Monthly Archives: February 2011

I think it’s fair to say that people’s lives have three stages. The pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of wealth, and the pursuit of legacy.

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In my lifetime I have been called many things and described in many ways. Black, White, Educated,Ghetto, Religious, Rare, Gifted, Kind, Lazy, Odd, Unreadable, Unfocused, Analytical, Cheap. Some definitions I’ve welcomed, some I’ve rejected, some I just couldn’t avoid. All served to do one thing at those times in my life. Limit on otherwise limitless capacity for adventure, learning, caring, and experience.

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On a pretty regular basis I like to think about what I’ve chosen to place in my life and what I’ve let “choose me”. The difference between the two is clear to me; the things I choose I actively seek, the things that choose  me I don’t actively reject.

Services I have to respond to opt out of, but don’t, have chosen me. Foreseeable circumstances that I don’t try  change or navigate choose me. Going with one bank over another, investing or spending, splurging on a new TV or smart phone rather than something related to my looooooong To Do List; all choices that I actively make.

I realize that many of these conscious, active decisions are related to finances. Money. The last reliable form of slavery because it’s the only one people willingly submit to. That thought reminds me of a phrase from a favored book/movie, one that I hold dear to my heart.

I just recently finished reading my copy of The Art of Non-Conformity and I’m glad that I made the purchase. I wasn’t sure what to make of the book in the very beginning, because I just didn’t know what to expect. It doesn’t quite read like Chris’s blog, but it’s also not something I’d place in the “self-help” section of the book store. As I got more into it and started looking at my own choices in life, I began to appreciate the simple message locked inside.

Life is for the living. You have to live your own life because no one will for you.

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If you’ve been around the site before you’ve probably noticed that up there on the right, in a position meant to draw your line of sight, sits a counter. Not just any counter mind you, one that is based on my “expected expiration date”. Nearly a year ago I went in search of a way to create an estimated mortality date based on family disease history, personal disease history, height, weight, age, and activity level.

That search led me to the date that is referenced in The Countdown (and I’d like to tell you I was smart enough to write down or even remember where I compiled the information to create the date, but I’d rather not lie to your face as I’m writing).

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There are two books at the top of my reading list right now, and both are being read with the intention of making me a better person… in different, but related ways.

The first book, the one that is actually getting the least amount of attention, is Reading Like a Writer. Like the title implies, it’s a book for people who like reading (me) but also want to write something worth reading (again, me). The second book is none other than the first foray into “the publishing world” by the blogging traveler Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Non-Conformity book. It’s a book for… everyone really.

Reading Like a Writer came recommended by a friend of mine and the bits and pieces that I’ve read have given me high expectations of its quality. I’ve found that certain professions, the entertainment professions, require you to stay connected at a near constant level in order to maintain a high level of quality.

People in sports frequently watch and play on their free time; people in music have their own favorite artists and genres that inspire them to create; people in television and film keep up with the industry and what inspires them; many writers read and write as constantly as most people talk and breathe.

Often times what it takes to get better at a task is discovering a new way to look at the familiar. That’s part of why I’m reading the Art of Non-Conformity. Not because I’ve never considered an unconventional life. My head has been there since I was a little boy. I’m reading it because it makes me think. It makes me think about what I’m doing now, my motivations, my expectations, and my strategies. Does A really get me all the way to Z, and if so what’s the point of getting there? What do I do once I “arrive”? If it doesn’t get me there, what could I being doing that will?

What I’m really enjoying about Chris’s book is that it provides these moments of self-reflection, when it’s not trying to. It certainly does ask you to think about very important questions like “what can you give the world that no one else can”, but as he takes you through the stories of some individuals you start asking questions on your own like “could I do what I just read about? if no, why not? if yes, why aren’t I?”

I honestly wouldn’t classify either of these books as “self-improvement” books, but they certainly get the job done.