The Art of Non-Conformity

Et Cetera

Feeling sad on the holidays? Me too. Here’s all I know how to do.

Maybe you like hearing Christmas music in September. Maybe you can’t get enough of Rudolph's story of triumph over reindeer bullying. And let's all pour another glass of egg nog!

If you’re wearing matching sweaters while stringing lights and singing carols with your family, good for you. I really do mean it. Take joy whenever and however you can.

The thing is, not everyone feels joyful this season. In fact, not everyone likes the holidays in general. Some of us actively dread this season, because it tends to correspond with seasons of sadness.

Sometimes these seasons of sadness are connected to specific events, and sometimes they aren’t.

Life

When You’re Stuck in a Hole, Look for Someone to Join You: A Lesson in Empathy

A man is walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out.

A doctor passes by and the man shouts up, “Hey you! Can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on.

Then a priest comes along and the man shouts up, “Father, I’m down in this hole. Can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole, and moves on.

Then a friend walks by. “Hey, it’s me," the man calls out. "Can you help?” And then the friend jumps in the hole...

Life

A Field Guide to Wandering in the Wilderness of the Soul

When you’re wandering cobblestone streets in Europe, stopping at cafes and making unexpected discoveries, it’s fun to lose your way and wander off the well-trodden path. You’re on an adventure! When you’re out on a long run and don’t mind if you take a wrong turn or two, you know that the extra distance is good for you.

But here’s the thing: you’re not really lost in those situations. You’re exactly where you wanted to be, even if you didn’t know it before you took the detour. That’s why "getting lost" feels oddly welcoming.

When it comes to wandering in the wilderness of the soul, however, it’s a different situation. This is the wilderness where you feel truly lost. You lack direction, enthusiasm, or purpose—or maybe all three. You don’t know what to do, and every option you can see feels like two steps backwards.

Travel

5 First Steps for Travel Hacking

If you’re new to this blog, one of the things I write about is travel hacking—the art of having incredible experiences that would otherwise be unobtainable for most people.

It’s a bit different from budget travel, which tends to focus on staying on hostels, flying on low-cost carriers (LCCs), etc. Travel hacking can not only help you travel, it can help you travel better.

I stumbled on this world by accident. I just wanted to learn to travel for less, and then I got upgraded on a transatlantic flight. When it happened again a year later, I was hooked. Then a couple years later, I began my quest to visit every country in the world.

Travel hacking allowed this experience to be much, much cheaper. I can say with confidence that a full third of the 11-year project was either free or nearly free thanks to miles and points.

Life

The Limits of Lifehacking: What Happens When You Approach Optimization?

I have a weird memory of my dad explaining math to me when I was a kid. I never actually learned real math, at least once it went beyond how to pocket extra lunch money, and still haven’t learned 30-odd years later.

But my dad was a good storyteller, and often taught me lessons using examples. One time he told me how if you stood across the room and moved halfway toward the wall, and then halfway again, and then kept moving only halfway over and over, you would never actually reach the wall.

As a ten-year-old, my mind was blown. You'll never reach the wall if you only move halfway, even if you spend 10 years moving over and over?

Work

201 More Stories of People with Day Jobs Creating Side Hustles

Listen to Side Hustle School:

-in iTunes or Stitcher
-on the website

On January 1, I began a new project: to share a story every day of someone who starts an income-generating project (a "side hustle") without quitting their day job.

The project failed and I decided to give up. Just kidding! We are relentlessly moving along, publishing story after story—and it's getting better and better!

I recently completed the first ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300 days. There's much more to come, but I'm excited about everything I've learned since beginning back in January.

If you're just joining in, you can also catch up on any recent episode from the links below.

Download all episodes from each month:

JAN | FEB | MARCH | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT

Life

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. You win by getting unstuck, not by skipping the process entirely.

When you feel stuck, asking why is often helpful. But just asking "Why am I stuck?" doesn't always work, because feeling stuck can be more of a general sensation than a specific ailment.

So here are a few other questions that might help you figure things out. Ask them to yourself and see what your self has to say.

Work

Pandering Never Builds a Legacy

I’m as guilty as anyone else who says that to build a business, or a blog, it’s good to ask people what they want and then give it to them. It works!

But there’s another side to this thinking, and I heard the counterpoint presented beautifully last week by Paula Pant.

For years, she's published a popular blog about personal finance. But as she shared in a talk, after starting down the familiar path of "Hey everyone, what should I write for you?" she realized that maybe it was better to ask herself what she wanted to do.

Life

“We’re not supposed to fit in, we’re supposed to stand out.”: Agapi Stassinopoulos at WDS

Agapi Stassinopoulos is a best-selling author and speaker who inspires audiences around the world. In her previous book, Unbinding the Heart: A Dose of Greek Wisdom, Generosity, and Unconditional Love, she shares the wisdom from her life’s adventures and experiences. In her new book, Wake Up to the Joy of You: 52 Meditations and Practices for a Calmer, Happier Life, she takes readers on a journey and inspires them to let go of what doesn’t work and instead create the lives they really want.

Beginning and ending her keynote with joy and dancing to the delight of the WDS 2017 community, Agapi challenged us to claim everything we want with 'chutzpah' because we're good people and we deserve it. Agapi shared her belief that each of us carries the light that the earth needs right now.

Life

“Don’t ask if you should give up, ask if you should try something different”: Benny Lewis at WDS

Benny Lewis is the language hacker, National Geographic Traveler of the year, and author behind the hugely successful Fluent in 3 Months blog and international best selling book. For a decade and a half he has traveled the world, immersing himself in local cultures and learning local languages. He can speak 7 languages fluently, and can get by in many more, despite the fact that he only spoke English at the age of 21.

In his opening keynote for WDS 2017, Benny Lewis emphasized that logic trumps luck. Luck is actually beating the odds, seeing the whole picture, and having an open mind. Benny encourages people to make their own luck, to gravitate to situations with unpredictability, and to use math and reasoning to understand situations—rather than listening to the universe or relying on destiny.

Life

Welcome, New Readers! What The Art of Non-Conformity Is All About

I’ve had a lot of new people join my blog recently, mostly from all the media coverage about my new book. Welcome!

If you’re just joining, here’s a quick explanation of what all of this is about. I started this blog wayyyyy back in 2008. My mission is to help people live unconventional lives, especially through self-employment and travel, but also the general theme of non-conformity.

At the time I started, I was pursuing a big quest to visit every country in the world by my 35th birthday. I achieved that goal and wrote a book about it called The Happiness of Pursuit. I also wrote a book called The $100 Startup, and my newest book is SIDE HUSTLE.

But enough about me. What can you find here on the site? A lot of things, but let’s focus on three areas.

Life

“It’s not about dollars or followers. It’s about long-lasting impact”: Mohammed Faris at WDS 2017

Our second superhero in our WDS 2017 speaker video series is Mohammed Faris.

Mohammed is an international author, speaker, and leader of a community with more than one million people. He started his journey in 2007 when he became obsessed with the question: "Can faith boost productivity?" Mohammed has since spent the last decade trying to answer this question—from his own Islamic faith tradition—his popular blog, ProductiveMuslim.com, and his new book The Productive Muslim: Where Faith Meets Productivity.

At WDS 2017 Mohammed taught us about the missing soul of productivity—leveraging spirituality to boost our productivity. There's a hidden element of success that, in the Islamic tradition, is called "Barakah." It can help you do more with less and live beyond your expectations.

Life

“Worrying is Not an Investment in Failure Prevention.”: Vanessa Van Edwards at WDS

Big news: we'll soon be releasing tickets for WDS 2018, our 8th annual gathering of creative, remarkable people taking place next summer in beautiful Portland, Oregon. I'd love to see you there!

For the last 7 years tickets for WDS have sold out, so make sure to join the waiting list to be the first to get notified. The next ticket sale is Wednesday, October 25th!

Leading up to the sale, I'll be sharing speaker videos from this past year's 2017 event—and here's our first, Vanessa Van Edwards.

Life

For All the Things You Can’t Control, Remember “This Too Shall Pass”

Just as there are some things that can’t be fixed, there are also some things you can’t control. This fact can be hard to accept for those of us who like to both fix and control things.

You might have a lot of influence, all the autonomy you could wish for, and independence for days—but when it comes to things you can’t control, none of that matters.

I was reading a thread on Quora recently and noticed a recurring theme in what people mentioned as being outside the realm of control.

Work

Making Money From More Than One Paycheck Can Help You Follow Your Dreams

This year I’ve been focused almost entirely on helping people take action. Side Hustle School, my daily podcast, shines a spotlight on people who are creating freedom and security for themselves (and making more money, too).

In my new book, SIDE HUSTLE, you’ll get a 27-day plan to go from idea to income. It’s meant to be as straightforward as possible: follow this plan and you will have something to show for it within a month.

A few people have asked: why is everything so practical? What happened to “follow your dreams”?

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Chris Guillebeau

Feeling sad on the holidays? Me too. Here’s all I know how to do.

When You’re Stuck in a Hole, Look for Someone to Join You: A Lesson in Empathy

A Field Guide to Wandering in the Wilderness of the Soul

5 First Steps for Travel Hacking

The Limits of Lifehacking: What Happens When You Approach Optimization?

201 More Stories of People with Day Jobs Creating Side Hustles

Listen to Side Hustle School:

Download all episodes from each month:

7 Questions to Ask When You’re Feeling Stuck

Pandering Never Builds a Legacy

“We’re not supposed to fit in, we’re supposed to stand out.”: Agapi Stassinopoulos at WDS

“Don’t ask if you should give up, ask if you should try something different”: Benny Lewis at WDS

Welcome, New Readers! What The Art of Non-Conformity Is All About

“It’s not about dollars or followers. It’s about long-lasting impact”: Mohammed Faris at WDS 2017

“Worrying is Not an Investment in Failure Prevention.”: Vanessa Van Edwards at WDS

For All the Things You Can’t Control, Remember “This Too Shall Pass”

Making Money From More Than One Paycheck Can Help You Follow Your Dreams

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