The Four-Hour Layover: Featuring Chris Guillebeau and The Art of Nonconformity
Chris Guillebeau is on a mission to see the entire world. He wants to step foot on the soil of every country - and so far he's been to more than 100. At the time of writing, he's currently in Azerbaijan and has a kickin' post on how to travel with tech.
When Chris called earlier this year to ask if I'd be interested in collaborating on a project, I said yes. We created it (and because it's always getting new updates, we are creating it as I write this). The Unconventional Guide to the Social Web now includes interviews with folks like Danielle LaPorte and Chris Brogan. It's about how to bring your message to the world. And when I was in Japan last month my then-Twitter, now real-life friend brought a printed copy of the guide with him. To the yoga studio for our four year anniversary party. His name is Masafumi. And Masafumi said he loved it. And I felt it: I felt I really am doing what I can each day to bring my message to the world.
On his way to Azerbaijan, Chris had a stop in Denver. We spent nearly four hours pow wowing in Denver International's tipi-like airport. Chris is a mellow guy. We talked easily for the duration of his layover: entrepreneurship, travel, technology, yoga, writing, frequent flyer miles - and how to maximize them. The entire conversation was riveting to me. Immediately following our talk I put all of the notes I had written into Simplenote. (I write all of my drafts in Simplenote now. Thanks, John Gruber, for recommending.)
Then I opened up MindMeister for the first time in many months (it's a mind-mapping tool and I have five premium accounts - please comment and let me know your email address if you'd like one. I'll send them out by the end of tomorrow to a randomly selected group - and please let me know if you're going to use it to create your digital vision map!). I took a hard look at where I'm at and where I'm going for the next few months of this year.
(That's Chris's passport. He's had four extra sets of pages added. Turns out they're free, in the event that you have to have pages added to your passport.)
Chris and I talked about the importance of laying out your entire year, January to December, from the beginning of 2010. Because I believe in doing a little work daily to stay on target with your personal manifesto/vision map, I plan to share that year-long plan with you. Right here. Because I know you'll grow from watching me confront my fears and hesitations and ignorances (right?) in public. To start, even though it's still 2009, this month I'm beginning my journey to get really comfortable with numbers with a local math tutor. To be honest, I don't want to do the tutoring. But I know that my manifesto requires it of me. And somewhere in the third grade area during another mid-year military-related school switch I didn't learn my times tables. Crucial.
Starting January first I'll be sharing the plan in as much detail as I can - it's still taking shape, but I want to thank you for sharing it so far. It's going to look more vulnerable as I move toward my edges and invite you to yours. The entrepreneurial journey can be lonely at times. Believe it or not, there are long expanses of time during which nothing exciting happens. (Which is another topic Chris and I talked about - it's part of the journey of travel.) Entrepreneurs/travelers tend to highlight the exciting bits - we all do. As many critics have pointed out about lifestreaming - we really don't want to know what you had for dinner.
Unless it's baklava.
With the King.
Of Azerbaijan.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Reader Comments (17)
Please send me a premium account for Mindmeister. Just settling in from my 7th international move and need all the tools I can get to help me get my life moving in the right direction and get my business started up. Love your blog - its opened up a whole new world of information and ideas for me. Evelyn
Thanks for the informative post. As a teacher who also travels a lot and finds himself involved in lots of different project, I'm always interested in hearing how other people manage their time and ideas. I'd love a premium account for Mindmeister. Peace.
I'd be so interested in the MindMeister account! And your layover with Chris sounds awesome - I have the guide you two put together and can't wait to start going through it!
If one of those mindmapping accounts is still available, I would love one. This post is most timely as this will be the first time in many years I have sat down to plan what I want to accomplish in the next year.
I would love an account, if there's still one left!
I'm just now getting to where I'm really good at setting down goals, and I usually just do it on a weekly basis. The idea of mapping out goals for a year ahead of time is a good one, but at the same time a little scary to me - probably because of the chance of things changing. At the very least, I should probably get better at writing monthly goals.
PS Just noticed your little dudes down here busting a groove. Cuteeeee :D
Putting my name on the list for the MindMeister account, because 1. I think it's just precisely what I need right now, and 2. How excellent is the name MindMeister? I would have to walk around talking about it incessantly just so I could say the name in different voices and I sense I'm straying from my point. Which is: Great post and name officially entered!
Thanks, Gwen.
This amazing! I'm so glad you'll be sharing your developments with us, and I look forward to seeing how you evolve. Personally, I'm not ready for a Mindmeister way to manage my life and time ~ maybe I will be by 2011!
Gwen - Thanks for a wonderful post. You inspire me to really get cranking on my own goals - I have found that I am currently spending most of my time working on someone else's vision. Finding my own voice and my own vision is scary... but I have to do it.
I'd love to try MindMeister for my 2010 goals - if it happens through you, it will be an especially lucky day!
I'm just heading over to Mindmeister to start playing now. Perhaps this tool will help me get "it" all in one place as I continue to work through my personal stuff and organize and ramp up to business beginning. 'Til now I feel like all the pieces I'm trying to pull together are floating, disconnected, in the sea of my brain. Thank for the offer, I would love the premium account.
I love the UGSW. Thanks you guys for putting that together.
Christi
I'd love a MindMeister account -- you probably don't have any left, but I'm going to check it out anyway. Sounds perfect for where I am right now. I always love hearing about your process and how you turn vision into action. Great post.
Gwen, thanks for continuing to share your journey. I think it's really interesting how strong and persistent the tension is among entrepreneur bloggers between sharing your process and revealing a naturally complex and contradictory personality vs. transmitting a sculpted and crafted personality and message. Not that those are exclusive, just that the tension is always there. Successful professional blogging (although I'm loathe to call it that) is not keeping a diary, nor is it writing like a PR firm. Getting the balance right must be hard.
I wonder if part of what attracts readers to posts about process and tools is something of the self-help reflex - the belief that by observing others you'll learn some secret magic lesson (or "best practice" - same thing) that you'll be able to adopt to control your own behavior/situation? I think it's a positive desire, indicating an interest in learning and growth, but as Merlin Mann pointed out recently in a caustic, hilarious video about lifehacking, there are a lot of people trying to take advantage of that reflex by selling inspirational prepackaged common knowledge.
Anyway, you have nothing to fear. A little vulnerable honesty generates more defenders and admirers than trolls; and good conversation, to boot.
Isn't it funny how for so long nothing seems to happen, and then something does ... ?
Something just happened to me -- after putting on a big successful event and delivering tons of value for several years, I was laid off from my job last week.
It's scary, but also awesome. Right now, I am dealing with the knowledge that I dedicated far too much of my life to an industry that I don't have much interest in. My next step is to figure out how to make a living from my passions -- bright green environmentalism, and how our own personal development is a crucial part of transforming the world. I want to put everything I have into making the leap myself, and helping others do the same, so that we can create the kind of future we want to live in!
I would love a Mindmeister account to help me organize my thoughts and align my daily activities to the long-term vision.
On a side note, I will be in Boulder for a week in March, attending the Integral Incubator at the Boulder Integral Institute. I am so excited to see what I'm able to create by then, and what possibilities come out of that week!
Love this post, Gwen. Love your blog. Inspiring and fun to read. Thanks for the inspiration to get stuff started!
Love your blog! This post is great. I would love a mindmeister account.
Is it too late to request a Mindmeister account? 2009 is the year I have fallen in love with mind-mapping. I'd like to try an actual account. I've recently discovered you through Susannah Conway. I'm not sure what rock I've been hiding under that I would have missed "meeting" you sooner. :)
The totally random results are in!
1. Leslie
2. Bram
3. Moose in the Kitchen
4. Evelyn
5. Peter
Emailing you your premium account info now!
Just wanted to pop on and say how much I love your blog. I pop on a few times a week when I'm looking for inspiration or just a pick-me-up. Your site is always full of wonderful thoughts, pictures and feel-good vibes. You are an inspiration! I've checked out MindMeister and have gotten a free account. Keep writing, I love reading!
Karen