Biking in Calgary, Canada

I have been back in my home country of Canada for about four months, now I have two more weeks to go before I leave again. It has been great to be back home, but I think I enjoyed it more because I know it is not permanent. My wife and I have not made any roots and have not anchored ourselves to a lifestyle we don’t want. The greatest insight I have discovered is that life is fantastic.

Sometimes it is easy to forget just how good we have it. Several friends and relatives have recently undergone major medical surgeries. I have heard many complaints about how far they had to drive to get to the hospital, how long the waiting lists were to get a hospital bed, how many times their surgeries had been postponed, how late the doctor was, etc.

I understand people under-going life threatening operations are under huge amounts of stress and want to get out the hospital as soon as possible, however I think they may be over-looking how lucky they are to be in a rich developed country with amazing technological advances and medical knowledge. Canadians in particular should be ecstatic to have universal and affordable health care. In the cases of my family and friends, the patients went home after only a few days in the hospital.

Consider how amazing this is for a moment. People I know, probably you too, have gone into a hospital and had their bodies cut open. Some have had cancerous tumors cut of of their bodies, others have had hip and knee replacements. Think about how advanced a civilization has to be to cut into human tissue and fix what is wrong. Imagine how you would go about doing brain surgery on a loved one. Think about shaving a head, cutting into the scalp and sawing the skull to get access to the brain. Imagine the sound of sawing a skull. I personally don’t want to be doing any brain surgeries anytime soon, although I am pretty damn thankful that there are doctors out there with the skills and knowledge to help people now.

My wife and I are healthy and are able to live the life we choose. Nothing else is lacking from our lives. Sure lots of money, fame and things would be nice but they certainly aren’t necessary for a happy life.

When traffic is slow, think about how lucky you are to have a car. When you hate your job, think how easy it is compared to what your grandparents endured. When your body aches, remember that it is a sign that you are still alive and are fortunate enough to experience these great times. Life is good and we truly do live in amazing times.

Here is a great related video that has made its rounds but is worth watching again. It is Louis C.K. on Conan O’brien.

Louis C.K. talks on Conan O’brien about technology from Nathan Lunde-Berry on Vimeo.

I definitely don't have the Marathon Gene

On a recent post on Untemplater.com, I wrote about how I think talent is created, not born. I called the post, You are a Monkey so Stop Thinking You are so Special. I learned a couple of things from the comments, apparently people don’t like being called monkeys and some people place a lot of emphasis on the genetic side of the debate.

Of course genes are important in many circumstances. It is difficult to be a professional basketball player if you are short. It helps to have big hands and feet if you want to be a world class swimmer. Good eyesight is necessary to be a pilot. So yes, genes do shape our future to a degree, but how often does genetic makeup really limit what we can accomplish?

The purpose of the monkey post was to show that since humans have 99.9% of the same genes as chimpanzees, maybe we shouldn’t put too much emphasis on our genetic makeup. The worst part of an over-reliance on nature over nurture is that it causes many people to give up before they even try. “I am tone-deaf so I can’t play musical instruments.” “I not good at math.” “I can’t draw.” “I can’t understand computers.” “I was never good at sports.” When we see others excelling we often say things, like “He is a natural.” “She is so smart.” They have so much talent.” Our language seems biased towards a belief of naturally born talent.

In the article, The Making of an Expert in Harvard Business Review, authors K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely say,

Popular lore is full of stories about unknown athletes, writers, and artists who become famous overnight, seemingly because of innate talent—they’re “naturals,” people say. However, when examining the developmental histories of experts, we unfailingly discover that they spent a lot of time in training and preparation. Sam Snead, who’d been called “the best natural player ever,” told Golf Digest, “People always said I had a natural swing. They thought I wasn’t a hard worker. But when I was young, I’d play and practice all day, then practice more at night by my car’s headlights. My hands bled. Nobody worked harder at golf than I did.”

Even personality traits can be learned, the authors go on to say,

A surprising number of executives believe that charisma is innate and cannot be learned. Yet if they were acting in a play with the help of a director and a coach, most of them would be able to come across as considerably more charismatic, especially over time.

In fact, working with a leading drama school, we have developed a set of acting exercises for managers and leaders that are designed to increase their powers of charm and persuasion. Executives who do these exercises have shown remarkable improvement. So charisma can be learned through deliberate practice.

Do you have the Running Gene?

I ran another marathon last week. I am still painfully slow, but I have managed to drop my time by more than half an hour over my last race in December. I am mentioning this because when I did my first few marathons, I was terrified the night before. Running 42 kilometers is scary if you have never done it before. It sounds like an impossible task. In some of my earlier races, I couldn’t sleep the night before and got incredibly anxious about what I was going to eat, whether or not I could make it to the toilet before the start, what was the weather going to be like, what was I going to wear. I was worried about everything. I always felt that my body isn’t designed for sports.

Now that I have completed many marathons and shorter races I have no anxiety at all. The last 10 kilometers are always a killer but I know I can finish. Like anything in life, the more I train, the better I get. My wife also runs with me and despite the fact that she only runs a few times a month, she is still managing to consistently improve as well.

This same nurture versus nature argument has played out in many different aspects of my life. I never thought I had any artistic skills. However, daily practice with some basic drawing books and Internet tutorials has improved my skills phenomenally. I only wish I started 30 years ago, then maybe I would be a ‘naturally gifted’ artist now. I have found similar results with guitar, business and blogging.

There is no Substitute for Hard Work

It is highly unlikely that people who are better than you have some genetic advantage. The most likely cause of the their success is focused practice with good coaching and other environmental conditions. Blogging is no different. Starting off on the Internet can seem daunting. Everyone appears to have beautifully designed blogs, great technical skills and an innate understanding of social media platforms. How can you possibly catch up? You do it the same way everyone else did, you learn one thing at a time. The more deliberate practice you put in, the more you will learn and the better you will get. Online, everyone is making it up as they go. The difference between the self-proclaimed experts and you is only the hours of time invested.

Sure some may have some genetic advantages, but for most of us trying to earn a living, stay in shape or find our calling in life, our own personal drive is far more important. Giving up on art, blogging or a business idea before you have had an opportunity to develop some competence is not a genetic problem. I have often used the genetic inferiority excuse to justify my lack of effort. Not anymore, for everything I want to accomplish in life I know that any lack of success in my endeavors can only be attributable to lack of practice or quality coaching. Those two factors are definitely within my control. As I often say, we all can do ANYTHING we want, we just can’t do EVERYTHING we want. I just need to focus on what is most important and put in the quantity and quality of practice to excel. Deciding on what to focus on is the difficult part of course, but I am pretty damn fortunate to have excessive choice as my biggest life problem.

What do you think, is nature or nurture more important to to success? What percent is attributable to each? For most life choices I would say that it is 90% nurture, only in certain elite level sports would it shift more towards nature.

Long-term travel is a life-changing experience. It is exciting to meet new people, experience new cultures and completely broaden your horizons. Most of us travel for our own personal satisfaction and growth, however there are many people, living and traveling abroad, dedicating their lives to make the world a better place. Such selfless devotion truly is amazing. Bernard Pollack and Danielle Nierenberg are two of those people striving to make a difference in the world. They took some time out of their African endeavors to answer some questions here.

Zimbabwe- HIV:AIDS Orphanage Project Visit with the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Associations in Harare

Please tell us  a little about your backgrounds.

B: Danielle currently serves as Co-Project Director of State of World 2011 for the Worldwatch Institute , a Washington, DC-based environmental research organization. Her background is in sustainable agriculture; impacts of meat, egg, and dairy production on the environment, primarily climate change; animal welfare, and farmers; greenhouse gas emissions and the food system; biofuels; urban agriculture; and food safety.  She also worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and volunteers at farmers’ markets, the Earth Sangha (an urban reforestation organization), and 1Well (an NGO focused on sustainable development projects all over the world).

D: Bernard’s background is as an expert on political campaigning and communications. His expertise in organizing state and national campaigns for the AFL-CIO has resulted in the election of major pro-worker candidates and laws in California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Colorado, Oregon and Pennsylvania. He has developed communication programs for labor organizing all over the U.S. and has worked extensively with media reporting on workers’ issues. He is currently traveling across Africa with me, meeting with labor unions and workers across Africa, and blogging everyday from Africa on our personal site called BorderJumpers.

Are you both full-time journalists?

D: Last year the Worldwatch Institute received a two-year grant to evaluate environmentally sustainable solutions to alleviating hunger and poverty, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The grant is enabling us to expand our research and writing on food and hunger issues, do more on-the-ground research, and develop a comparative analysis of different agricultural innovations and technologies to help policy-makers, farmers, NGOs, agribusiness, and development agencies make more informed decisions regarding food production and food security goals.

The major outcome of this project will be State of the World 2011, our flagship publication, focused on hunger. Over the next two years, we will also publish research on this topic in Worldwatch’s other print and digital publications. I am traveling throughout sub-Saharan Africa to highlight stories of hope and success in environmentally sustainable food production.

Bernie and Dani in Zambia

Where are you now?

D: Africa is the epicenter of hunger and poverty, so it seemed logical to focus our research for the project here. We are currently in Dakar, Senegal, headed across Western Africa all summer to Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Cameroon. Countries we’ve traveled so far include: Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Since we left in October 2009 we’ve visited approximately 130 projects in those countries.

Uganda- Visiting Schools with Project Disc (Slow Food International)

Please tell us about your work in Africa?

B: We are tired with all the misconceptions about Africa. All we hear in the media is about conflict, HIV/AIDS, famine and disease. You almost never hear anything positive, and as a result people think the situation is hopeless. That’s why everywhere we go we are looking at African-led innovations and sharing those stories, in hopes of reaching the funding and policy making community so they can get scaled up or replicated, but also to challenge misconceptions that things in Africa are “beyond repair.” After sixteen countries, we’ve really seen firsthand how much incredible work is happening on the ground here and I’ve never felt so much hope.

D: The project is a two year grant to evaluate environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger and poverty with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.  We hope to build a roadmap for the funding and donor communities of projects that either need to be scaled up or replicated across the continent. Hundreds of millions of dollars are poured into funding agricultural projects every year in Sub-Saharan Africa. The reality is that so much of that money is misused, or misplaced and never reaches the hands of the farmers, workers, and people who need it the most.

We want to paint a new picture of Africa, one far different from the infomercials and images we’ve become accustom to. We are meeting with Africans on the ground, who are using their vast knowledge, and developing innovative ways of reducing hunger and improving food security in their communities. We want them to be the face of our project, putting their stories front and center, sharing their hopes and dreams to audiences they’ve never reached before.

From what you have seen, are African countries progressing and improving the quality of life of their citizens?

B: There is a lot of news that is not being reported on from the continent — we are seeing dozens of examples of stories of hope and success in agriculture from NGOs, policymakers, farmers groups, workers, unions, etc, that are helping to further not only food security in Africa but general quality of live. For example, in Uganda, a young team of volunteers is working with kids, parents, and teachers to reignite an interest and appreciation for indigenous food. In Rwanda, Heifer international is working with very poor farmers to improve their qualities of life through smallscale livestock projects. In Ghana, NGOs are working to improve access to processing facilities for palm oil so that farm workers can earn more money.

What have been your least and most favorite countries so far?

B: There is no least favorite because every country is different with positive and negative aspects which you could also say about the United States. We didn’t like aspects of Nairobi, but we loved traveling deep into rural parts of Kenya like Samburu. Johannesburg at times was stressful for us, but we’d definitely be up for living in Pretoria, Durban or Cape Town. Within countries there is so much diversity that it all is a valuable learning expierience for us.

Is Africa safe to travel?

D: I would say that Africa is like anywhere else, you have to be careful, obviously political conflict is more an issue than in the United States but we either have been very lucky or everything you’ve heard about Africa being dangerous is wrong. With that said, big cities like Nairobi and Johannesburg are not safe to be by yourself at night, you need to take a taxi, etc.

B: We’ve also been lucky and blessed. We watch each other’s backs as we travel together. People warned us about places that have had recent political upsets like Zimbabwe and Madagascar but we are really glad we went to those places because they turned out to be some of our favorite countries. We are avoiding Libya and the Sudan, just because we feel uneasy about our safety.

What African countries do you recommend for other travelers?

B: It depends on why you are traveling to Africa, we like to go off the beaten track a little bit. If your looking for a vacation, go to Mauritius. If your looking for something off the track, head to Zimbabwe and Madagascar. If you want to see a lot of wildlife, then head to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. If you are looking for great live music, then check out Ghana and Senegal. Africa has every adventure you could ever dream of.

Have you encountered any major problems or dangerous situations?

D: No (knock on wood), we’ve been very lucky.

What are your travel expenses?

B: On average we spend we spend $50 a day which includes a budget hotel or hostel, local meals, travel by taxi, and entertainment. VISA fees vary greatly and can be very expensive for Americans – but it ranges from free (Senegal, Botswana, South Africa, Rwanda) to over $100USD (Nigeria, Mozambique, Cote D’Ivoire). It all depends on what you want to do, plan several hundred a day if you plan to hike Kilimanjaro in Arusha, Tanzania; Lemur trek in Madagascar; whitewater raft at the source of the Nile in Kampala, Uganda; or Gorilla trek in Rwanda.

Africa can be very expensive depending on what you want to do and it is worth splurging for safety – private taxis at night, long haul-buses instead of shared taxis for international travel, making sure you are staying in a good location, etc. We also benefit by the fact that projects we visit go out of their way to make us feel at home, from airport pickups, to driving us between projects, to feeding us in their homes, it really helps cut down costs.

Traveling in Africa is totally not what you expect. People are often afraid to take a risk here, so they plan very packaged vacations for things like the World Cup or a safari. We couldn’t imagine a more friendly, or welcoming place to travel.

Are you able to get good Internet access and other modern conveniences?

D: We are really surprised how connected Africa is in terms of hi-speed wifi (these are mostly in cities). Also Skype allows us to keep in touch with the United States for free, SIM cards in each country make local calls incredibly cheap, and email is accessible nearly everywhere. In terms of what we miss — it is mainly different foods — like fresh salads, bagels with cream cheese, vegetables like broccoli, cranberry juice, a good latte, etc… Stuff that we totally took for granted in the United States but are hard to find here.

Do you see yourselves ever permanently relocating to Africa?

B: Yes, definitely a possibility. We love the people, energy, the diverse cultures. Our choice would be Senegal so far (with that said we have 25 more countries to see). In reality we’ve talked about how we could live in Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Senegal. Since that list will only grow, it’s hard to imagine ever leaving.

Links
Borderjumpers
Follow Bernie and Dani on Twitter

It is difficult to make money online. It is even harder if you avoid all the cheesy sales pitches and fake scarcity building tactics and offer a legitimate product for sale. The problem is that there is so much to learn and so much crap online that it is hard to find real, valuable information and advice.

I believe ThirdTribeMarketing is a great way to learn and be part of a community with some of the top names in blogging. I hate to include sales pitches and affiliate programs on my blogs and so I debated for the last month or so whether or not I should recommend Third Tribe. The only reason I am mentioning it now is because prices are going to more than double from $47 to $97 on June 1st. If you are looking to invest time into learning more about making money online then ThirdTribeMarketing is a great way to go. (And yes, I will make an affiliate commission if you buy through these links.)

While $47 is a lot of money every month, it will be even more expensive next month. They are raising the prices because the forums are popular, they have built up some great content and because they are successful so they can.

The primary reason for joining is to gain access to the forums where you can network with other internet marketing professionals. I personally haven’t gotten too involved in the forums yet but I love the comprehensive case studies with all the successful online marketers. The in-depth interviews are something I can appreciate after doing all the interviews on JetSetCitizen.

Some of the people involved in ThirdTribeMarketing are; Brian Clark and Sonia Simone of CopyBlogger, Darren Rowse of Problogger and Social media superstar, Chris Brogan. Other members and interviewees include John Jantsch of DuctTapeMarketing, Leo Babauta of ZenHabits, Pam Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation, Johnny B. Truant, Chris Garrett, and Dave Navarro.

If you are not going to invest the time to implement the ideas and network in the forums then there is not much point in joining. They are not promising any get rich quick schemes. Success takes hard work and this is no magic solution. It is all about learning from the mistakes and successes of our peers. If you want a safe place to network, ask questions and learn about online marketing and businesses then you will be hard-pressed to do better than ThirdTribeMarketing.

Sean Aiken's One Week Job

Sean Aiken of OneWeekJob.com, uncertain about what career choice to make after graduating university, decided to take job hopping to the extreme by trying 52 one week jobs. He has since managed to parlay the first website outlining his intentions into a book deal, speaking engagements, a documentary and an on-going project helping recent graduates try different jobs. Those of you reading my IdeaEconomy.net blog will likely know that I love a great idea; by that measure Sean Aiken is pure brilliance! He has proved that a good idea, talent and hard work can accomplish amazing things. Sean offers some background details about his success with the project in this interview.

How did ‘One Week Job’ get started?

When I was looking for a job, I saw all of these important sounding job titles but I had no idea what the job would actually be like. I was scared at the thought of committing to one, not liking it, and then feeling trapped in the position. In my last year at Capilano University, my dad gave me some advice on finding a career, he said, “Sean, it doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure it is something you are passionate about. I’ve been alive nearly 60 years and I’ve yet to find something I’m passionate about besides your mother.” It made me realize how many people are in similar situations – doing the same job for the past 20-30 years and not necessarily enjoying what they are doing. I promised myself that I would take the time to find something that I was passionate about and that would make me happy. I thought the One Week Job project would be a great way of testing out different careers. I think a mistake that many people make when deciding on a career is to focus on the title and ignore the characteristics of the particular career and it’s associated lifestyle. We may spend a bunch of time and money on school or required designations only to show up at the workplace and find out it’s not for us. My thinking was that if I could somehow try out different jobs then I’d be able to learn about the characteristics I wanted in a career, and the type of workplace situation I’d need to be happy before making the full commitment.

How did you find the first companies to work at?

I created the website with the help of my best friend and web developer Ian MacKenzie. On the website I wrote that anyone, anywhere in the world could offer me a job for one week. I explained my motivations behind the project, my background information, how to offer me a job, and then I sent an email out to all my friends and family and asked for help to pass it along. It slowly picked up momentum and the offers began to come in; however I rarely knew where I was working a week in advance – it was always last minute!

How did you get so many companies interested in hiring you for a week?

I think the idea resonated with many people because it’s something that everyone can relate to, whether you recently graduated looking for your first job, or in an older generation looking for a career change, at some point in our lives we all must ask ourselves, “What do I want to do with my life?” I think many employers wanted to help out as they related to my circumstances, thought it was a unique idea, expected to receive exposure from the website, or some liked the aspect that all my wages were going to charity.

Was one week enough to really gain an understanding of what the jobs are like?

I think it’s a misconception that it takes several years to learn whether a job is right for you. A lot of information can be gathered quite quickly. Granted, yes, a job might become more rewarding with time — once you really learn the ins and outs and how you can contribute and be successful at it. But It wasn’t my goal to find the perfect job in one week. It would have been awesome if I had, but it was more about learning from other people and putting the pieces together — well, figuring out what the pieces were.

What were your most and least favorite jobs?

My most enjoyable jobs were the weeks where I was working with some great people. It was not necessarily the job I was doing but my coworkers that made the experience memorable. The ones that stand out are: Cancer Fundraiser (Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation), Pizza Maker, Fashion Buyer, Advertising Executive, Steam Whistle Brewery. The least enjoyable week was working in a swamp picking cat tails. It was plus 35, tonnes of bugs, smelled bad, and really long 12-hour days. All in all not too pleasant.

You finished the jobs in March of 2008, what have you been doing for the last two years?

Writing the book which was recently published, working on the documentary which will be out this spring (view the trailer at oneweekjob.com), and speaking to students/companies about my experiences and what I learned. We also just started the One Week Job program which grants others the opportunity to have a similar to experience to mine.

‘One Week Job’ really is a marketing phenomenon, how did you accomplish so much?

• First step was creating the website and outlining my goals, and why I was doing what I was doing.
• Second, I landed a sponsor at Week 5 to help pay with travel expenses as my wages were donated to charity.
• Third, Week 6, the first major media outlet covered the story.
• Fourth, the book deal happened around Week 37.
• Fifth, all of the small milestones in between with trying to find a new job, a new place to stay, and organize travel plans each week for an entire year.

Sean Aiken's book The One Week Job Project

How did the book come about?

I was extremely lucky in that when the New York Times picked up the story, I heard from several publishers directly asking if I’d thought about writing a book.

How did you get the great support for the book from all the famous authors?

I emailed them and asked real nice.

Please tell us about the people working on One Week Job?

Ian MacKenzie is my best friend, filmmaker, web editor, new media producer guy. He directed the upcoming documentary (view trailer on website). There were a few companies we worked with for the documentary.

How are you making money now?

The publishers provide an advance against royalties so that an author can live while they are writing the book. I make money by doing talks at conferences or schools.

Is the book going to make you rich?

Time will tell. Although I remember reading a quote from bestselling author Seth Godin – it was something to the effect of “those who write books to get rich are fooling themselves.”

Is One Week Job making you rich?

Nope.

What comes next? What is the future for Sean Aiken?

The book about my experience is called The One-Week Job Project. Published by Penguin Books in Canada and Random House in the US. The book is a memoir of my year. It begins from graduation, and me struggling to find an answer to the question “what should I do with my life?” How this developed into the idea to start the One Week Job Project, the different jobs I had, all the advice I received from my employers on finding a career, and the story of my personal journey making the transition from school into the working world. We recently finished post-production on the documentary that will be available this spring. We just started the One Week Job Program that provides others the opportunity to have a similar experience to my original journey. We’re giving three individuals $3000 each over the course of two months this summer. They’ll perform eight different one-week jobs and blog from the website. Anyone interested can apply at oneweekjob.com. I’d like to help other people interested in starting the One Week Job project in their country. Currently there is interest in the UK and potentially in China. Also, I’m planning an extensive college campus tour around the country next fall to share my story and all that I learned in making the transition from school into the working world.

Links
One Week Job
Follow Sean Aiken on Twitter

Corbett Barr at FreePursuits.com recently posted  a fantastic video that is closely aligned with my personal life view. The TED video is of Srikumar Rao who outlines how to be happy in life. I briefly summarized the video below, but I didn’t include the great examples that will help convey the message. Watch the video, it is worth it.

Brief Summary

Srikumar Rao

Everything we do in life in someway is a quest for happiness.

There is nothing that you have to get, do or be in order to be happy.

Happiness is your innate nature. It is wired in your DNA.

We have a mental model that says we have to get something in order to be happy.

IF this happens, THEN we will be happy.

The IF-THEN model itself is flawed. But instead of realizing that, we spend an enormous amount of time changing the ‘IFs.”

Recall a scene of spectacular beauty that took you outside of yourself into a place of great serenity like a rainbow or mountain range. The reason that happened is that you accepted the universe exactly as it was. You didn’t say that is a beautiful rainbow but it is a little off to the left. If I could move it 200 yards to the right it would be ever so much beautiful.

We all want to achieve things in life. We all want certain outcomes in our life.  Actions are within our control but the outcome is completely out of our control. Sometimes we get the outcome we want and sometimes we don’t.

We typically invest in the outcome. The alternative is that you invest in the process. Don’t focus on the winning. When it is over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? And if you did the best that you were capable of then the score doesn’t matter. If you did the best that you were capable of, you will find the score to your liking.

Passion exists inside you, it does not exist in the job. If you do not find a way to ignite it within you, you will not find it outside. If you ignite the passion where you are, you will find the external world rearranges itself to accommodate the new person you are becoming.  As you do that, you will find that miracles happen on a regular basis.

Seth Godin’s Linchpin

Godin’s latest book Linchpin is also related. I have written a brief summary of Linchpin and have a couple of links to a free mp3 and eBook that Godin created on my IdeaEconomy blog. Please talk a look if you are interested.

Excellence

Godin and Rao both speak about something that I have been calling excellence. I really feel that the only route to happiness and success is striving to do the best that you can. You don’t have to be the best to be happy. You just have to do your best. At the end of everyday ask yourself, ‘did I do the best that I was capable of?‘ I find that when I can answer that question affirmatively, then I am pretty happy with my life regardless of what occurred or was accomplished.

Lifestyle Design is Dead - Long Live Lifestyle Design!

Corbett Barr of FreePursuits.com asked a brilliant question in a recent post: “Is lifestyle design dead already?” There is still a fantastic discussion brewing there that I highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject. The fact that so many people are discussing the topic indicates that the moniker ‘lifestyle design’ is growing old despite the fact that designing your own lifestyle is getting easier with more opportunities than ever.

There seems to be at couple of immediate assumptions with ‘lifestyle design.’ The first is that all work is some indentured servitude. Employees are all ’slaves’ sacrificing themselves to someone else’s benefit. The second is that self-employment is some sort of utopia where you bring in wheel-barrels of cash while having the freedom to do whatever you want.

If you don’t like your job, just quit

I have been self-employed for most of my life, but I know that I was never a slave to the short-term jobs I had in the past. My employers provided me with a wage I deemed fair in exchange for work. Both sides found value in the proposition. When I no longer received enough value from the jobs I had, I quit. I always had the freedom to choose. No one forced me to work. I doubt anyone is forcing you to work in a job you dislike either. I also happened to enjoy most of the jobs I had. There is something to be gained in any type of work if you are open-minded enough to want to improve yourself.  I would love to find a job in a creative environment working on cool projects. Not for the money, but just to be working closely with talented people on interesting things. The first assumption above doesn’t make any sense to me.

Entrepreneurship is not all fun and games

I have felt like a slave in my own company. When you are the owner, your job doesn’t end just because the clock says you are finished. There are problems and customer needs that have to be addressed. I ended up keeping my last business for several years longer than I would’ve liked out of an obligation to my customers. I wish it was just a job because I would have had the freedom to get out long ago. Self-employment is great, don’t get me wrong. It is just a lot more work and headaches than any job you will have. Many people talking about how great self-employment is probably haven’t had their own company with employees yet.

‘Lifestyle design’ = work as little as possible

I personally have eliminated the term ‘lifestyle design’ from this blog’s tag line because I think it is getting associated with quitting work to travel. Everyone seems to be looking for short cuts to a good life. I personally don’t think making a couple thousand dollars a month from niche sites and drinking buckets on Khao San Road is a particularly meaningful existence. Backpacking is a lot of fun but I wouldn’t want it to be a long-term lifestyle.

Are we all entitled to a good life?

What I find most disappointing is that so many people feel they are entitled to a great, easy lifestyle with little work or sacrifice. The idea of working to provide for your family and improve the lot of mankind is a foreign concept to many. I realize that we are more affluent and comfortable then ever in history, but the laziness is getting to be too much. Who is going to build our houses, make our clothes, take out the garbage, teach children, take care of the elderly and do all the other very real and valuable work in society?

Maybe the lifestyle designers feel that drudgery should be outsourced to cheap overseas workers? They feel above the degradation of work so spend their time searching for easy passive income. Many of these same people find no hypocrisy in outsourcing to low wage countries for subsistence wages. Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with that notion?

I am still naive enough to actually want to make a difference in the world. I want to excel in various pursuits and create value for others. That can’t be done in four hours a week. Greatness in virtually every field still takes a lot of work. There are no short cuts to being a great athlete, musician or writer. Why do people think their are going to be short-cuts in creating value for others? Sure there are examples of people making disproportionate returns on their effort, Wall Street comes to mind, but I don’t think it is wise to expect those over-sized profits for the rest of your life. Easy come, easy go. Lasting sustainable value takes time to build. I could be wrong though. I keep reading about get rich quick schemes regularly so maybe I am the only stupid one working long hours?

The Zero Hour Workweek

Of course, pundits will say that if you enjoy something enough then it is no longer considered work. To that I call bullshit. I love to run but it is still a chore to get my shoes on and get out the door. I love the feeling after having finished a good workout but getting started is not much fun. I love to play guitar. However, making serious improvement requires a level of effort and motivation that is difficult to sustain. Practicing scales for an hour or two everyday is not particularly enjoyable. Great musicians do it because the importance of excelling at their craft is worth all the pain and sacrifice. It is still work. I love sharing my ideas and connecting with others on my blogs, but it still takes a lot of work to research, write and edit decent posts. I too want all the rewards without the effort, but that would be foolish to expect something for nothing. Or is it?

It is easy to say that you want to make a living as a musician when you are only practicing an hour or two a week. That amount of playing is always fun. Just like all the lifestyle design dreamers who long for an easy life making huge passive income doing things they love. It sounds really nice when you are getting started but it starts to look a lot like work after you realize the easy money is not so easy after all. The opportunities are there and they always will be for those willing to hustle and adapt. I personally believe their are more opportunities than ever. I also know that every successful person I have encountered is not afraid to put in the hours to continuously learn and really strive to improve. There are no overnight successes unless you are talking about Chris Brogan; 11 years to an overnight success.

Is lifestyle design dead?

I don’t think so. We are fortunate enough to live in affluent societies where we expect more out of work than just a paycheck. Most of us are striving to find meaningful and fulfilling work. That takes conscious lifestyle planning or design. I will continue to use the term because I feel there is a common understanding about the idea that we indeed have the freedom to shape our own lives more than ever. With that said, I can’t wait for the get rich quick, miracle diet, speed learning, quick and easy version of ‘lifestyle design’ to die a quick and painful death. Expecting a lot for a little effort is for dreamers. People who are willing to put in the work to master their dreams and lifestyle goals are infinitely much more than the hype behind the phrase. Designing your lifestyle is for people with vision, courage and work ethic. If you want the miracle ‘lifestyle design’ pill I am sure you won’t have much trouble finding someone to sell it to you for only $97 per month. Hurry it is only a limited time offer!

The last couple of decades have seen a profound shift in western ideas  and values of work, life and play. The rules have changed to the point where there are no longer any rules. In fact, we all have the opportunity to create our own rules if we so chose. There are no templates or life paths to follow. The world has become untemplated.

A great group of people have joined forces to blog about the opportunities to create any lifestyle we imagine.

• Adam Baker
• Andrew Norcross
• Carlos Miceli
• Cody McKibben
• Dariane Nabor
• Jun Loayza
• Monica O’Brien

They have just launched a new site, Untemplater.com and have a free PDF manifesto on offer. I am really excited about this new online community because I really think we are on the cusp of a major revolution in all facets of our lives. Old templates and career paths just don’t work anymore. Untemplater promises to help us chart our way through entrepreneurship, lifestyle design, vagabond travels, personal finance, motivation and the future of the anywhere, anything lifestyle.

The world is changing fast but it is always helpful to reflect on the history that brought us here.

A Century of Change: ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’

With constant technological and societal change it is sometimes easy to forget how much the world has changed in one very short century. Your great grandparents probably didn’t have electricity, running water, motorized vehicles and all the derivative goods and services that flow from those basic luxuries. Think about that as you go through your day. Could you exist without electricity, technology, automobiles and running water?

One hundred years ago times were much more difficult. Traveling a dozen or so miles to a nearby city was a chore. There was a constant struggle just to provide enough food to survive. Endless back-breaking physical work was required just to exist with little left over for entertainment.

The Golden Ages: Individuality was a Small Price to Pay for Wealth

The rise of mass corporations in the 1950′s offered security and upward mobility. People were happy to forgo their own individuality and dreams for the sake of rapidly rising standards of living. Being a faceless corporate drone was far superior to the depravity of World War II and earlier experiences with the great depression. Risk taking was foolish when high paying salaries were so easy to come by. A single income was ample to buy a comfortable house with all modern appliciances and furniture. It truly was the Golden Age and people had lots of children to prove it.

Those children were the baby boom. Families with children spend more money so the economy was great and everyone prospered. Women were housewives and men were salaried workers. Work may not have been intrinsically rewarding, but no one cared because life was so good.

The Baby Boomers

Then all those babies started growing up. When the working age population is small, job opportunities and salaries are great. When the boomers flooded the workforce there was a lot of competition for limited jobs and decent opportunities were scarce. Unemployment was high and times were tough.

However, those boomers had their own children causing a second baby boom. More children meant families spent more money and times became good again. That lasted about two decades, then those second baby boomers started entering the work force and times started getting tight again. Those workers are now commonly referred to as generation X. I am of that generation.

When I graduated university job opportunities were limited. I missed the boom oil years my parents enjoyed and probably graduated at one of the worst times. There were no executive and V.P. positions offered to limited experience graduates. Everyone started at the bottom of the corporate ladder and expected a long climb to the top.  Entrepreneurship was still somewhat of a strange word often met with derision. Looking back it really is amazing how much demographics influence the economy.

The Age of Opportunity

Now in the Internet age, the rules have completely changed again. The Internet, technology and resultant flattening of the world have completely reshaped the playing field again. The costs to start companies and reach a global market are essentially free. Start up incubators like Ycombinator and TechStars,  are proving that  talented and motivated teams can build multi-million dollar businesses in a few months with 15 to 20 thousand dollars of start up capital. This is the age of ideas and opportunity. Age and experience are meaningless. Only creativity, talent and hard work can bring success.

Costs of travel, electronics, clothing, food and most goods are cheaper than ever.  We know longer need to keep on increasing our consumption. Things do not bring lasting happiness, only experiences and human connections do. This is the first time in history when it makes sense to stop increasing our material possessions and focus on finding meaning and purpose in our lives.

The time has come to break free of old limiting patterns and templates and create our own paths the world. Untemplater.com is the community to follow for this new untemplated lifestyle.

Volunteering Global, Interview with Sarah Van Auken

International volunteer opportunities can be a fantastic way to see another part of the world and make a difference in communities that need it.  The problem is finding the right cause to volunteer for. Volunteer expert Sarah Van Auken offers some great advice in this interview.

Please tell us a about your website, Volunteering Global

Volunteering Global is a site that educates individuals about service opportunities worldwide. There are two main parts – the list of volunteer programs and the blog. Currently, there are 420 individual service groups listed, with information on costs, accommodations, type of work, and other basics that people might want to know. The blog covers general travel and about volunteering, whether it involves safety tips, packing advice, stories from returned volunteers, or even highlights of specific service programs.

What volunteer experiences have you had?

Most of my volunteering has been U.S.-based, so I’ll highlight work that my friends and I have done as an example of the types of projects available worldwide:

• Tracking and tagging nesting sea turtles in Costa Rica
  Repairing damaged trails throughout Appalachia
• Researching small mammals in Mongolia
• Helping with HIV/AIDS affected families in Kenya
• Building and repairing homes in New Orleans
• Educating children in Peru

Most volunteer opportunities actually cost money, why is that?

Most volunteer organizations are nonprofits, so their funding comes from their participants and donations. Fees usually cover food and housing, transport to and from the project site, tools and other supplies, and training and support. Costs vary depending on the experience the person wants. Some groups arrange a “luxury” style of trip, such as a hotel stay, cultural excursions, and entertainment in addition to a volunteer project, while other opportunities are available for a person to get down and dirty and focus entirely on the project at hand. Trips range from $5 per day for the more rustic and hands-on experience, to $6,000+ per week for more indulgent ventures.

Is it possible to find free volunteer opportunities?

Unfortunately, there are very few organizations that cover travel expenses, though many offer tips and resources for fundraising.

There are two main types of no-cost trips: free and sponsored. Free trips usually last six months or longer, though the volunteer must cover his airfare and personal expenses. These often are available for individuals with minimal training, but who can work on a long-term basis. Think of it as an unpaid internship.

Sponsored trips are those in which airfare and other travel expenses are covered by the host organization. These range from a few days to over a year, and usually ask that their participants have specific abilities – such as dentistry, grant proposal writing, or other scarce skills – that are needed in the host country.

It is possible to find short-term opportunities at a minimal fee, but it takes more extensive research to find them. If cost and timeline are an issue, start the program search early and don’t get discouraged!

Is it possible to have a long term volunteering career without having lots of money first?

Absolutely! The free and sponsored trips mentioned above sometimes include a small stipend for those who volunteer for six or more months. Generally, the longer a person volunteers, the less expensive the program becomes.

Not only does a career break allow the individual to give back and to experience a new culture, but it also offers valuable job training and education. Many volunteer programs are offered for mid-career professionals who would like to help with marketing and fundraising, small business development, teaching, and other projects that translate well onto a résumé later.

Many organizations charge hefty fees to coordinate volunteer work, are those fees worth it?

It depends on the volunteer, the agency, and the community. Most of the more expensive organizations are placement groups, meaning that the volunteer doesn’t actually work with that establishment – he works with a host. Think of it as a volunteer travel agency. If a person doesn’t realize this, and wants something different than what the organization offers, then obviously he will feel cheated.

On the other hand, David Clemmons recently wrote an article highlighting a negative experience in which the volunteer felt her trip was a rip-off; I’m inclined to agree.

As for the community aspect of the program, it is of utmost importance to know that the community is being impacted positively by the volunteer work. Some of the best work is being done by volunteer organizations that actively involve community members. The goal should be to eventually pull out of the area and allow the locals to sustain the project on their own.

A great website to check for information on best practices in volunteer travel is Voluntourism101.

Can you recommend some good organizations and volunteer opportunities?

Here are some programs working in every region worldwide:

Africa
IVHQ
Uganda Wildlife Education Centre

Asia
PEPY Ride
Volunteer for the Visayans

Europe
Sunseed Desert Technology
Naucrates

North America
Asociación ANAI
Bike & Build

Oceania
Earthwise Valley
Tolga Bat Hospital

South America
Voluntraveler
Teach Huaraz Peru

Can you recommend some good directories or websites of volunteer opportunities?

Volunteering Global (that’s me!)
Idealist
Volunteer South America
Voluntourism Gal

Are there any black lists of companies to avoid?

I’m not sure I know of any that have been outright blacklisted, but two problems seem to pop up most often with troublesome projects: Lack of funding information, and “hug-an-orphan” programs.

Most organizations will be happy to provide their funding information for you, including where your money goes and who supports the project, e.g., volunteers or local businesses. If they’re not forthcoming, then you should probably move on.

“Hug-an-orphan” and similar projects also should be avoided. This is summed up very well in an article by Saundra Schimmelpfennig of Good Intentions Are Not Enough.

There are many, many great volunteer organizations out there, so if you are uneasy about one, then don’t become discouraged. Just keep looking, and you’ll find something that fits.

Where will you be volunteering next?

I would love to visit Peru next – but really, I’m willing to go anywhere!

Links
Volunteering Global
Volunteering Global Blog
Follow VolunteerGlobal on Twitter

Juggle: Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life by Ian Sanders

I have recently had the opportunity to read an inspiring book on lifestyle design and the future of work called, Juggle: Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life. Author Ian Sanders has some great ideas about the some of the biggest career and lifestyle design issues we are all facing. The book is loaded practical examples about how to live a “portfolio lifestyle” including quotes and interviews with Gary Vaynerchuk and Saatchi & Saatchi CEO, Kevin Roberts.

“You can choose to become a Juggler, to throw the rules out of the window, to create a life where you mix stuff you do for love and stuff you do for money. A life where you re-define success not by a salary package alone buy by freedom, enjoyment, flexibility and lifestyle. Where work is an extension of You, reflecting your personality, your talents and desires; where you juggle different projects to be stimulated as well as to earn a living.”

Think PassionS NOT Passion

Many of us are looking for our true calling in life. If only we could find that one thing that we are so excited about, work would be become joy. With endless career options available, it is hard to narrow it down to one single choice. Ian Sanders has a better way to look at it. We all have a plurality of interests and goals, rather than shutting off different parts of our lives we can really have it all. Ian provides many examples, including his own, of people with multiple callings. Not only is it possible to pursue several interests simultaneously, it may also make financial sense:

“That plurality is not just driven by our tastes and passions. There are also good economic reasons to have broad talents. A business with multiple products generating multiple revenue streams or an executive with strengths in more than one area have the potential to be more recession proof.”

“Forget Work/Life Balance, it’s more Work/Play Integration”

We are all seeking some type of balance in our lives. Family is everything but we also need to earn a living and our careers can be a great outlet for personal development and growth if we choose wisely. Ian Sanders argues that balance is not the answer; a more effective approach is work/life integration.

“There’s no neat divide between home and work. When you’re working, you still think of personal stuff, and when you’re not at work – in the shower, in the car, doing the shopping – that’s when you’ll have clarity for problem solving or thoughts for topping up your to-do list.”

“Whether it’s the shower, the run or having a coffee- that’s when we have ideas, sparks of inspiration, consistently and effectively. And that’s how -for me – work and play are interlinked, not neatly separated.”

“Work is not a place you go, it’s what you do, it’s part of your DNA.”

A lot of us seem to be hung up defining work by where it is done; you can work in a cubicle, work at home, work as a nomad, work from abroad. Why should work be defined by place? Here are some great quotes:

“Work is no longer somewhere we clock in and out of; it’s a mindset that we dip in and out of.”

“It’s not where you did it, or what hours you worked. It’s just about results.”

“We are nomadic, working from airplanes, trains, wherever. There are no rules and no walls to where and how we work.”

Are you Real?

Another key point in Juggling is about celebrating who we really are. Authenticity is everything. It is okay to be an accountant by day and play in a punk rock band at night. If those are your passions, than why not do both? When anyone can go a quick Google search and find out everything about us, it is no longer possible to segment or hide the different parts of our lives. We are everything we do.

“Juggling is having the confidence to carve out your own areas and proclaim ‘this is who I am’ regardless of perception and conforming to convention.”

The Juggler’s Manifesto

(From the end of the book. Included with permission.)

1. FORGET SPECIALISM, discover the value of being across more than one discipline. Sticking to just one thing limits your potential; place no limits on what you do and become more fulfilled.
2. BE PASSIONATE about all you do; let your passions and desires inform and shape your work life.
3. BE ADEPT AT GEAR-SHIFTING, from segueing from the huge to the tiny, from work to play.
4. MAKE TIME FOR PLAY. Being a successful Juggler is about working hard but also mixing up work and play, and using playtime as your inspiration and stimulation.
5. BE A CHAMELEON, FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE. Rethink all you do, be happy to change the rules again and again. Don’t stay entrenched in rigid ideas of how things should be done.
6. THE BEST PLAN IS A NON-PLAN. Success in the knowledge economy is about making it up as you go along.
7. USE YOUR INSTINCT (every time) in making decisions, in deciding what to do and what not to do.
8. RE-DEFINE PERSONAL SUCCESS not by a salary package alone but by more important currency such as, did you get to see your kids’s sports day, do you work with a decent bunch of people, did you take enough holiday this year?
9. GO BEYOND A JOB TITLE and carve out a unique You-role. Do it your way, be authentic. Take control.
10. DEVELOP A PERSONAL BRAND to unite and communicate your strengths.
11. WORK HARD BUT WORK SMART. Whilst success relies on you working hard it’s also about doing what you love; and when you do what you love, it doesn’t feel so much like work.
12. HAVE LOTS OF SELF-BELIEVE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. Have a positive outlook, be an optimist. Don’t whinge!
13. BE A PIONEER, with no fear of the unknown. Be happy to learn new stuff, embrace new ideas.
14. HAVE PURPOSE IN ALL YOU DO. Focus on making a difference and leaving a legacy.

I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to find meaning in their work and seeking a more fulfilling life. Ian Sanders shows how we can have a plurality of rewarding careers AND a great family life at the same time.

Links
Juggle Summary on ChangeThis.com
Ian Sanders’ Books
Ian Sanders Blog
Follow Ian on Twitter