I heard about Chris Guillebeau, the man behind The Art of Non-Conformity, on Twitter, and started following him there, before checking out his site or reading his manifestos.
When I found out that he was visiting Kuwait last summer (as part of his goal of visiting every country in the world by his 35th birthday), I decided to take that opportunity to meet him, and learn more about his travel adventures and his take on personal growth, lifestyle design and blogging.
I thought I’d find out more about Chris’s work before he arrived in Kuwait, so I read his two manifestos: A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success.
I usually have a “yes, but…” response to what I read, but Chris’s manifestos were different. They were simple, not simplistic.
For example, his second manifesto presents his own “overnight success” journey, which happened to span 279 days. In it he presents the factors he credits for his success online, and stresses on the fact that it took a great deal of hard work to establish his online business. While other writers are satisfied with telling you to “follow your passion,” Chris puts that idea in perspective, and makes it more realistic and achievable.
Rather than simply following a passion (any passion), Chris points out that you should find a passion that’s important to you, and of value to others, so that you get to pursue what you care about, and offer something to the world at the same time.
There’s no need to experience an inner struggle while creating your business. There is no dichotomy between personal success and serving others.
While I haven’t received my copy of The Art of Non-Conformity book yet (which launched today), I’m sure it’ll be as great as Chris’s other writings. And in a book, Chris has a chance to explore ideas that he may have only touched on in his blog posts, manifestos and unconventional guides.
I would highly recommend that you check out his free manifestos: A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success.
You can also buy his new book from Amazon, and other bookstores.
I’ll post a detailed review of the book once I get it and finish reading it. If you’ve read the book, or have thoughts to share about Chris’s writings, feel free to leave a comment below!
@haideralmosawi
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Haider,
Thanks for the recommendation. 279 days to overnight success seems an interesting book. I will check it out. Thanks for sharing
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Thanks, Dia.
The 279 Days manifesto is a short e-booklet that’s easy to go through, but very dense in useful information.
Hope you get to enjoy it!
Hi Haider,
I have only recently begun to follow your blog, after I read a comment you left on Scott Youngs blog. I share your enthusiasm for The Art of Non-Conformity: we all make our own way in the world, within society’s larger framework, but essentially making up our own minds about the way we choose to utilize our time, energy and material resources. And we all make these choices, whether we are aware of it or not. In a sense, it reminded me of your article on personal religion. I haven’t yet read all your back posts yet, but I will get round to it. In the meantime, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! It is much appreciated.
Hi Chhaya,
Welcome to my humble blog.
I see society as an influence in our lives, and we get to decide the degree to which it influences us. Some people take social values, customs and norms as the criteria by which they make their decisions and, therefore, allow society to have a greater influence on their lives.
What I like about Chris is that he’s a non-conformist, and not a rebel. He says you don’t have to conform to social norms, not that you must go against them.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and hope you find my past blog posts useful.
Nice Haider but I think someone you know has demonstrated something similar with passion
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Hi Fate,
Yes, I do seem to associate the word “passion” with someone I know.