image from stair pornMy new online guru is Chris Guillebeau author of the manifesto " A Brief Guide to World Domination." Sound a bit scary to you? Fear not. Basically his message is similar to what we offer here at Lightbox, create a life worth living that is true to you and "live the life you want." I first learned of Chris through another online hero, Danielle LaPorte of White Hot Truth. They both kick ass, both are part of the small army of amazing people that will be at The World Domination Summit in Portland this summer (I'll be headed there too!!) and both are spending their life teaching people how to unconventionally succeed in a conventional world.

I have been reading Guillebeau's book, The Art of Non-Conformity and having trouble putting it down. I loved chapter 2, "Setting the Terms of Your Unconventional Life" and I would like to share with you three approaches designed to help you figure out what you want out of your life.

 "Creating Your Ideal World" 

This is an exercise where you write out your perfect, ideal day beginning to end and then you begin by making small plans that will help you get closer to your goal.  Envision your future spending days at home making money from your blogging, crafting, etc.? Start a blog and write just a few times a week, take a craft class and start saving money. Chris also discusses some flaws in this exercise but the main one is that you do have to really lay out some in depth goal setting. This exercise does help someone really think about what they want to do, especially good for people who have no idea.

"Radical Goal Setting"

An extension of the designing your ideal life exercise is goal setting. This is something I am proud to say I do every new year day. I make a list of 50 things I want to do in the new year, everything from say go to the World Domination Summit, to grow a strawberry plant, to quit my night job. The list is all directing me to be the person I ultimately want to be - a self-employed, well traveled, self sufficient person with cool, unconventional and inspiring people in my life. Chris goes on to suggest making lists with 5 year and lifetime goals.

"Planning for Serendipity"

With all this planning we also want to make room for spontaneity and flexibility. We all know some of the most amazing things in life come when we let go and open up a little space. Something to think about; when you are organized and making lists you might actually find that you have a little more downtime than you would if you were spending all that time thinking about what you should be doing. Hmmmm... funny how that works.

I highly recommend checking out Chris Guillebeau's book and by all means please join me and everyone else at the Summit in Portland in June. Drop me a line and let me know if you are going. Would love to meet you!