Blog

World Domination

22 essays

1. The Case for the $100 Business

   I’m working on this concept for a longer project, but for now, here’s the basic principle: Just as you don’t need someone else’s permission to be happy , you also don’t n

2. Practical Ways to Burn the Ships

   You may be familiar with the story of Hernán Cortés and his arrival in Veracruz. In order to prevent his crew from turning back from battle out of fear, he

3. Risk Something to Gain Something

   *** “If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.” -Jeff Bezos I don’t run an operation the size of Amazon.com, and

4. 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!

5. A Brief Guide to World Domination

   Originally posted on June 24, 2008 — Dear Worldchangers, Greetings from Seattle, Washington.

6. Welcome to the Real World

   Something’s been bothering me lately, and judging from what I know about the people who read these articles each week, I bet it’s bothered some of you before

7. 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.

8. 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!

9. Non-Independence Day

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

10. 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.

11. Not Realistic

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

12. Hello, My Name Is…

    I’m not a minimalist. I think it’s good to be intentional about what you own and how you take up space in the world, but I have no desire to move to a 300

13. How Does It Feel to Visit Every Country?

    I left Norway and began a slow journey home via the Pacific. I’m writing these notes from a Cathay Pacific flight to Tokyo, where I’ll transfer on to Los Angeles after staying one night. A

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 2009 Annual Review: Overview and Outline

    This is the first in a series of five articles about my Annual Review . Every year since 2005 I’ve set aside an entire week in December to look back on the previous year and set goals for the ne

20. 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

21. 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

22. The Artist in Each of Us

    First of all, welcome to my new readers. Many of you are coming over from Zen Habits in response to a guest essay I published there yesterday. The essay is called Three Truths to Creating a Life of Gr