Chris Guillebeau's Blog, page 45

A Quest to Write and Share 1,000 Poems Using a Manual Typewriter

Scott James is from Austin, Texas and is on a quest to write and share 1,000 poems before the end of 2015.

You can see a few examples of this fun project below.

This summer he brought his typewriter to WDS and wrote poems for us during the Portland Experience.

Check out his Instagram to follow along on the poem quest. If you tag him with a word or photo, you might even get your own poem!

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A Journey to 40 Countries to Learn How the World Prays

This is a traveler case study. ( Read others or nominate yourself . )

Jared and his wife were interested in how the world prays—so they went on a year-long exploration of different types of Judeo-Christian prayer. Here’s what they learned.

Introduce yourself!

My name is Jared Brock. I’m a writer and filmmaker. Together, my wife and I run a charity that fights human trafficking, and we’ve traveled to over 40 countries and visited more than 40 American states and Canadian provinces.

My most recen...

The Best Time Management Strategy: Don’t Find the Time, Find the Why

Over the past few months, I’ve been interviewing people for my upcoming book on dream jobs. Many of the people I’ve talked to are really busy—they’ve found or created their dream job, but they also tend to do a lot of other stuff as well. Some of them have side businesses or run ultramarathons on the weekends. Some of them have active family lives and spend a lot of time running around to kids’ sporting events or other activities. Some of them do all those things… and more.

I don’t always as...

Thirty-Two

One of the things I have yet to come to terms with is: what are the consequences of losing my brother? That is, what will be different now that he’s gone?

Obviously I am still grieving, and even still largely in shock. I wake up every day remembering him, disbelieving for a moment that he could possibly be gone. But my sense is that these feelings are short-term circumstances, not long-term consequences. The bottom line is that I don’t fully know what the loss entails for me and for everyone...

52-Week Art Project Creates Illustrative Postcards About Life

Who doesn’t like getting hand-written postcards?

Designers Giorgia Lupi + Stefanie Posavec were living parallel lives as expats in London and Brooklyn when they decided to start a year-long postcard project.

Each week, they sent each other a postcard—but not just any postcards. As artists who work with data, each postcard illustrates a particular type of data about their lives.

After all 52 weeks, the project recently ended. You can see a few of the postcards below, or more on their site....

Pioneer Nation Arrives in 23 Days: What’s Your Biggest Business Challenge?

Link: Join Us for Pioneer Nation, a Celebration of Independent Entrepreneurship

At the welcome reception for last year’s inaugural Pioneer Nation, we asked attendees to write their biggest business challenge on a post-it note and stick it to the wall, then say it out loud in front of their peers.

Here’s what they came up with:

We’re very excited to kick off Pioneer Nation again … in just 23 days!

The world is changing as more people choose to work for themselves. We’re inviting independe...

Many Dreams Aren’t That Hard to Achieve

Toward the end of Up in the Air, the character played by George Clooney calls up American Airlines and asks to transfer some of his Frequent Flyer miles to his sister.

“How many miles?” the agent asks.

“Enough to go completely around the world.”

I saw that movie with my parents several years ago, and as soon as we left the theatre, my mom asked, “How many miles does it take to go around the world?”

She thought I’d know the answer, and of course I did.

Well, it doesn’t actually take that m...

Will Travel for Vegan Food: A Quest to Visit 547 Restaurants

This is a quest case study. ( Read others or nominate yourself . )

One day, Kristin looked around at the life she thought she wanted—the job, the relationship, the stuff—and realized her heart yearned for something else. So she decided to do something big: travel the country in an effort to go to every vegan restaurant.

Introduce yourself!

My name is Kristin Lajeunesse. I’m a 32-year-old, self-employed business clarity coach and marketing strategist for small business owners. I work from home (o...

Lessons in Non-Conformity from Sesame Street

A reader sent me this fun video from a long-ago sketch on Sesame Street:

I love the turning point right at the halfway mark: Dan would do everything that Stan did, until one day he decides to make a change.

“Hi, I’m Dan. I decided I’m not going to do everything that Stan does anymore.”

Isn’t this exactly how it works in life? You go along with the crowd, playing follow the leader and keeping your head down. The status quo is maintained—until it isn’t.

One day, you decide to find the real...

How Much Is Your Time Worth? This Free Tool Will Show You

Link: How Much Is Your Time Worth?

Deciding how you value your time can help you make decisions. But how do you really know what your time is worth?

It’s partly a hypothetical question, because you don’t always get to choose how much money you’ll make or how much free time you’ll have.

And it’s partly a practical question, because sometimes you do get to choose. Life is all about making choices, some of which are exclusive and limit us from other opportunities.

A free tool guides you to y...