The Day of Genius is just over two weeks away! The whole day is going to be great fun (watch the new video, complete with blue hair and distracting kitty, right here) and I’m especially excited about my seminar, Your Map to Happiness in 2012.

I’ve put together a workbook of fun worksheets to help Day of Genius ticket-holders get the most out of the experience, and just because I can and it’s the end of the year and holiday season and all that, I decided to share them with you, my blog readers, in a series of posts over the next couple of weeks.

The end goal? To create a colorful, collaged vision map of your goals and dreams for 2012.

We’ll be going back to kindergarten, so get ready to dig out the glue stick and crayons at the end of this series. Whether or not you’re able to join us at the Day of Genius, I hope the worksheets you find here will help get you sparked up for a creative and productive 2012!

The Power of Focusing

If you’re anything like me, your dreams and goals are all over the map (no pun intended), and there are a lot of them. If I were to lead you in a grounding & centering exercise to get you relaxed and energized, and then just set you loose to create a collage of your 2012 goals, it might be a ton of fun, but it probably wouldn’t have a lot of focus or clarity.

Just like a magnifying glass can focus the diffuse light of the sun to build up heat and actually start a fire, when you hone in and focus, you concentrate your powers in a way that not only feels more satisfying, it allows you to create much greater change.

And what we’re going after here is change! Transformation. Movement from the “now” picture, to the picture where you’re living out your biggest, wildest, most delicious dreams and goals.

It’s hard to create wonderfulness from a place of “I suck; my life sucks,” so whenever aiming for transformation, it’s a good idea to start out by noticing what’s going well already, where you already shine. In my last post I gave you a worksheet to get you focused on what you’ve already created  in your life, to remind you of your power, scare off the Suck Duck, and put you in a positive frame of mind.

Today I have for you a worksheet to help you focus on the specific areas of your life where you’d like to see the most growth.

Honing in on Where You’re Out-of-Balance

Whether or not you come to the Day of Genius, if you decide to create a vision map at the end of this series of posts and worksheets, consider focusing on one or two primary areas where you’d like to see the most growth. It’s certainly not a requirement, but something to think about. (You can always make additional vision maps later to focus in on additional areas. In fact I strongly encourage it!) The Life Balance Compass worksheet will help you figure out what those primary areas are.

Have fun!

Download my free Life Balance Compass worksheet, and use it to help you identify your 8 core life priorities, and then gauge which of those directions are wanting the most care and attention right now.

When you’re done, check in with yourself — what did you learn? Did anything surprise you? How will this worksheet inform how you’ll create your vision map?

Then let me know what you thought of this exercise, either here or over on the LACL Facebook page.

And be sure to come back in a few days for the next piece (and another free worksheet)!

Did you know you could win a ticket to the Day of Genius? Just hop on over to Facebook and share your insights to any of the blog posts here that reference the Day of Genius, along with your reasons for wanting to attend, AND share and/or tweet the post, and you’ll be entered to win a full-day pass.

After the New Year, I and my panel of partial judges will pick one winner from among the commenters to join us for free. (Yes, commenting on/sharing of multiple posts will weigh heavily in your favor — we’re looking to add participants who really want to be there, so quality AND quantity will be taken into consideration.)

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

I’ve got my troubles, which I won’t bore you by listing out here, but the fact is they’re mostly troubles of privilege. “First-world problems.”

The fact is, I grew up in a middle-class family, in a privileged neighborhood, in a rich country.

The fact is, I was born to parents who valued education (and love) above all else, and though sexism was (and is) still rife (no matter what the media might have led you to believe), my mom and dad did their best to offer me a future filled with opportunity.

The fact is, I grew up with music in the schools, and after-school art classes, and moms who volunteered to bring creative writing into the classroom (god bless them!)

The fact is, I faced challenges and oppressions, to be sure (you did too, no matter who you are, or what the media might have led you to believe), but in the scheme of things, I had it damn good.

I still do.

I have the luxury of thinking about problems like what do I really, really want out of life? And how do I get past the resistance to follow my Blisses and do my creative things? And how can I best help other creatives follow their own Blisses?

And I’m incredibly grateful.

I’ve had opportunities that Addis, forced into marriage at age 11 never had:

I’ve had the chance to follow my dreams, unlike Kidan:

The Girl Effect

It turns out that girls are the key to getting entire communities out of poverty. Here’s how (have some tissues handy – I cry every time I watch this!):

Want a concrete, real-life, flesh-and-blood example of what happens when girls are educated? Here’s what Shumi created, thanks to the Girl Effect:

This is how the Girl Effect played out for Sanchita and her family:

What can I do, you ask?

Share this blog post. Share the blog posts here. Join the conversation. Write your own blog post about the Girl Effect and post it here.

Spread the word. Wear it on your sleeve (or on your computer, or in your office). Donate if you can.

The Girl Effect is a viral movement. Many tiny movements, in fact. It depends on you. And me. And all of us.

From the Girl Effect website:

Through the movement, many organizations have received the funding needed to make a huge impact in the lives of girls in developing countries. For example, the Berhane Hewan program in rural Ethiopia opened community dialogue and used incentives like school supplies to help over 11,000 girls delay marriage and stay in school. The Binti Pamoja program in Kenya is another example, offering a safe space for girls to connect with other girls and learn about reproductive health, finances and other basic life skills – through funding, the program has grown from 40 girls to over 1,000.

Let’s keep it going.

Tell me, what will you do to help the Girl Effect?

PS – If you liked this post, please tweet, share, like and/or send it to a friend you think might like it too.

When was the last time you played?

I mean Just-For-You-To-Make-A-Mess-With-Your-Creative-Thing play.

As recently as last summer, if you’d asked me that, I’d have said “Way too long ago..” Maybe you can relate.

But even if you’ve taken up my 15 Minutes a Day creative challenge and are making time every day for play, wouldn’t it be nice to have a longer chunk of time?

Sometimes that seems so hard to come by, doesn’t it?

For years, the only time I had any time to play at making art was at my annual calligraphy retreat in March. (Did you catch that? Annual. As in, once a year. My only time to play at all.) 5 days in a beautiful retreat center, a 90 minute drive away. Gourmet meals, no phones, no computers and nothing on the agenda except to make art at my very own work play station.

Bliss.

Every year I would come home determined to create a home retreat for myself, once a month.

Or maybe once a quarter.

Or even just once…

It never happened.

There’s something about signing up for something, committing to it publicly (with my pocketbook, no less!), setting aside time on the calendar to get completely away from all distractions.

You would not believe the amount of art I would come home with! And even better, the ideas! the inspiration!

I’m always so recharged and refreshed after the retreat that it feels like I’ve had a bubble bath for my spirit. “Calgon, take me away!”

Announcing…

Which is why I’m brewing up some retreats of my own, to offer YOU.

Sometime down the road, I’ll be hosting in-person retreats and workshops (I’ll let subscribers know about that first, so sign up in the form at the upper right if you’d like info when I’ve got it).

But first, I’m offering a teeny, tiny taster – a retreat that won’t require you to drive or fly hundreds of miles to attend.

A Playshop!

What if you could get a mini-retreat, a playshop to experiment with paper and paint in the community of other creative souls?

Right in your own home.

Well, now you can!

At 1:00 pm on Tuesday, September 27, I’m offering the very first of what I hope will be many playshops.

Play, Flow, Write, GO! A telephone playshop in improvisational art for the soul

We’ll spend 90 minutes letting go of perfection, focusing on the process, and just painting/drawing/writing our little hearts out.

PLUS: I’ll share the secret techniques I use to create the art for my not-quite-daily ArtSparks (like the pieces shown right here).

And to get the most fun and play out of our time on the phone together, I’m going to give you all the goods in exclusive videos in advance of the actual playshop. So you can get all my secret techniques on your own time and be ready to just PLAY when we gather together (virtually) on the 27th.

These purely optional videos will show you:

• How to stretch watercolor paper so it won’t buckle and curl up when it gets wet with paint
• My favorite materials and where to get them
• The process I use to create my ArtSpark pieces, from start to finish
• How I add words to my art

It may be an entirely different way of working playing for you, which, if you tend to be a product-oriented perfectionist (as I am), you might find incredibly liberating.

And that’s before the actual playshop!

When we’re on the phone together (or when you’re listening to the recording later, if you can’t make the actual call), I’ll create a bubble for us of safety and encouragement, and you’ll have time to try out the techniques in the video, or just play however you want.

We’ll also have a couple of times to check in with the group, and if you feel like sharing any of your creations, you’ll get to participate in an exclusive post-playshop show right here on the blog, just by emailing me pics of what you made.

The details again:

Tuesday, September 27
1:00-2:30 pm (Pacific Time)
(That’s 2-3:30 Mountain, 3-4:30 Central, 4-5:30 Eastern)

Oh, yeah, and the price: just $30, which includes unlimited access to the bonus video tutorials forever. AND the exclusive Playshop Participants Art Show here on Living A Creative Life.

Plus I’ll send a recording of the call to everyone who registers, so you’ll still be able to take the playshop, whether you can make the call live.

Sound fun? I’ll be opening the cart in a few days. Sign up here if you’d like first dibs:

Name:

Email:

 

Oh gentle, creative soul, have you been beaten down by the prevailing cultural programming that says that art – that your making your art – isn’t important?

It’s a lie, my love.

I don’t care if you make a penny from what you do. I don’t care if you do it for pay, as a gift for someone else, or purely to nourish your own soul. The Universe wants you to create.

The Universe needs you to create.

What you do has value and meaning and critical importance.

Just the fact of your creating it makes it so.

I don’t care if it’s profound or fluffy, somber or silly. If it’s in you to create it, the world needs you to do so.

In my job as Inspirationalist and creative coach, I work with brilliant and talented folks of all stripes (though they rarely characterize themselves this way). I have 1:1 clients and Creative Ignition Circle members (and friends and acquaintances) who make their living from their creative efforts…

…and end up so focused on bringing in income that they stop creating to feed their own soul.

This was my own story too.

What happens when you stop feeding your own soul?

It begins to starve. It begs you for nourishment.

You may be able to silent it for a time, but ultimately you end up walking around in a state of low-grade misery.

This is not what the Universe put you on the planet to do!

Did the Universe put a fish on the planet to hike? Or a hawk on the planet to swim? Or a horse on the planet to fly?

Of course not! Fish have an innate talent for swimming; hawks for flying; horses for running. This is what they were made for. This is what they were put on the planet to do.

Anyone with any sense wouldn’t try to prevent them from doing that thing they were born for. That would just be silly. And cruel.

You, too, were born with a unique set of gifts and talents, the things that make you feel alive when you do them.

Yes, those.

The purpose of your life is to use those gifts and talents.

Anyone with any sense wouldn’t try to prevent you from doing what you were born for. That would just be silly. And cruel.

Still not convinced?

Art is more powerful and important than our ridiculous society would have us believe

Here’s an example.

A few weeks ago, I got a call about a calligraphy commission. A recent widower, who’d lost his wife in a sudden, unexpected tragedy a few weeks before, wanted a broadside (a “poster,” as he called it) for her memorial. Could I do it?

Now, I’m very selective about the commissions I take on these days. This one was a rush job, which meant my life would be rather more stressful for a couple of weeks, but it was a job that felt meaningful and interesting to me. Money was not an issue (I’d be well-compensated for my time); I’d get to play with letters in a way I rarely do these days; the man was extremely appreciative and admiring of my work – he truly valued my talents; and as he put it, “This is the last thing I can do for my wife.”

He took me to lunch, told me the story of how they’d met, and how she died. He said he knew I was the person to create her memorial piece; he had no interest in working with anyone else.

I got to work.

Working to a client’s specifications is a different animal than playing in the Creative Sandbox. If that’s all I did, I wouldn’t be happy. But when the client saw the finished piece, stopped in his tracks and almost burst into tears, I got a bit choked up myself.

“You’ve made an old man very happy,” said this man who’d recently suffered the worst loss in his life.

I couldn’t imagine that anything would make him happy right now, only weeks after losing his best friend, partner, lover, mate.

Yet my art gave him comfort, and yes, made him happy.

“I will look at this every day for the rest of my life,” he said, exuding gratitude and appreciation.

And they tell us art isn’t important?

“But that was something someone paid you to make,” you argue.

True. But the art that I make while playing in the Creative Sandbox, art that nobody commissioned and paid for, makes me happy.

And I get emails and tweets on a regular basis from people who have been moved and inspired by the creations I send out in my not-quite-daily ArtSpark newsletter and the videos I post here and on YouTube. And when I perform in public as a jazz singer/songwriter/Uke Diva, people invariably thank me.

I’m not saying this to promote myself, but to encourage, embolden and empower you to get to that creative thing that’s calling to you.

You have no idea whose lives your work might touch, what difference it might make to them.

You do know one person it will make happy, though: you.

The Talmud says “if you save one life, it is as if you had saved the whole world.” I suspect the rabbis who wrote this were talking about the physical saving of lives; the difference between life and death. But I’ll go ahead and take the liberty of applying it a bit more broadly.

If you save one life from low-grade misery – your own – it is as if you had saved the whole world.

Is that not enough?

Tell me, what are your unique gifts and talents, and how are you going to use them to save your own life?

PS – If you liked this post, please tweet, share, like and/or send it to a friend you think might like it too. You might just be saving the world.

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance.
This second, we can sit down and do our work.

~ Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art has been on my “must read” list for longer than I can remember. I’m not sure what took me so long to just buy the damn book and read it (Resistance, anyone?), but if, like me, you’ve been on the fence with this one, don’t wait. Just jump. Quick.

Far from the heavy tome I feared it would be, The War of Art is a little gem of a book. It’s short enough to be consumed in one long or a few not-so-long sittings, and divided into tiny, bite-sized “chapters” of no more than a couple of pages, and often as short as a couple of sentences.

In other words, totally non-intimidating.

It’s the kind of book you’ll want to keep within arm’s reach in your creative workspace, to flip open to a random page when you need a little boost. A little reminder of how freaking important your creative work is, and that you’re not alone, or crazy, for having maybe the teensiest bit of a hard time getting to said work.

That last phrase? Totally sarcastic.

The truth is, if you’re like 99.999% of us, you frequently have an excruciatingly painful feels-like-you’re-pushing-a-three-ton-boulder-up-a-hill hard time getting to said work.

Or getting said work to a state of done-ness.

And The War of Art? This deceptively brief, easy to approach little 165-page gift is a powerful tool to add to your arsenal (to borrow Pressfield’s war metaphor) against the stealthiest, sliest and most pernicious enemy to your creative life: Resistance.

The Truth About Resistance

Resistance, in its many shapes, is the focus of Book One, the first of three sections of The War of Art. Pressfield lifts the veil, exposing the ways Resistance keeps us from the work we’re meant to do, including some you may never have thought about.

Fear? Procrastination? It’s pretty easy to spot those manifestations of Resistance. But how about support and healing? How about the choice of a mate? These – and many other surprises – can be sneaky forms of Resistance too.

And have you ever thought about Resistance and love? Has it ever occurred to you that the more Resistance you feel, the more important your “unmanifested art / project / enterprise” is to you? Which means, of course, that when you feel the most Resistance, that’s precisely when you must fight the hardest against it.

You must play for keeps.

Which brings me to Book Two.

Turning Pro

In Book Two, Pressfield offers his thinking and instructions on how best to combat Resistance: by “Turning Pro.”

“Pro” in this sense doesn’t have anything to do with producing income (though it certainly can include that). It means taking yourself and your dreams seriously.

It means dedicating your life to your art / your project / your enterprise.

It means accepting that it is hard and painful to keep at it… and doing it anyway.

“The artist must be like [a] Marine,” says Pressfield:

He has to know how to be miserable. He has to take pride in being more miserable than any other soldier or swabbie or jet jockey. Because this is war, baby. And war is hell.

Turning Pro means showing up, no matter what, just like you do to collect your paycheck at your 9-5.

It means a lot of other stuff, too, which Book Two beautifully enumerates.

Pressman has made Turning Pro into an art in and of itself. He shares stories from his own life, when Resistance had him broken and beaten down, and in glimmering vignettes describes how a shift in consciousness – from “amateur” to “pro” – was what finally turned things around.

A guy who goes from broken, can’t-get-his-work-done-to-save-his-life, to international best-selling author is someone worth paying attention to.

The Higher Realm

If the militaristic message of Book Two sounds daunting, deep breath – we’re now on to Book Three, where Pressman looks at Inspiration, the Muses, the Authentic Self, and the allies and angels that keep us pressing on against Resistance.

When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.

Whether you believe in angels or read Book Three as pure metaphor, I can’t see how any reader could not be moved by it.

Do your work, is the essence of Pressman’s message, because you must. The last page sums it up eloquently:

If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet….

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.

Amen.

If you’re ready to take your own creative life more seriously, and would like to use the power of a small group of like-minded, creative comrades-in-arms to push yourself forward, I’ve got one spot left in my upcoming daytime Creative Ignition Circle, which starts this Wednesday. What could YOU accomplish toward your big, creative dreams in the next two months, if you had other people to brainstorm, encourage, and (perhaps most importantly) hold your feet to the fire? I invite and challenge you to take that next step to bust past Resistance and find out. Click here for more information and to join.

Curious Sheep, ©Chris Morrison

Every day, emails land in my box announcing the new subscribers to Living A Creative Life. Whenever I have time, if a new subscriber has an email address that looks like it’s attached to an actual website (as opposed to gmail.com or yahoo.com or sbcglobal.net or whatever), I like to click through to their site to see what they’re about.*

This little exercise has shown that my subscribers are amazingly creative and talented people, doing really cool stuff. It occurred to me the other day that all of these creatives should know about each other!

So, to that end, I’m starting a new feature:

Inspiring Subscriber Showcase

As I collect cool and interesting links from new subscribers (or loyal subscribers who’ve been around for awhile, too – hint, hint), I’ll post them here. Not necessarily every week, but when I have a good handful of cool links to share, I’ll put them up.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you (in no particular order) to today’s fabulous finds!

Cecilia Power – Macrame Art Extraordinaire

Think you know macrame? That hippy, trippy hanging plant-holder craft from the 70s? I thought so too, until I saw Cecilia Power’s amazing work over at cilipower.wordpress.com. Cecilia turns knots into modern works of art.

The piece at the left is just one example – click the link above to see more.

Cecilia also writes lovely emails (did I mention I love getting email from subscribers?)

I just wanted you to know I have been reading everything you have been throwing my way… I have been checking out quite a few artists and it has been an inspiring endeavor. All in all between you and  them, I’m all afire, (chuckle) and feeling hopeful.

THAT is exactly what I like to hear!

Chris Morrison – Fine Art Landscape Photography

Chris Morrison’s site, www.chrismorrison.com.au, showcases his stunning photography, including award-winning photos and a line of wide-format landscapes (like Vintgar Gorge above) that will take your breath away.

Ruth Churchman – Creating Ruth and the Felty Folk

I met Ruth when she joined my Thriving Artists Project last December. Since then, she’s created a delightful new blog, creatingruth.wordpress.com, in which she shares her beautiful crafts, and documents what goes on with the Felty Folk who live near her in Scotland and have all kinds of adventures. (That’s Dod and Neeva in the pic above, with a mushroom for dinner, and a beech nut for beech nut spread.)

Ruth does a great job of documenting projects she’s worked on, and I must confess a gigantic crush on all of the Felty Folk she’s introduced me to on her blog.

Anita Davies – Decorative Art & Jewelry

Brand new on my subscriber list this week is the talented Anita Davies, who showcases her exquisite artworks made from handmade polymer clay tiles over at raw-elements.co.uk.

Nicole Crist – Moving Life Blog

Another Thriving Artists Project member (or TAPer, as we call ourselves on the site), is the amazing Nicole Crist. Now, if you’ve read much on this blog, you know I’m a self-confessed multi-passionate. What you may not know, though, is that I once spent a year studying aerial arts at a circus school.

Alas, my time as an aerialist was short, but Nicole is the real thing – a professional “aerialista”! You can see her high-flying moves over at www.AltitudeAerials.com.

Nicole’s also a very inspiring writer, focusing on living fit, confident and creative. I highly recommend her newsletter, Moving LiveZine. Find her writing, and subscribe to her newsletter, at Moving Life Blog.

Sally Penley – Calligraphy Whiz

As a letter-lover and calligrapher/calligraphy teacher, I naturally have a soft spot in my heart for fellow calligraphers. Especially when they’re as friendly and talented as Sally Penley!

Sally’s work is top notch and varied, but with a distinct style all her own. Browse (and buy!) over at sallypenley.com. She recently emailed me pics of a glorious little alphabet book she’d created (see below), and offered to send me a list of alphabetized words to scavenge for my not-quite-daily ArtSparks. Love it!

Are my subscribers the best, or what?

That wraps up today’s dispatch. Enjoy, have a great weekend, and go get creating!

PS – Want to be included here in a future subscriber showcase? All subscribers are welcome to apply. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can sign up using the form at the upper right, then send me a link to your cool, creative stuff.

*Tip: If you’re interested in being taken seriously for your creative thing, an email address with your own domain can really help your image. Plus it makes it easier for folks like me to actually find you (and link to you) online! Just sayin’…

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a video blog, and from the emails I’ve been getting, it’s also high time for a reminder of something we all tend to forget.

Thanks to Danielle LaPorte for speaking at the World Domination Summit, and being the inspiration for this video.

And speaking of Danielle, she’s doing a Hotline Call TODAY, Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 12noon PST / 3pm EST. It’s $10 bucks, and all money is going to charity. How cool is that?

In fact, it will be hot. This woman’s a real visionary. You can email or phone in your questions, and if you can’t make the call live, you’ll still get a recording. Check out the deets here.

And enjoy the video (4 minutes, 28 seconds). Happy Wednesday!

Need some support to get something done? A group challenge is a great way to do it! Here are three challenges going on RIGHT NOW that you can participate in (or just enjoy from the sidelines and contemplate taking part next time).

Customer Love

Today is the first day of the #customerlove challenge. I’ve signed up to spend 28 days basically being awesome and putting lots of love out there in the world. (I mean, like, consciously. Not like I don’t do this all the time, people. I mean, really.)

The goal? To make customers love you.

It’s LaVonne Ellis‘s creative response to Naomi Dunford’s post “Make Them Love You. THEN Ask For Money.”

The upshot? Lay the groundwork. Or, in Naomi’s words:

Spend the first 28 days being totally, ridiculously awesome. Plan to make 100% of your money on the 29th day.

Spend 28 days being insanely active on Twitter or Facebook or your local small biz networking scene. Spend 28 days making killer contacts on LinkedIn or at the local flower shops or a few select forums. Spend 28 days loudly creating tactical, useful content on your blog or YouTube or, hell, Facebook notes.

Make friends as if your life depended on it. Be helpful. Give lots of shoutouts. Send link love. Generally be the nicest, coolest, smartest kid in school.

Then, on the last day, ask for the money. Launch your consulting sale or your custom deck design sale or your half price classes or whatever at the last possible moment.

So that’s what I’m doing this month.

Wanna join me? You can still register and download the (incredibly awesome) free e-book here.

NaNoWriMo

Today is also the first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), an annual creative writing project in which registrants commit to writing an entire novel in a month.

50,000 words. 175 pages.

Yep. Crazy, huh?

But according to Wikipedia (the NaNoWriMo site being unavailable at the time I was looking), in 2009 170,000 people took part.

My friend Fawn is doing it, and hell, if you’re ambitious and a little crazy, you can too!

I’m… not. But then I’m a little busy with other stuff…

Art Every Day Month

Eight years ago, inspired by NaNoWriMo, artist Leah Piken Kolidas challenged herself to make a piece of art every day. The following year she invited others to join her, and at the time of this writing there are 235 people signed up for this year’s challenge.

Participants post their daily creations on their Flikr account (though you don’t actually need a blog OR a Flikr account to participate!)

Sign up for Art Every Day Month here.

—–

Once you start searching for challenges they start popping up everywhere. Know of any you want to share? Post them in the comments below.

Now go get creating!

I admit it: my hero is a car thief.

Well, okay, a former car thief, but still.

Who is my hero? Chris Guillebeau, whose Unconventional Book Tour for his new book, The Art of Nonconformity, starts today.

Okay, the car thief part is a bit inflated, though Chris did indeed steal a car at age 15, a tidbit I learned in a Question the Rules (affiliate link) interview. What he’s done in the intervening years, though, is a lot more interesting than this sensationalist factoid.

And truth be told, I have a lot of heroes, both the long-dead kind (Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Sojourner Truth, to name a few) and the contemporary kind (Gloria Steinem and Jill Robinson spring to mind).

But Chris occupies a special place in my pantheon of heroes for a few simple reasons:

1) Timing

(Mundane, but true, and the only reason that has nothing to do with Chris. Timing may not be everything, but it’s a big thing.)

When I first discovered Chris and his blog, The Art of Nonconformity, my life was at a turning point. I’d tolerated “pretty good, but not what I really, really want” for years, but a series of personal crises had gotten me to a place of desperation. I was finally ready to make a change, but I had no idea how.

Right at that moment, this guy appeared on my radar who was actually living what he really, really wanted. Not settling for what the world told him he could get, but dreaming big, and really going after his dreams.

And making a living at it, to boot!

Chris showed that maybe what I really, really wanted was possible after all. I was primed to listen and learn.

2) He’s a beacon for the rest of us

Chris isn’t just living the life he wants; he’s also leading the way for all of us who want to live the lives we want. His writing, his impressive line of Unconventional Guides (affiliate link) – all are crafted to help people with big dreams to make them reality.

Chris first shows you that it can be done, and then helps you do it.

3) He makes his own rules

From stealing a car (okay, probably not something to try at home), to dropping out of high school yet still graduating with two bachelor’s degrees in two years, to volunteering in Africa for four years, to creating several profitable online businesses, to setting a goal of visiting every country on the planet by the time he turns 35 (at the time of this writing, he’s at 149/192), to creating a massive following and thriving business through generosity, to self-funding a 63-city book tour, Chris has never done things by the book.

4) He goes after big goals

Did I mention his goal of visiting every country in the world by his 35th birthday? And writing a book? Then there’s the World Domination Summit he’s in the middle of organizing, to bring like-minded nonconformists together in one place for a few days.

Oh, and I think changing the world counts as a pretty big goal.

5) He models generosity

It’s all very well to create the life you really, really want and step on people along the way. Or to make a fortune from exploiting people. Chris is just the opposite.

Not only is he generous with his time (he gave me a fantastic Thriving Artists Project interview), his energy (did I mention 4 years of volunteer work in Africa?), and his information (unlike some people I know, Chris is not tight-fisted here), but he’s generous with his money as well.

The Unconventional Guides affiliate program (yep, that’s an affiliate link), which has paid me back and then some for all of the courses I’ve purchased from him, has a 51% commission – the most generous I’ve seen.

But that’s not all: Chris is donating 20% of all royalties from the sale of The Art of Nonconformity to the AONC partner project with Charity: Water for at least 12 months following publication. And for each reader he meets who purchases the book during the Unconventional Book Tour or World Domination Summit events, he will donate an additional 80% of his royalties, for a total of 100%.

Is this guy cool, or what?

6) He’s a model of running a profitable business ethically, and with customer service that cannot be beat

So this one is kind of embarrassing (for me, not for Chris).

Months back, I wrote a review of the $100 Business Forum, an online course that Chris ran with Pam Slim. The course was top-notch, but I found the Ning platform they were using frustrating. I was writing my review late at night, when I was tired and cranky, and, well, I clicked “publish” when I would have been a lot better off sleeping on it and reading it again with the objectivity that a good night’s sleep can bring.

When you’re tired and cranky, sometimes you don’t realize how much it infects everything you write…

The next morning I woke up to a personal email from Chris, and a complete refund for my course tuition.

Needless to say, I felt awful, and I immediately purged the gratuitous crankiness from the review.

(I also made a mental note to never publish a review when I’m tired and cranky.)

And Chris instantaneously became my Customer Service Hero, because I realized that with that $100, he had bought himself a customer for life. And isn’t that what all of us business people want?

7) He doesn’t let fear stop him

On page 59 of The Art of Nonconformity, Chris shares a few of his fears:

• I’m only on chapter 3. Will I ever finish writing this book?
• What if it sucks? What if I get bad reviews? (Or worse, what if no one pays attention?)
• I’m afraid of the forces of mediocrity and lethargy. I’m afraid of becoming too comfortable or getting lazy.
• When I travel, I’m afraid of trying to speak another language.
• Sometimes I feel paralyzed. People say they want to travel with me, and I think, “Oh no–then they would figure out that it’s not always that exciting.”
• I’m afraid that people will think I’m faking it.
• I’m scared of getting older and missing out on something I should have already done. (In the words of John Mayer, “I’m only good at being young.”)

Did you see the one about being afraid of trying to speak another language? Yet Chris has been to 149 countries (and counting).

Rock on.

****

In short, Chris is my hero because he inspires me, and helps me believe that I can set big goals and achieve them too.

Would you like to be inspired? Do you want to set your own rules, live the life you want, and change the world? (And help out a great cause at the same time.) If you’ve ever thought, “There must be more to life than this,” The Art of Nonconformity is for you. It’s an easy read, but the kind of book you’ll want to go back to again and again.

In the words of Tyler Tervooren from Advanced Riskology, it’s How To Change The World for $10.08.

You can’t get better than that!

PS – I also recommend catching up with Chris in person on his Unconventional Book Tour. If you make it to the San Francisco stop, I’ll see you there!

Newsflash: Well, sorry for the after-the-fact notice, but I was just interviewed by Dennis Charles on his show Build Your Career With Passion on BlogTalkRadio.

Dennis is a wonderful interviewer, and he’s created a very interesting and inspiring show, which he podcasts weekly at 11AM ET/8AM PT.

Check out Dennis’ show at the link above, and you can listen to my interview here.