if you have a dream if you have this
crazy idea you must believe in it even
if no one else does when you talk to
people who have found the work they were
born to do they are so excited about it
you can tell that they have found
something that is really unique I’ve
never really been interested in living a
balanced life you know I don’t I think
balanced people don’t change the world I
didn’t want to get old right and be like
you know oh once it was like 10 years
ago I had this idea you know to do
something but I never did anything about
it we tend to focus on all – all the fun
things and the fun things are great but
we have like not everybody wants to pay
you to do those fun things I’m a big fan
of defining our aspirations and then
crafting our life around them
essentially I actually don’t think you
need a niche I don’t believe that you
have to have something super specific
well you have to connect with
like-minded people you have to – you
know surround yourself with people who
aren’t necessarily you know doing the
same things that you’re doing but they
have the same attitudes or the same
mindset at least you know she says
people are always telling you to think
outside the box she says my advice is to
get in the box
but because life is short why not try to
work towards something you know that is
not just you know okay but is amazing
I’m a writer traveler and entrepreneur
I’m best known for going to every
country in the world all 193 and for
writing the art of nonconformity blog
and books my new book is called born for
this it’s all about how to find the work
you are meant to do I’m Chris Gila beau
and here are my top ten rules for
success if you have a dream if you have
this crazy idea you must believe in it
even if no one else does so when I had
the idea to go to every country in the
world that’s kind of what it felt like
it felt like this crazy idea it was like
that just sounds like totally ridiculous
and absurd but I couldn’t stop thinking
about it and I realized that if I didn’t
pursue it I would always regret it and
that knowledge that fear of regret kind
of drove me to say yes and I talked to
lots of other people who used very
similar language there’s a guy from
Portland Maine whose crazy idea was to
walk across America and he wasn’t even
sure like how does that work how much
time does it take has anyone done this
before it was this crazy idea that
wouldn’t leave him alone and so one
morning he left his home in Maine and he
started walking and seven and a half
months later
arrived in San Francisco and I talked to
him throughout the whole journey I
talked him in the beginning and in the
middle in the end I asked him you know
what was the what were the challenges
like and how did it go and he said he
said something that stayed with me for
the rest of my journey he said you know
there were lots of external challenges
it was hard on the body to get used to
walking that much lots of things went
wrong there were some emotional
challenges as well he had just had a
breakup and he was kind of processing
all this he said but what I realized
about two weeks in once I started
complaining once I stopped complaining
and grumbling about the whole thing he
said I realized that my task was pretty
simple all I had to do was walk
essentially and if I did nothing else if
I got up every morning and I made a
little bit of progress then eventually I
would reach the goal eventually I would
arrive in San Francisco and you know
achieved that goal reached that
destination and it sounded really simple
but it’s kind of stayed with me for the
you know the final two years of my quest
because that’s how I felt it was for me
– all I had to do was get to 193
countries and I had my list of countries
and I was making progress and if I got
stomach stuck somewhere you know
eventually I’d have to overcome that
challenge but I could go and do some
others first and I liked the logical
analytical progress of it it’s something
that related to me so just keep going
you have to believe in your dream even
if no one else does I think a lot of
people when I talk to people about this
book they were worried about mistakes
they had made and they were worried
about like you know I had this
opportunity and I let it go or I should
have done this I ended up doing
something different I really learned
that you can recover from most mistakes
like most of us have made mistakes we’ve
done different things and and that’s
that’s normal so there are a lot of
different paths I don’t think there’s
just necessarily one path you know for
everyone you know there’s this whole I
complain about you know the road not
taken’ or the road less traveled and I
took this one it made all the difference
but we don’t really know the other story
right we don’t know what happened like
what if you’d actually gone back and
taken the other one maybe it would have
been great too
maybe it would have been better so I do
think there’s more than one path but I
also think when you talk to people who
have found the work they were born to do
they are so excited about it you can
tell that they have found something that
is really unique and really special so
even though there’s more than one path I
think it’s important to kind of work
toward whatever this special thing is
work toward this this combination of
factors to we’re like we’re really happy
and we have all the money that we need
and we’re doing something that we’re
really good at I think I think that’s
the goal right so it’s not like this one
elusive thing but if you look at really
successful people if you look at Beyonce
like Beyonce probably could have done a
bunch of different things but isn’t it
so good that she’s doing you know what
she’s doing or anyone that you admire
you kind of look at them and you’re like
they have really found their thing I’ve
never really been interested in living a
balanced life you know I don’t I think
balanced people don’t change the world
first of all I think balance people
don’t really follow a dream you know
this doesn’t mean that you don’t have
responsibilities like just go to the
other part of this question how can you
have a family well sure you can have a
family and have you know but balance is
kind of like I feel like balance is like
a made-up word it’s like invented by
corporations you know to make their
employees think that they’re happy you
know it’s like you got this balance like
you could work at Microsoft you know or
something here in Seattle and not
there’s like ten Microsoft people in the
audience right no disrespect to
Microsoft let’s pick another Microsoft
Greg went out of every five people as
Brianna works in microsites like you
know you got you got this thing and
maybe you love your job and if you love
your job that’s great but I hear from a
lot of dissatisfied people had some of
these big companies and they write in
there like I’m reading your blog for my
cubicle and like you know I have this
good job and I’ve got my health
insurance I’ve got free yoga every
Thursday but I’m not really you know
fulfilled right I’m not really fulfilled
so for me I guess I’m much more
interesting that word fulfilled like you
know how can you live a fulfilled life
and you can live a fulfilled life and
still pay your bills you know lots of
creative people do it lots of
unconventional people do it and it’s I
would say if anything it’s actually much
more common now than it used to be you
know when I first started working online
you know fifteen years ago I didn’t know
a lot of other people who were doing
that you know my friends thought I was
selling drugs or something we were well
I was you know but they’re like online
gambling or we know whatever I like
parents have no idea how the internet
works and stuff but now it’s it’s much
more common so I don’t really like the
word balance myself so what we’d like to
do is we want to replace the word like
living a balanced life is not the goal
the goal is living off a filled life I
started traveling I had been to a bunch
of countries
really liked it I lived in West Africa
for four years and started kind of
trying to figure out okay how many
countries have I been to how many
countries in the world are there once I
had this information it was very
difficult to do anything else
right because once I had this
information I was like oh I’ve been to
like 50 countries there’s 193 countries
it was 192 I would like to visit a
hundred countries some time in my life I
set that goal first you know but you
just said you say I would like to
because I would like to do a lot of
things but I want to I feel drawn to it
I feel like this is a goal I’m gonna you
know attach to myself and at the time it
wasn’t public it was just like a private
thing this is before I was blogging you
know and then as I started getting
closer to that goal of 100 countries
that’s when I thought well what’s next
because if you’re only going to half the
countries then you’re missing a lot of
challenges and you could just go to easy
places so that’s when I so I had this
information of like okay could I really
do that I was like could I really go to
every country I don’t know if I could or
not like this is like a huge thing it’s
going to cost a lot not just in terms of
money but also in terms of time and like
sacrifice and logistics things could go
wrong you know fear but really what it
came down to meat to for me was not the
fear of something going wrong along the
way once I actually started thinking
about this and was like maybe I could
actually do this in like seven to eight
years if I really worked at it that what
I was afraid of was not doing it I was
afraid of like you know having this idea
and then just passing on it right you
know and just continuing to travel a
little bit I’m that guy who travels once
in a while but what’s that you know like
and then I didn’t want to get old right
and be like you know I once know like
ten years ago I had this idea you know
to do something but I never did anything
about it you know that’s what that’s
what drove me the fear of being ordinary
or have not the fear of regret of not
following up on a dream that I that I
had that I knew like I didn’t know if I
could succeed I thought I might fail but
I figured if I failed I could deal with
that you know but not if I just didn’t
do it right right but that’s what drove
drove it for those people who ever heard
your story and want to live a certain
nonconformist traveling lifestyle as
well can you recommend a business model
they start out with you try to
infoproducts you try to eBay what do you
recommend the most important thing I
recommend regardless of what the
specific business model is is to really
kind of you know focus on what
all the convergence between like what
you love to do and what you’re
passionate about and what other people
are also passionate about and what other
people are actually willing to exchange
money for because those things can be
different sometimes you know I think
often when we focus on like location
independence and you know doing what you
want stuff we tend to focus on all the
all the fun things and the fun things
are great but we have like not everybody
wants to pay you to do those fun things
so you have to find it you have to find
a link right between what you can do
that’s really helpful where your skills
are how your passions can align with
with other people you know and that took
me that took me quite a while to figure
that out but if you really focus on that
from the beginning and I think that
helps regardless of the specific
business model now in terms of the
business model you know right now I’m in
the information publishing business I
really do love it I think it’s great but
there there’s other things you can do as
well so it just depends on you know on
what you’re into and what kind of
business you want to pursue I think we
all have these like great ideas right
and at the same time we have
responsibilities and mortgages and you
know whatever so I guess I’m just
wondering what your advice is to people
who you know want to go out and pursue
certain things but they’re also like
certain limitations I guess that we have
to like exist within I mean I guess we
don’t but you know I can’t walk away
from my condo tomorrow and walk across
the country I probably wouldn’t work out
well for me
but yeah what’s your day so that’s a
great question but do you want to walk
across the country like is that your
aspiration right this is it so I’m a big
fan of defining our aspirations and then
crafting our life around them
essentially you know and so like the
quest to visit every country in the
world for example I was thinking about
the see other dates people asked how
much it cost right and the first 100
countries cost about thirty thousand
dollars so thirty thousand at least I
would argue is not a huge amount of
money for going to a hundred countries
and all the life experience that I got
through that and also I didn’t have to
pay it all right away you pay-as-you-go
essentially in something like that so
you know these these limitations as you
said it maybe let’s not call them
limitations their responsibilities
especially people with families like you
don’t just leave your family and walk
across the country but again there are
ways to cultivate the value of adventure
that’s why I like the story of Sasha and
what she did at home
there’s a woman in Omaha who’s knitting
10,000 hats and her passion thing that
she really loved was always knitting and
one Christmas time or holiday time she
was she made a hundred hats for her
friends and family and she was like
that’s really fun I want to do a
thousand but a thousand is not a big
enough challenge so she took on this
goal of ten thousand hats and there’s a
charity component to it you can connect
with her on her website and eventually
get a hat so I mean I don’t know
responsibilities and things are real but
if something matters to us I guess I’m
also a believer in figuring out how to
how to do that right like we do have to
trade off things we do have to sacrifice
and and especially for all of us with so
many opportunities available to us
it’s a matter of prioritization you know
it’s a matter of you know I can probably
do anything I want but I can’t do
everything right so if I if I if this
thing really does matter to me whether
it’s walking across the country or
whatever it is in your case then it’s
something that you have to plan for and
build for and for me it was it was worth
it to do that when you starting a blog
or trying to build an audience how
important is it to have a niche and what
can you do if you have multiple
interests you find a way to meld the
different interests you find a way so
I’m going to paraphrase a little bit to
kind of you know put them together and
the word that I like to use is not niche
or niche I like to use the word theme so
I actually don’t think you need a niche
I don’t believe that you have to have
something super specific I know that
there are some people who say that and
maybe that’s been true for them that’s
great in my case it certainly wasn’t the
way that I chose to do it and partly
that was because I was worried I would
get bored you know if it was something
too specific um I had started a lot of
projects in the past where I was really
motivated and excited for a while but
then it kind of dropped off and with
this when when I started writing the
blog it was something that I really
liked the medium and I wanted to be able
to keep doing it for a long period of
time so I didn’t choose a niche but I
did as Dave kind of referred to I did
meld the interests together and I chose
a theme and I said what do all these
things have in common
you know they’re it’s more of a
worldview nonconformity than it is
anything super specific um well you have
to connect with like-minded people you
have to – you know surround yourself
with people who aren’t necessarily you
doing the same things that you’re doing
but they have the same attitudes or the
same mindset at least so that’s another
thing that has been transformative
because now when I meet readers or I
come to do things like this I find it
like I’m in this weird business of
inspiration right if you’d be like I was
so inspiring it’s up but it’s totally
true that that I gently derive like a
great deal of my inspiration from from
the feedback and the interaction as you
were saying with Twitter or so online
and offline you know online is great I
mean it’s relationships can be forged
online and you actually meet that person
you feel like you know them already and
stuff when I do stuff like this my part
of the reason we do the world domination
summit is to bring together people you
know who are like-minded especially like
if they come from like small towns or
something and I hear this a lot of like
you know I live in this place where it’s
not like Seattle or Portland or wherever
like you know there’s just not a lot of
people who think like I do or my ideas
aren’t accepted or maybe my family
doesn’t understand you know why I want
to be an artist or why I want to travel
it’s like why don’t you just go on
vacation why do you want I like you know
go and see the world you know so I so
you know bringing people together and
then just myself by being in that it’s
helped so so much I guess I guess in the
general principle as I am pro goal right
I am pro like I’m pro parameters you
know there’s there’s this good story in
the book about a woman into Lisa block
right who’s a serial crafter and she
makes all this stuff and she serves it
with the world and she’s incredibly
prolific and her whole advice is you
know she says people are always telling
you to think outside the box she says my
advice is to get in the box basically
make yourself a box like make yourself
these parameters these goals whatever
again it’s not something that’s being
imposed on you that’s really the clear
point it’s not like someone saying
here’s your goal here’s what you should
do no it’s it’s you it’s the things that
you select for yourself but I believe I
believe there’s so much possibility you
know in those parameters or in those
constraints as we talked about so
whether it’s like my goal is to climb
Mount Everest or maybe it’s the ten
mountains or something and stages are
also good so stages or milestones the
levels and Mario Brothers you know for
me it was like 50 countries 100
countries you know then it was like
every continent once I finished you know
all of Africa that was a big thing so I
do think it’s important to celebrate
small wins along the way everybody who’s
successful and by successful I mean like
absolutely fulfilled in their career you
know passionate about it and feeling
like they’re doing something that
they’re supposed to do they have these
three characteristics and first of all
they have joy they’re happy in their
work they enjoy what they do most of the
time they’re not doing a soul-sucking
job if they have a job it’s a great job
or if it’s something that they built for
themselves they really enjoy it and the
second quality is money because there’s
lots of things you can do that you enjoy
but if you don’t get paid for them then
it’s a hobby which is great like it’s
good to have a hobby but if you’re
talking about a career it has to be
financially sustainable so joy money and
then the third factor is flow which is
really doing something that you’re good
at really doing something where when you
do it you’re immersed in it and ours
just kind of pass by and it’s also
really easy for you it’s something that
you’re good at and other people are like
wow like you know she’s really good at
that takes me a lot longer to do that or
I’m not good at it but so I think what
we’re looking for is this combination of
all three factors we want something that
brings joy we want something that is
financially sustainable we want
something that brings flow and I don’t
think people will be happy unless they
have all three of these factors yeah I
think you can be a little bit hot you
can be okay right there’s lots of people
who do jobs they don’t love and that’s
fine they get a paycheck and you know
maybe they’re satisfied in other areas
of their life but because life is short
why not try to work toward something you
know that is not just you know okay but
is amazing right isn’t that the goal so
those are the top 10 rules but since we
have you here live I’d love to hear a
bonus 11th rule okay all right no
pressure
bonus eleventh rule is if something
isn’t working I think you should stop
doing it I think you should quit and
this runs contrary to a lot of things
that you’ve been told in your business
education through case studies etc
you’ve probably been told that winners
never quit and what I saw through my
research looking at lots of successful
people who’ve done a lot of amazing
things
winners actually aren’t afraid to quit
winners quit all the time and so I think
it’s not persistence that’s the
predictor of success it’s flexibility
and adaptation being willing to kind of
go down a path and say actually that’s
not the right path for me I’m gonna go
back I’m gonna take the other path I’m
going to create an all-nude path so
winners never quit may be but winners
actually give up all the time and how do
you know it’s a magic question you know
when to quit right
and when to keep going because this is
still your dream that’s really hard
absolutely well there’s a magic answer
you ask yourself two questions is it
working do I still believe in it so if
it’s not working but you still believe
in it then you have to change what
you’re doing you have to adapt because
it’s not working you have to recognize
the reality but you still believe in
your dreams you have to change it you
know if it’s not working you don’t
believe in it then you stop and you quit
I would also say if it’s actually
working okay but you no longer believe
in it you have to make a change there
too because ultimately I’m not going to
be fulfilled during something you don’t
care about and what would you tell
people who don’t know what they believe
in yet I guess you know read the book oh
sure what what like there’s a lot of
anxiety around finding the perfect job
for me right is this how do I go about
finding something to actually believe it
yeah well here’s some reassurance most
people actually have no idea what it is
most people do not know their life
purpose when they’re 20 or even 30 or
older what most successful people do is
they go down a lot of different paths
they do not follow a linear path they
aren’t actually driven from a young age
you know to be this profession or
whatever they experiment they aren’t
afraid to go back as I said but over
time they were fine over time they kind
of discover that but if you don’t
experiment you won’t discover it I love
it so thank you guys so much for
watching hey thanks a lot Jay Rice I
heard you nominated me to be on the
program really appreciate that man thank
you I’d love to know which of the top 10
rules or eleven rules I guess here you
guys like the most leave it in the
comments below and I’ll join in the
discussion now usually I throw it over
to you guys for your suggestions on who
to profile next but since I have Krista
with me if you had to pick a few people
for who you don’t see a profile of who
would you pick right right well
obviously it’s an amazing show so I got
to think of amazing people first person
I thought of is my good friend Jonathan
fields lives in New York City he’s done
a lot of different things he’s probably
most known for The Good Life project no
fantastic video series Michelle Poehler
also in New York although she’s
originally from Venezuela she did a
hundred days of fear project where every
day she made a different video all about
fear she was overcoming really really
good stuff
and in the third person I’m thinking of
is Barbara Sher now Barbara sherry is a
little bit older she’s been writing
books for at least 3040 years a lot of
people who are kind of new get credit
for like this lifestyle design movement
but she’s actually been doing it for a
very very long time she wrote a book
called wishcraft
like WI SH witchcraft that influenced me
a lot
you
so thank you guys so much for watching
make sure you pick up a copy of born for
this continue to believe and we’ll see
you soon
I like the quote by Seth Godin he said
effort can be its own reward if you let
it you know so we’re talking about
motivations I think it’s it’s it’s
critical to be motivated by doing the
work itself that the work itself is
enjoyable
maybe not each aspect of it sure but it
has to it has to be because as you said
you can tell you can see drafts and
iteration you can see like a person has
gone through something and I guess for
me once I started once I was like I want
to actually found a little bit of a
process
is it okay I’m gonna write these blog
posts and write books and things like I
actually really I was like this is what
I’m what I want to do and you know it’s
great it’s wonderful that people care
about it now it’s great that so many
people do but I’m pretty sure I would do
it anyway you know I said that in the
beginning I was like I just want to put
this out for those who care so for me
I’m very motivated by we talked about
deliverables earlier like I’m like every
day I’m trying to write a thousand words
this is a knack you know action
actionable habit yeah I just I want to
get into that we made notes about this
is where are these tactics the tactics
you know so I write a thousand words a
day you know and I’m always I’m always
traveling I’m doing lots of different
stuff my goal is every day I’m gonna
write a thousand words a lot of it’s not
going to be good so it’s not going to be
usable but that’s alright you know I’m
just trying to create them every day
seven days it’s kind of like the way I
think of it is like exercise you know
like if I miss a day or something it’s
okay if I miss a couple days that that’s
like I start feeling it so we know you
guys know like five to six days a week
grace it’s amazing anybody out there
and the is not that all right so it’s
amazing let’s pull that back so I don’t
think is that hard right because you’re
just sitting down and doing the work
Chuck Close famous you know artist said
if I only painted mmm or if I only went
to work when I was inspired I would have
done very much work right so that’s sort
of there’s a process of going getting up
every morning and my inspiration is like
sitting down to do it you know right
like inspiration does it was at Jack
London’s like inspiration doesn’t find
you you find it with a club or something
like you gotta you got to go after that
inspiration you know no I love that so I
love that sewed up in words thousand
words these are tactic yeah writer that
if you want to write you should do you
everyday go and write a thousand focused
on outcomes and deliverables not focused
on time schedule what I mean by that is
I often see advice that’s like okay you
know you’re going to set a timer or
something and you’re going to like work
on this project from
eight o’clock to 8:50 or something like
that and that works for some people and
that’s great but for me I’m like always
in different time zones like lots of
stuffs happening so I’m only focused on
what the actual product is the product
is like okay blog posts you know
manuscript for something you know
interview email or something so I’m
always focused on like shares in a
business I use Seth Godin phrase again
shipping deliverables outcomes and just
like that quote effort can be its own
reward I find I find that enjoyable like
I find the process of like sending
something out or pressing the publish
button or whatever I find that enjoyable
in time that’s the reward that I’m
working for I’m not looking for the
reward of like the viral blog post I’m
not looking for the reward of like you
know lots of people buying something or
whatever that’s great but that those are
byproducts I’m looking for the reward of
getting it out so the reward is in the
act and the act got a creative act
itself and if the reward is not in the
creative act itself then you’re probably
doing the wrong thing and it’s not
sustainable I would say it’s either not
sustainable or it’s not good you know
and then the quality is not there right
I would say one thing I believe is it’s
really important to define your own
success it’s really important to decide
for yourself what success looks like as
opposed to letting someone else impose
their definition of success upon you so
whenever you begin a big project if
you’re doing something on your own if
you’re starting a business or a blog or
going back to school or even if it’s an
exercise program whatever it is you know
you have your own definition of success
I think maybe if we go back to somebody
who’s in that beginning part of their
career I think the wrong advice to them
would be safe just pick one of those
things and that’s what everybody says
all the time they’re always like oh you
have you have to focus you have to just
pick your niche or your niche like you
got to do that and how are you really
going to find that combination of
factors of joy money and flow without
expanding your options without trying a
lot of different stuff so you did that
dividing your career I did that and I
think in the beginning part of really
trying to figure out what am I good at
and also not just what am I good at but
what is going to be rewarded you know in
the marketplace you know I said yes to a
lot of different things and so I always
encourage people when you’re when you’re
starting out expand your options do
everything that you can to have a lot of
different experiences and then as you
become more successful as you have more
experience then you limit the options
then you
start being more selective then you
start being like okay I am going to
apply that litmus test more often I am
going to say okay you know I’ve got I’ve
got all these different things I could
do what is most aligned what where can I
have the most convergence you know what
am I really like getting close to how am
I going to have the biggest impact in
the world but I don’t think you can
necessarily do that when you’re just
getting started
because you don’t know
crazy idea you must believe in it even
if no one else does when you talk to
people who have found the work they were
born to do they are so excited about it
you can tell that they have found
something that is really unique I’ve
never really been interested in living a
balanced life you know I don’t I think
balanced people don’t change the world I
didn’t want to get old right and be like
you know oh once it was like 10 years
ago I had this idea you know to do
something but I never did anything about
it we tend to focus on all – all the fun
things and the fun things are great but
we have like not everybody wants to pay
you to do those fun things I’m a big fan
of defining our aspirations and then
crafting our life around them
essentially I actually don’t think you
need a niche I don’t believe that you
have to have something super specific
well you have to connect with
like-minded people you have to – you
know surround yourself with people who
aren’t necessarily you know doing the
same things that you’re doing but they
have the same attitudes or the same
mindset at least you know she says
people are always telling you to think
outside the box she says my advice is to
get in the box
but because life is short why not try to
work towards something you know that is
not just you know okay but is amazing
I’m a writer traveler and entrepreneur
I’m best known for going to every
country in the world all 193 and for
writing the art of nonconformity blog
and books my new book is called born for
this it’s all about how to find the work
you are meant to do I’m Chris Gila beau
and here are my top ten rules for
success if you have a dream if you have
this crazy idea you must believe in it
even if no one else does so when I had
the idea to go to every country in the
world that’s kind of what it felt like
it felt like this crazy idea it was like
that just sounds like totally ridiculous
and absurd but I couldn’t stop thinking
about it and I realized that if I didn’t
pursue it I would always regret it and
that knowledge that fear of regret kind
of drove me to say yes and I talked to
lots of other people who used very
similar language there’s a guy from
Portland Maine whose crazy idea was to
walk across America and he wasn’t even
sure like how does that work how much
time does it take has anyone done this
before it was this crazy idea that
wouldn’t leave him alone and so one
morning he left his home in Maine and he
started walking and seven and a half
months later
arrived in San Francisco and I talked to
him throughout the whole journey I
talked him in the beginning and in the
middle in the end I asked him you know
what was the what were the challenges
like and how did it go and he said he
said something that stayed with me for
the rest of my journey he said you know
there were lots of external challenges
it was hard on the body to get used to
walking that much lots of things went
wrong there were some emotional
challenges as well he had just had a
breakup and he was kind of processing
all this he said but what I realized
about two weeks in once I started
complaining once I stopped complaining
and grumbling about the whole thing he
said I realized that my task was pretty
simple all I had to do was walk
essentially and if I did nothing else if
I got up every morning and I made a
little bit of progress then eventually I
would reach the goal eventually I would
arrive in San Francisco and you know
achieved that goal reached that
destination and it sounded really simple
but it’s kind of stayed with me for the
you know the final two years of my quest
because that’s how I felt it was for me
– all I had to do was get to 193
countries and I had my list of countries
and I was making progress and if I got
stomach stuck somewhere you know
eventually I’d have to overcome that
challenge but I could go and do some
others first and I liked the logical
analytical progress of it it’s something
that related to me so just keep going
you have to believe in your dream even
if no one else does I think a lot of
people when I talk to people about this
book they were worried about mistakes
they had made and they were worried
about like you know I had this
opportunity and I let it go or I should
have done this I ended up doing
something different I really learned
that you can recover from most mistakes
like most of us have made mistakes we’ve
done different things and and that’s
that’s normal so there are a lot of
different paths I don’t think there’s
just necessarily one path you know for
everyone you know there’s this whole I
complain about you know the road not
taken’ or the road less traveled and I
took this one it made all the difference
but we don’t really know the other story
right we don’t know what happened like
what if you’d actually gone back and
taken the other one maybe it would have
been great too
maybe it would have been better so I do
think there’s more than one path but I
also think when you talk to people who
have found the work they were born to do
they are so excited about it you can
tell that they have found something that
is really unique and really special so
even though there’s more than one path I
think it’s important to kind of work
toward whatever this special thing is
work toward this this combination of
factors to we’re like we’re really happy
and we have all the money that we need
and we’re doing something that we’re
really good at I think I think that’s
the goal right so it’s not like this one
elusive thing but if you look at really
successful people if you look at Beyonce
like Beyonce probably could have done a
bunch of different things but isn’t it
so good that she’s doing you know what
she’s doing or anyone that you admire
you kind of look at them and you’re like
they have really found their thing I’ve
never really been interested in living a
balanced life you know I don’t I think
balanced people don’t change the world
first of all I think balance people
don’t really follow a dream you know
this doesn’t mean that you don’t have
responsibilities like just go to the
other part of this question how can you
have a family well sure you can have a
family and have you know but balance is
kind of like I feel like balance is like
a made-up word it’s like invented by
corporations you know to make their
employees think that they’re happy you
know it’s like you got this balance like
you could work at Microsoft you know or
something here in Seattle and not
there’s like ten Microsoft people in the
audience right no disrespect to
Microsoft let’s pick another Microsoft
Greg went out of every five people as
Brianna works in microsites like you
know you got you got this thing and
maybe you love your job and if you love
your job that’s great but I hear from a
lot of dissatisfied people had some of
these big companies and they write in
there like I’m reading your blog for my
cubicle and like you know I have this
good job and I’ve got my health
insurance I’ve got free yoga every
Thursday but I’m not really you know
fulfilled right I’m not really fulfilled
so for me I guess I’m much more
interesting that word fulfilled like you
know how can you live a fulfilled life
and you can live a fulfilled life and
still pay your bills you know lots of
creative people do it lots of
unconventional people do it and it’s I
would say if anything it’s actually much
more common now than it used to be you
know when I first started working online
you know fifteen years ago I didn’t know
a lot of other people who were doing
that you know my friends thought I was
selling drugs or something we were well
I was you know but they’re like online
gambling or we know whatever I like
parents have no idea how the internet
works and stuff but now it’s it’s much
more common so I don’t really like the
word balance myself so what we’d like to
do is we want to replace the word like
living a balanced life is not the goal
the goal is living off a filled life I
started traveling I had been to a bunch
of countries
really liked it I lived in West Africa
for four years and started kind of
trying to figure out okay how many
countries have I been to how many
countries in the world are there once I
had this information it was very
difficult to do anything else
right because once I had this
information I was like oh I’ve been to
like 50 countries there’s 193 countries
it was 192 I would like to visit a
hundred countries some time in my life I
set that goal first you know but you
just said you say I would like to
because I would like to do a lot of
things but I want to I feel drawn to it
I feel like this is a goal I’m gonna you
know attach to myself and at the time it
wasn’t public it was just like a private
thing this is before I was blogging you
know and then as I started getting
closer to that goal of 100 countries
that’s when I thought well what’s next
because if you’re only going to half the
countries then you’re missing a lot of
challenges and you could just go to easy
places so that’s when I so I had this
information of like okay could I really
do that I was like could I really go to
every country I don’t know if I could or
not like this is like a huge thing it’s
going to cost a lot not just in terms of
money but also in terms of time and like
sacrifice and logistics things could go
wrong you know fear but really what it
came down to meat to for me was not the
fear of something going wrong along the
way once I actually started thinking
about this and was like maybe I could
actually do this in like seven to eight
years if I really worked at it that what
I was afraid of was not doing it I was
afraid of like you know having this idea
and then just passing on it right you
know and just continuing to travel a
little bit I’m that guy who travels once
in a while but what’s that you know like
and then I didn’t want to get old right
and be like you know I once know like
ten years ago I had this idea you know
to do something but I never did anything
about it you know that’s what that’s
what drove me the fear of being ordinary
or have not the fear of regret of not
following up on a dream that I that I
had that I knew like I didn’t know if I
could succeed I thought I might fail but
I figured if I failed I could deal with
that you know but not if I just didn’t
do it right right but that’s what drove
drove it for those people who ever heard
your story and want to live a certain
nonconformist traveling lifestyle as
well can you recommend a business model
they start out with you try to
infoproducts you try to eBay what do you
recommend the most important thing I
recommend regardless of what the
specific business model is is to really
kind of you know focus on what
all the convergence between like what
you love to do and what you’re
passionate about and what other people
are also passionate about and what other
people are actually willing to exchange
money for because those things can be
different sometimes you know I think
often when we focus on like location
independence and you know doing what you
want stuff we tend to focus on all the
all the fun things and the fun things
are great but we have like not everybody
wants to pay you to do those fun things
so you have to find it you have to find
a link right between what you can do
that’s really helpful where your skills
are how your passions can align with
with other people you know and that took
me that took me quite a while to figure
that out but if you really focus on that
from the beginning and I think that
helps regardless of the specific
business model now in terms of the
business model you know right now I’m in
the information publishing business I
really do love it I think it’s great but
there there’s other things you can do as
well so it just depends on you know on
what you’re into and what kind of
business you want to pursue I think we
all have these like great ideas right
and at the same time we have
responsibilities and mortgages and you
know whatever so I guess I’m just
wondering what your advice is to people
who you know want to go out and pursue
certain things but they’re also like
certain limitations I guess that we have
to like exist within I mean I guess we
don’t but you know I can’t walk away
from my condo tomorrow and walk across
the country I probably wouldn’t work out
well for me
but yeah what’s your day so that’s a
great question but do you want to walk
across the country like is that your
aspiration right this is it so I’m a big
fan of defining our aspirations and then
crafting our life around them
essentially you know and so like the
quest to visit every country in the
world for example I was thinking about
the see other dates people asked how
much it cost right and the first 100
countries cost about thirty thousand
dollars so thirty thousand at least I
would argue is not a huge amount of
money for going to a hundred countries
and all the life experience that I got
through that and also I didn’t have to
pay it all right away you pay-as-you-go
essentially in something like that so
you know these these limitations as you
said it maybe let’s not call them
limitations their responsibilities
especially people with families like you
don’t just leave your family and walk
across the country but again there are
ways to cultivate the value of adventure
that’s why I like the story of Sasha and
what she did at home
there’s a woman in Omaha who’s knitting
10,000 hats and her passion thing that
she really loved was always knitting and
one Christmas time or holiday time she
was she made a hundred hats for her
friends and family and she was like
that’s really fun I want to do a
thousand but a thousand is not a big
enough challenge so she took on this
goal of ten thousand hats and there’s a
charity component to it you can connect
with her on her website and eventually
get a hat so I mean I don’t know
responsibilities and things are real but
if something matters to us I guess I’m
also a believer in figuring out how to
how to do that right like we do have to
trade off things we do have to sacrifice
and and especially for all of us with so
many opportunities available to us
it’s a matter of prioritization you know
it’s a matter of you know I can probably
do anything I want but I can’t do
everything right so if I if I if this
thing really does matter to me whether
it’s walking across the country or
whatever it is in your case then it’s
something that you have to plan for and
build for and for me it was it was worth
it to do that when you starting a blog
or trying to build an audience how
important is it to have a niche and what
can you do if you have multiple
interests you find a way to meld the
different interests you find a way so
I’m going to paraphrase a little bit to
kind of you know put them together and
the word that I like to use is not niche
or niche I like to use the word theme so
I actually don’t think you need a niche
I don’t believe that you have to have
something super specific I know that
there are some people who say that and
maybe that’s been true for them that’s
great in my case it certainly wasn’t the
way that I chose to do it and partly
that was because I was worried I would
get bored you know if it was something
too specific um I had started a lot of
projects in the past where I was really
motivated and excited for a while but
then it kind of dropped off and with
this when when I started writing the
blog it was something that I really
liked the medium and I wanted to be able
to keep doing it for a long period of
time so I didn’t choose a niche but I
did as Dave kind of referred to I did
meld the interests together and I chose
a theme and I said what do all these
things have in common
you know they’re it’s more of a
worldview nonconformity than it is
anything super specific um well you have
to connect with like-minded people you
have to – you know surround yourself
with people who aren’t necessarily you
doing the same things that you’re doing
but they have the same attitudes or the
same mindset at least so that’s another
thing that has been transformative
because now when I meet readers or I
come to do things like this I find it
like I’m in this weird business of
inspiration right if you’d be like I was
so inspiring it’s up but it’s totally
true that that I gently derive like a
great deal of my inspiration from from
the feedback and the interaction as you
were saying with Twitter or so online
and offline you know online is great I
mean it’s relationships can be forged
online and you actually meet that person
you feel like you know them already and
stuff when I do stuff like this my part
of the reason we do the world domination
summit is to bring together people you
know who are like-minded especially like
if they come from like small towns or
something and I hear this a lot of like
you know I live in this place where it’s
not like Seattle or Portland or wherever
like you know there’s just not a lot of
people who think like I do or my ideas
aren’t accepted or maybe my family
doesn’t understand you know why I want
to be an artist or why I want to travel
it’s like why don’t you just go on
vacation why do you want I like you know
go and see the world you know so I so
you know bringing people together and
then just myself by being in that it’s
helped so so much I guess I guess in the
general principle as I am pro goal right
I am pro like I’m pro parameters you
know there’s there’s this good story in
the book about a woman into Lisa block
right who’s a serial crafter and she
makes all this stuff and she serves it
with the world and she’s incredibly
prolific and her whole advice is you
know she says people are always telling
you to think outside the box she says my
advice is to get in the box basically
make yourself a box like make yourself
these parameters these goals whatever
again it’s not something that’s being
imposed on you that’s really the clear
point it’s not like someone saying
here’s your goal here’s what you should
do no it’s it’s you it’s the things that
you select for yourself but I believe I
believe there’s so much possibility you
know in those parameters or in those
constraints as we talked about so
whether it’s like my goal is to climb
Mount Everest or maybe it’s the ten
mountains or something and stages are
also good so stages or milestones the
levels and Mario Brothers you know for
me it was like 50 countries 100
countries you know then it was like
every continent once I finished you know
all of Africa that was a big thing so I
do think it’s important to celebrate
small wins along the way everybody who’s
successful and by successful I mean like
absolutely fulfilled in their career you
know passionate about it and feeling
like they’re doing something that
they’re supposed to do they have these
three characteristics and first of all
they have joy they’re happy in their
work they enjoy what they do most of the
time they’re not doing a soul-sucking
job if they have a job it’s a great job
or if it’s something that they built for
themselves they really enjoy it and the
second quality is money because there’s
lots of things you can do that you enjoy
but if you don’t get paid for them then
it’s a hobby which is great like it’s
good to have a hobby but if you’re
talking about a career it has to be
financially sustainable so joy money and
then the third factor is flow which is
really doing something that you’re good
at really doing something where when you
do it you’re immersed in it and ours
just kind of pass by and it’s also
really easy for you it’s something that
you’re good at and other people are like
wow like you know she’s really good at
that takes me a lot longer to do that or
I’m not good at it but so I think what
we’re looking for is this combination of
all three factors we want something that
brings joy we want something that is
financially sustainable we want
something that brings flow and I don’t
think people will be happy unless they
have all three of these factors yeah I
think you can be a little bit hot you
can be okay right there’s lots of people
who do jobs they don’t love and that’s
fine they get a paycheck and you know
maybe they’re satisfied in other areas
of their life but because life is short
why not try to work toward something you
know that is not just you know okay but
is amazing right isn’t that the goal so
those are the top 10 rules but since we
have you here live I’d love to hear a
bonus 11th rule okay all right no
pressure
bonus eleventh rule is if something
isn’t working I think you should stop
doing it I think you should quit and
this runs contrary to a lot of things
that you’ve been told in your business
education through case studies etc
you’ve probably been told that winners
never quit and what I saw through my
research looking at lots of successful
people who’ve done a lot of amazing
things
winners actually aren’t afraid to quit
winners quit all the time and so I think
it’s not persistence that’s the
predictor of success it’s flexibility
and adaptation being willing to kind of
go down a path and say actually that’s
not the right path for me I’m gonna go
back I’m gonna take the other path I’m
going to create an all-nude path so
winners never quit may be but winners
actually give up all the time and how do
you know it’s a magic question you know
when to quit right
and when to keep going because this is
still your dream that’s really hard
absolutely well there’s a magic answer
you ask yourself two questions is it
working do I still believe in it so if
it’s not working but you still believe
in it then you have to change what
you’re doing you have to adapt because
it’s not working you have to recognize
the reality but you still believe in
your dreams you have to change it you
know if it’s not working you don’t
believe in it then you stop and you quit
I would also say if it’s actually
working okay but you no longer believe
in it you have to make a change there
too because ultimately I’m not going to
be fulfilled during something you don’t
care about and what would you tell
people who don’t know what they believe
in yet I guess you know read the book oh
sure what what like there’s a lot of
anxiety around finding the perfect job
for me right is this how do I go about
finding something to actually believe it
yeah well here’s some reassurance most
people actually have no idea what it is
most people do not know their life
purpose when they’re 20 or even 30 or
older what most successful people do is
they go down a lot of different paths
they do not follow a linear path they
aren’t actually driven from a young age
you know to be this profession or
whatever they experiment they aren’t
afraid to go back as I said but over
time they were fine over time they kind
of discover that but if you don’t
experiment you won’t discover it I love
it so thank you guys so much for
watching hey thanks a lot Jay Rice I
heard you nominated me to be on the
program really appreciate that man thank
you I’d love to know which of the top 10
rules or eleven rules I guess here you
guys like the most leave it in the
comments below and I’ll join in the
discussion now usually I throw it over
to you guys for your suggestions on who
to profile next but since I have Krista
with me if you had to pick a few people
for who you don’t see a profile of who
would you pick right right well
obviously it’s an amazing show so I got
to think of amazing people first person
I thought of is my good friend Jonathan
fields lives in New York City he’s done
a lot of different things he’s probably
most known for The Good Life project no
fantastic video series Michelle Poehler
also in New York although she’s
originally from Venezuela she did a
hundred days of fear project where every
day she made a different video all about
fear she was overcoming really really
good stuff
and in the third person I’m thinking of
is Barbara Sher now Barbara sherry is a
little bit older she’s been writing
books for at least 3040 years a lot of
people who are kind of new get credit
for like this lifestyle design movement
but she’s actually been doing it for a
very very long time she wrote a book
called wishcraft
like WI SH witchcraft that influenced me
a lot
you
so thank you guys so much for watching
make sure you pick up a copy of born for
this continue to believe and we’ll see
you soon
I like the quote by Seth Godin he said
effort can be its own reward if you let
it you know so we’re talking about
motivations I think it’s it’s it’s
critical to be motivated by doing the
work itself that the work itself is
enjoyable
maybe not each aspect of it sure but it
has to it has to be because as you said
you can tell you can see drafts and
iteration you can see like a person has
gone through something and I guess for
me once I started once I was like I want
to actually found a little bit of a
process
is it okay I’m gonna write these blog
posts and write books and things like I
actually really I was like this is what
I’m what I want to do and you know it’s
great it’s wonderful that people care
about it now it’s great that so many
people do but I’m pretty sure I would do
it anyway you know I said that in the
beginning I was like I just want to put
this out for those who care so for me
I’m very motivated by we talked about
deliverables earlier like I’m like every
day I’m trying to write a thousand words
this is a knack you know action
actionable habit yeah I just I want to
get into that we made notes about this
is where are these tactics the tactics
you know so I write a thousand words a
day you know and I’m always I’m always
traveling I’m doing lots of different
stuff my goal is every day I’m gonna
write a thousand words a lot of it’s not
going to be good so it’s not going to be
usable but that’s alright you know I’m
just trying to create them every day
seven days it’s kind of like the way I
think of it is like exercise you know
like if I miss a day or something it’s
okay if I miss a couple days that that’s
like I start feeling it so we know you
guys know like five to six days a week
grace it’s amazing anybody out there
and the is not that all right so it’s
amazing let’s pull that back so I don’t
think is that hard right because you’re
just sitting down and doing the work
Chuck Close famous you know artist said
if I only painted mmm or if I only went
to work when I was inspired I would have
done very much work right so that’s sort
of there’s a process of going getting up
every morning and my inspiration is like
sitting down to do it you know right
like inspiration does it was at Jack
London’s like inspiration doesn’t find
you you find it with a club or something
like you gotta you got to go after that
inspiration you know no I love that so I
love that sewed up in words thousand
words these are tactic yeah writer that
if you want to write you should do you
everyday go and write a thousand focused
on outcomes and deliverables not focused
on time schedule what I mean by that is
I often see advice that’s like okay you
know you’re going to set a timer or
something and you’re going to like work
on this project from
eight o’clock to 8:50 or something like
that and that works for some people and
that’s great but for me I’m like always
in different time zones like lots of
stuffs happening so I’m only focused on
what the actual product is the product
is like okay blog posts you know
manuscript for something you know
interview email or something so I’m
always focused on like shares in a
business I use Seth Godin phrase again
shipping deliverables outcomes and just
like that quote effort can be its own
reward I find I find that enjoyable like
I find the process of like sending
something out or pressing the publish
button or whatever I find that enjoyable
in time that’s the reward that I’m
working for I’m not looking for the
reward of like the viral blog post I’m
not looking for the reward of like you
know lots of people buying something or
whatever that’s great but that those are
byproducts I’m looking for the reward of
getting it out so the reward is in the
act and the act got a creative act
itself and if the reward is not in the
creative act itself then you’re probably
doing the wrong thing and it’s not
sustainable I would say it’s either not
sustainable or it’s not good you know
and then the quality is not there right
I would say one thing I believe is it’s
really important to define your own
success it’s really important to decide
for yourself what success looks like as
opposed to letting someone else impose
their definition of success upon you so
whenever you begin a big project if
you’re doing something on your own if
you’re starting a business or a blog or
going back to school or even if it’s an
exercise program whatever it is you know
you have your own definition of success
I think maybe if we go back to somebody
who’s in that beginning part of their
career I think the wrong advice to them
would be safe just pick one of those
things and that’s what everybody says
all the time they’re always like oh you
have you have to focus you have to just
pick your niche or your niche like you
got to do that and how are you really
going to find that combination of
factors of joy money and flow without
expanding your options without trying a
lot of different stuff so you did that
dividing your career I did that and I
think in the beginning part of really
trying to figure out what am I good at
and also not just what am I good at but
what is going to be rewarded you know in
the marketplace you know I said yes to a
lot of different things and so I always
encourage people when you’re when you’re
starting out expand your options do
everything that you can to have a lot of
different experiences and then as you
become more successful as you have more
experience then you limit the options
then you
start being more selective then you
start being like okay I am going to
apply that litmus test more often I am
going to say okay you know I’ve got I’ve
got all these different things I could
do what is most aligned what where can I
have the most convergence you know what
am I really like getting close to how am
I going to have the biggest impact in
the world but I don’t think you can
necessarily do that when you’re just
getting started
because you don’t know
Please follow and like us: