last week and was flooded with hundreds of great responses. Here are many of them, with links to the people who were brave

70. The Unconventional Strategy in Action

    Most of the time, the obvious way around an obstacle isn’t the only way. Looking for another option is called the unconventional strategy —when you have the same goal as anyone else, but you fin

71. If Everyone Becomes a Non-Conformist, Won’t We All Be Conforming?

    I used to get this question a lot, sometimes framed in skepticism but other times just curiosity.

72. The Agenda: Wrap-Up

    I started writing the Agenda series in Algeria two months ago, in preparation for the book launch and a week of guest blogging at Powells.com. There are a few points I left out of the series, most of

73. Lessons in Non-Conformity from Sesame Street

    A reader sent me this fun video from a long-ago sketch on Sesame Street: I love the turning point right at the halfway mark: Dan would do everything that

74. I Have a Book! (And I Need Some Help)

    The day before leaving on my final international trip of the year, the FedEx guy showed up at my door. Unfortunately, he did not have a package with my passport from Washington, D.C., which led to my

75. The Quest for 1 Million Photos: Interview with Thomas Hawk

    A quest combines a passion for something meaningful with a measurable goal. For example—visiting every country in the world. Running a marathon in all 50 states. And so on. Once in a while I discover

76. Your Backup Plan Is Your Plan

    My favorite part of reading case studies and interviewing entrepreneurs over the past couple of months has been hearing a number of stories with a recurring theme. In dozens of variations, the stories

77. Life in Sudan: Interview with an Anonymous Aid Worker

    Greetings, friends and readers. Today I have a personal interview with one of our group who reads AONC from the Sudan. Christine (not her real name) is from the U.S. and works in the international dev

78. Art and Plumbing: The Indispensable Interview with Seth Godin

    It’s no secret I’m a big fan of author and change agent Seth Godin . I’ve been reading his books since my years in West Africa (2002-2006), and he continues to produce excellent work

79. “It’s Only Life or Death”: Disaster and Opportunity Interview with John Unger

    This is the story of John T. Unger , a working artist who actually makes a good living. Despite the recession, each month in 2009 he’s made more money than in the same month last year, in additi

80. “Nothing Hitler Did Was Illegal”

    Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said this in response to questions about civil rights and the law. The point was that morality and the law are not always on the same side. I often think about this as

81. 7 Questions to Ask When You’re Feeling Stuck

    Do you ever feel stuck? I’m pretty sure we all do at some point. Feeling stuck is like feeling afraid: it happens to everyone, but not everyone gets past it.

82. If You Find Yourself Dreading Appointments You Made Long Ago, Start Asking “Would I Do This Tomorrow?”

    You know the feeling you get when an appointment approaches on your calendar and you’re not looking forward to it? Maybe you’re even dreading it?

83. The Greatest Story Ever Sold 💵

    Two weeks ago, I wrote about how money mistakes are temporary. My main argument was that unlike other kinds of mistakes, money mistakes rarely have permanent

84. Why People Hate Marketers

    Hey everyone, I’m reporting live from Rarotonga in the South Pacific . It’s a nice place! Details on Monday. But first, I have an important message from our sponsor. (Yes, that would be me

85. The Courage to Change Your Mind

    Here’s a helpful filter to know when to worry: does something sound too good to be true, or does it sound so bad that people give up and stop thinking for

86. Unconventional Business Ideas

    The AONC readership has expanded quite a bit recently, and I know that not everyone here cares about business. Even though I’ve made my living as an entrepreneur for more than 10 years, I’d like to le

87. Just Because it’s Supposed to Work Doesn’t Mean it Will

    Dan finished his education degree without ever stepping into a classroom.After he graduated, he realized he didn’t like teaching and wasn’t good at it.

88. By Any Means Necessary

    February is Black History Month in the United States, where we recognize the achievements of African Americans and honor our culture of diversity. A lot of attention during this time is focused on the

89. Expanding the Pie

    It’s time for a confession: lately I’ve been stuck in a mindset of scarcity. Instead of focusing on abundance, I’ve been thinking about petty things. Naturally, I don’t like this, but I’m not sure how

90. A Short Note on Bridge Jumping

    When you were a kid and wanted to do something your parents or teachers didn’t like, you may have heard the question, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?” The idea is that it’s not good

91. The Key to Productivity Isn’t More Rest, it’s Intentionality

    Link: “Darwin Was a Slacker” For some of us, the notion that working only part-time on a legacy project is the best approach is tempting.

92. The Family Who Doesn’t Understand

    Several times on the never-ending book tour, people came up to me with multiple copies of my book for signing.

93. Be Careful of Telling Your Origins Story Over and Over

    The time came for the interview and I logged into Skype with my headset. After a few minutes of small talk, the host pressed the record button and began with

94. Qualifications

    Sometimes people ask about my qualifications. It’s a fair question with a simple answer: I have none.

95. A Short Collection of Unconventional Ideas

    GENERAL A year after you leave college, no one will care what your GPA was. Once you fully understand what you want, it’s not usually that difficult to get

96. If You Want to Make Money, Don’t Study Hard in School

    If you want to make money, question the rules and don’t study hard in school. That’s the finding of a new study: In 1968, researchers began studying

97. The One-Year, Alternative Graduate School Program

    What if learning wasn’t confined to a rigid program in a university? What if you could begin learning now, without going back to school?

98. Develop Your Dominant Questions

    One time, Will Smith was working on a film set in Toronto. It was the middle of winter and they were shooting night scenes, so the actors and crew worked 6pm