Author: Karol

Sweet Symbiotic Saturday #027 (BlogWorld Edition)

I’ve been at BlogWorld Las Vegas since Thursday. A very very brief recap and lots of sweet links!

Depending on the definition you use symbiotic is the wrong word here, but it fits as a general idea for the past couple of days.

BlogWorld has been awesome. So awesome that I didn’t get this posted for my usual 7:11am blog post time. :) I’ve actually not been going online almost at all. Been waking up at 7am, going to sleep after 3am, and running on pure adrenalin and kick assery.

I’ve met a lot of great people here at BlogWorld Las Vegas. My goal with an event like this, or anything in life really, is to not meet a lot of people though. I’d much rather meet a few people and hang out with them a lot. While I have spent some time attending talks (like creating Mouth Watering Content by the phenomenal Nathalie Lussier <– click! raw food, mmmm!), I’ve spent most of my time outside of the event hanging out.

Instead of a normal Saturday post, I’m going to link to the people I’ve met and had conversations with. Hopefully I don’t have a brain fart and not include somebody. If I do, I’m sorry, I still love you.

These are all amazing people, many of them you may know, some of them you may not. In no particular order …

Leo Babauta – www.ZenHabits.net

It’s hard to put into type how nice of a guy Leo is so I won’t try. You should already know him, but if you don’t, definitely check out ZenHabits.

Adam Baker – www.ManVsDebt.com

You should know Baker by now since I’ve linked to him a bunch and he was part of the 72 hour minimalist book sale recently. :) He taught me a magic trick that I’m still working on. My pinky finger is not normal so it’s taking me extra practice. :)

Corbett Barr – www.ThinkTraffic.net

I hadn’t met Corbett before even though we’ve talked a bunch. He is such a smart dude you seriously need to follow what he’s doing if you’re not already.

Benny Lewis – www.FluentIn3Months.com

Great to hang with Benny again. The last time was in Berlin 4 months ago and he’s still doing amazing things with language hacking and being all-around awesome.

Matt Gartland – www.HealthyLifestyleDesign.com

I spoke to Matt for the first time about a week ago and it was great to meet up in person. He’s working on a really kick ass project that I’m definitely looking forward to.

Jonathan Mead – www.IlluminatedMind.net

I interviewed Jonathan for How To Live Anywhere, but this is the first time we were able to speak in person. He just launched Paid To Exist a few weeks ago, and he is straight up living the paid to exist lifestyle.

Laura Roeder – www.LauraRoeder.com

Laura is genius. She probably won’t like me saying that. That’s OK though, I can deal with it. :)

Jade Craven – www.JadeCraven.com

Jade is from Geelong, Australia. I was in Geelong last year watching Geelong vs St Kilda in the Australia Football League Final. Weird and awesome! We did an interview on video and I hope it turned out well. :)

Ali Hale – www.AliVentures.com

Ali writes and coaches writers. She also has the most popular staff blogging course around. :)

Thursday Bram – www.ThursdayBram.com

Thursday is a freelance writer and to put it as simply as possible, really fun to talk to.

Chris Ducker – www.VirtualBusinessLifestyle.com

Chris is doing some fascinating things with outsourcing to the Phillipines. Unless hiring almost 300 workers isn’t fascinating to you. ;)

Pace Smith – www.Connection-Revolution.com

Listen, if you live in my favorite city (Austin) you can’t not be awesome. :) Pace is awesome.

Farnoosh Brock – www.ProlificLiving.com

Farnoosh is so full of energy it’s crazy. Her blog has actually been in my feedreader for a while although I don’t believe I’ve ever actually linked to her before. :)

Catherine Caine – www.BeAwesomeOnline.com

Well, come on … her Web site is Be Awesome Online. Catherine is awesome! I use the word awesome a lot. :)

Srini Rao – www.TheSkoolOfLife.com

Srini interviewed me on BlogCastFM about 8 months ago. We’ve kept in contact since and it has been awesome hanging out with him a bunch here at BlogWorld.

Sid Savara – www.SidSavara.com

Sid’s also part of BlogCastFM. He’s doing some great things on his blog and it has been cool hanging out with him a bunch as well. :)

Dave Navarro – TheLaunchCoach.com

I only had a chance to speak with Dave for a minute, but he’s a really nice guy. After I launched How To Live Anywhere the first time I bought his “Launch The #$(* Out Of Your eBook” course to figure out what I did wrong and right. Pure gold.

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Looking over this list I know I missed some people. I will make it up to them in the coming weeks. ;)

Monday I’m going to try to get a video post up. I haven’t done one in a LONG time, and there’s a very important reason I need to. (We’ll see how video editing on my netbook works out though.)

The Sad Reality of the Human Condition (and a Plea To Unsubscribe)

Results of the “yes” experiment and why I might want you to unsubscribe …

While most bloggers want more people reading their sites by any means necessary, I want more of my right people and less of my wrong people reading my site. By any means necessary. Even if that means asking you to unsubscribe and stop reading. The goal is to lose 1,000 readers this week. Is it you? I don’t know yet.

Last Thursday I attempted an experiment that I thought was going to be a blast. I was going to say “yes” to every request that came through online and offline for 7 days.

My first mistake is that I had expectations. I expected people to be civil. You know, use my name, say please or thank you, show respect.

What I got was over 200 requests within 36 hours (probably over 300 total since I still get 20/day – even though the experiment ended Friday night), a majority of which were, very sadly, in the “I say jump and you ask how high” realm. You can see some of that in the public requests, but it’s the private requests that did me in.

I used to be very cynical. I don’t know what happened over the past couple of years, but I lost most of that cynicism. Which is good, of course. So when I had the idea for “yes week” I didn’t expect that the majority of requests would be rude, insulting, and try to take advantage of me.

Most People Need Authority

You know I’m generally anti-authority. But this experiment made me realize that most people need authority. Most people need to be told what to do. Most people need American Idol, and WalMart, and XBox, and Burger King, and “duuuuude, it’s the weekend, let’s smoke weed and get wasted, yeah!”

What most people don’t need is free reign. What most people can’t do is control themselves when given great opportunities.

This is good.

I’m not looking for most people to read this site. This site is for a very small minority. I didn’t realize just how small until this week. But it’s small. And I’m happy to give my all to that small minority.

I’m also happy to say “fuck off” to everybody else. Everybody else: I don’t need you. You don’t need me. Let’s part ways now, yeah? Unsubscribe is at the end of every e-mail and in your feedreader. Click, click, click … thank you. ;)

How Would I Conduct A Request If I Knew Someone I Respected Would Say Yes?

It’s easy. “Hi Mark, thanks for doing this. Could I please meet with you (via phone or in person) for 5 minutes? I have 1 specific question I’d like to ask regarding [fill in the blank].” Mark being Mark Cuban, of course. :) And hopefully he’d say in person is cool so I could fly to Dallas and meet with him. hehe

My right people know I believe in the 5 Sentences Rule so the request would be short and to the point. Respectful.

The goal would obviously be to make an impression in that 5 minutes. But the goal definitely would not be to disrespect him and his time. “Uhh, could I have some money? I know you’re going to say yes. Since you’re a billionaire, how about a milli mil?” No name, no please. He’s not Mark Cuban anymore. Just some rich dude with “too much money and probably too much free time.”

I had people literally ask me for 3 hours of my time. 3 hours! For what? You don’t need 3 hours of my time. What you need is to take those 3 hours, get off your ass, and go do something monumental. Or watch TV. Whatever. At the very least, stop reading this site. I sure can’t help you. Nobody can.

Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom Isn’t For Everybody

I used to think it was. I was looking at things through the proverbial “rose colored glasses.”

The truth is, freedom is for the select few. It’s literally not possible for the majority to have freedom. Not only do they not truly want it, if they actually had it then they’d abuse the privilege.

One day when I was 13 my Dad asked me to mow the lawn, as he did every week. I went out back, mowed an Anarchy symbol into the grass, and called it a day. Stupid. Disrespectful. And typical 13 year old.

We’re not fucking 13 anymore

And anarchy is lame. (Unless, of course, you’re Fabian, The Friendly Anarchist.)

With The Bad, Comes The Good

I’ve focused on the bad, but there were a lot of great requests. If you left an awesome request, thank you. Most likely it has already been fulfilled. If it hasn’t been fulfilled yet, I just haven’t had time … yet. (I’ll get to it!) Although it wasn’t a majority, there were a ton of great requests and I’ve almost fulfilled that backlog. I didn’t expect such an overwhelming response. The negative requests delayed my fulfilling of the good requests. After I quit the experiment Friday night, I essentially took a day off and didn’t deal with many requests at all.

So if you had a good request, you should tell all the disrespectful requesters to fuck off as well. They messed with you as much as they did with me. Because as you know, Freedom Fighting isn’t even about me. It’s about us. We can’t tolerate disrespect here.

It all boils down to this: if you’re awesome, I want you here. If you’re not, I don’t.

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I’m on the way to BlogWorld right now. I don’t know how much I’ll be online while in Vegas as I’ll be mostly hanging out with kick ass people … and then checking out Death Valley, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, etc for a few days afterwards. What I mean is, comment moderation and e-mail responses might be slow but I’m happy to hear from you! :)

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P.S. If you’re still here: I love you.

1,687 Beautiful People Can’t Be Wrong (or What You Can Learn From The Most Successful Minimalist Product Launch In Internet History)

1,687 sales in 72 hours. You can learn a lot from that …

OK, so I don’t have facts to back up that statement. Find me a minimalist book launch that sold more than 1,687 copies at $27 each in 72 hours ($45,549 gross sales) and I’ll retract. ;)

I’ve done a lot of 5 figure launches in my time, but this one was the most successful. Not in personal profit (which I’m not revealing, but believe me, it wasn’t much, relatively speaking), but in every other respect. Mostly in straight up satisfaction. It was really fun, from start (when I began writing Luxury of Less) to finish (last Thursday at 10am). Even when things went a bit wonky and my site broke it was all good. :)

I got a lot of e-mails asking how I pulled this Minimalist Book Sale together. Besides “holy crap thank you for doing this!” type e-mails, the “how did you do this?!” e-mails were most common during those 72 hours last week. Actually, maybe “holy crap thank you how did you do this?!” was the most common. :)

Note: It was so fun I’m putting together another 72 hour sale for late November/early December in the business niche. Get on the notification list here.

There were a lot of factors involved in pulling this together. I’m going to do my best to explain them.

1) Education Is Important

If it wasn’t for my background in marketing I would never have thought of doing this sale.

And by “background in marketing” I don’t mean I went to business school. I actually know how to generate revenue. Find me an MBA who can say the same and I’ll give you a hi-five for finding the needle in a haystack. ;)

My business “school” was spending every waking hour of my life from ages 18-24 reading, thinking, and doing. Then, as you may have already read in The Luxury of Less, life got a little bit fucked up and I stopped caring. The point is, while most college students were drinking and smoking weed every night I was holed up reading life changing books. (I did my share of drinking as well, just not very often.)

Name a book on business or marketing and I have most likely read it. Especially if it was written prior to the year 2000. And especially if it was written before I was born. Name a business idea and I’ve probably tried it as well. eBay, content sites, info products, affiliate sites, pay per click, etc … along with a handful of offline business attempts. This is called “putting in work” which most people are just unwilling to do.

In the words of Detroit’s very own Trick Trick:

“Let’s work. You don’t work you don’t eat, I don’t wanna hear it’s hard on these streets motherfucker. Let’s work. If it’s money to get, get off your motherfucking ass and go get that shit. Let’s work. Live life on the grind, I ain’t trying to get yours, I’m just trying to get mine.”

It’s much easier to suck down quarter pounders and watch Lost than actually do something useful. Everett has been writing a lot about this lately so go check out his last ~10 articles.

This minimalist book sale is a variation of what is known as a fire sale in the direct marketing world. It’s used in tons of different ways. Offline direct marketers used to use fire sales to sell old stock or “gently used” stock (such as customer returns) at incredible discounts.

Everything about this sale can be learned from marketing classics such as The Robert Collier Letter Book (released in 1937). All I did was put it online.

If you’ve read my recommended books in the article 9 Essential Books For Bloggers and Freedom Seekers (or How To Save $50,000 On An MBA) then you already know this. If you haven’t read those books then … well … your loss. ;)

2) Mastermind Groups Are Important

In the book Think & Grow Rich Napoleon Hill writes extensively on the importance of mastermind groups. I’d spent the past 10 years trying to form one to no avail. Thanks to blogging I was put in a position to join a 4-person (including myself) mastermind group earlier this year that has helped me beyond belief.

I wanted to launch a $9.99 book, The Luxury of Less, with a bang instead of a thud. I had the idea for the sale, discussed it at a couple of mastermind group meetings (Skype conference calls) and achieved clarity of vision.

The most difficult part of the whole launch was writing the book. And that was only difficult because I’m one of those people who throws away 20,000 words and starts from scratch. :) But seriously, I love writing, so this wasn’t actually difficult. So let me rephrase: it was the most time consuming part of the launch.

3) Competition Is In Your Head

At Chris Guillebeau’s Book Tour in Ann Arbor a couple of weeks ago, a group of us were talking about how awesome the blogging community is. We all support each other (well, many of us do anyway) and competition really isn’t competition. This is known as expanding the pie. There is room for all of us. Yes, even you. You just have to be willing to take your slice. Don’t worry, feel free to take it, we’ll bake a bigger pie.

Yes, there are a lot of minimalist ebooks on the market. And there will be many more in the coming years. It’s all good. There is room for all of them.

4) Genius or Action?

A lot of people called me a genius during and after the launch. As long as I can remember I’ve also called myself a genius, but that doesn’t come from a place of cockiness. I say it because we’re all geniuses at something and sometimes we need to talk ourselves up a bit in our own heads. But I really think genius is misinterpreted (by myself and everyone else) as fearless action.

I tweeted last week: “The difference between genius and stupidity is action.” A real genius would’ve thought of a better word than “stupidity.” ;)

The point is, I’m not a genius any more than you’re a genius. I was simply willing to take action on an idea by asking a bunch of friends and acquaintances if they’d be interested in being part of something fun. And to be honest, I was actually a little bit afraid to send those e-mails because they could’ve been met with resistance. Then I remembered, fearless action. I also set sending the e-mails as an accountability goal with my mastermind group. I had no choice but to do it or face their wrath. :)

Going back to no competition: every single person I e-mailed wrote me back almost immediately with a “yes.” I didn’t get a single “no.” Everybody was happy to support the project.

To be completely honest, I personally didn’t really have to do much to make this sale a success. You made this happen by spreading the word on twitter and Facebook. Thank you sincerely for that (380 Facebook Likes!). And so did my partners in fun. Thank you again to Leo, Baker, Everett, Tammy, Joshua, Henri, Sam, Charley, Brett, David, Annie, and Meg for being so amazing.

5) The Real Secret To My Success and I Want You To Steal It.

I’ve failed more times than you.

That’s why I’ve succeeded more as well.

Your mission is simple.

Go fail.

Specific questions? Comment below and I’ll turn the answers into another article…

Sweet Shit Saturday #026 (Yes, Please, Thank You Edition)

Yes, please, there are lots of thank yous herein …

Life Lesson #102: “Don’t let the fuckers drag you down.”

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Thank you to Leo, Baker, Everett, Tammy, Joshua, Henri, Sam, Charley, Brett, David, Annie, and Meg. We were part of something special and it would not have worked without every one of you. I’m still getting e-mails (well over 100 now) asking if I can open the minimalist book sale back up. 72 hours is 72 hours. If somebody figures out how to squeeze 96 hours into 72 hours I will open it up for another 24. ;) What I mean is, it’s not going on sale again. If you want to buy any of the books in the sale they are well worth the individual prices and you will be supporting amazing artists. Luxury of Less will be available on Kindle ($9.99) and in print ($12.95) in December.

This has been an insane week. 1,687 minimalist book sale packages sold. That almost sounds like a fake number. $9,388.40 to Kiva entrepreneurs. That almost sounds like a fake number. Hundreds of “yes” requests. That almost sounds like a fake number. I guess it’s not a number, so it is fake. :)

There is only one link you should read above all others this week. That is Corbett Barr’s 18 Months, 2 Blogs, Six Figures. I’m not joking when I say it will dominate your life.

I guess that’s not fair to others I’m going to link to. Dammit. But really, if you don’t have time to read much this week, read Corbett’s free manifesto. Free as in you don’t have to pay for it, or enter your e-mail address, or anything. Download it. Turn off your internet. Find a quiet place. And read. Don’t thank me. Thank Corbett.

Links, please!

Empowerment is not for sale by Tammy Strobel

This is another one of those articles that I can’t do justice to by summarizing here. It’s a very important article for women and men.

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started by Jason Baptiste

“Writing has allowed me to meet a slew of smart people.” Me too! :)

To make up for the fact that last week I had 13 links, this week only 3. Woohoo!

Tomorrow I’m running in a 5K. 10/10/10 at 10am. I run very slowly and I don’t plan on continuing running. Not because I run slowly, but because it’s not fun and hurts my knees. I’m going to guess I’ll finish in 34 minutes. Yes, that slowly. :) Have a great weekend!

Radical Inclusion (or I’m Saying Yes To Everything For 7 Days)

An experiment in saying yes. 7 days only …

I’m keeping this article up, but the public experiment is over. The Facebook giveaways are still going on though. Still saying yes to people who don’t know I will say yes.

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The idea of Radical Inclusion, which I’m about to reveal, was spurred by 2 things:

1) The concept of Radical Exclusion where you say no or shut out almost everything. Chris Guillebeau talks a little bit about it in his world-changing book The Art of Non-Conformity.

and

2) 4-5 years ago I read a book called “Yes, Man” about a guy who says yes to everything. Then I did a half-assed attempt at saying yes to everything. (The book was turned into a lame movie.)

Not this week.

This week (the next 7 days), every request of my time gets a yes. What this means is, my time in the next 7 days. Not in the future.

Want to interview me? Cool.

Want to talk on Skype? Cool.

Want to take me out to lunch? ;) Cool.

Have an extra ticket to a Pistons game and want me to join you? Yes.

Don’t have a ticket to the Pistons game but want me to take you? Yes.

Want me to comment on your blog? Cool.

If somebody local asks me to hang out? Yes, yes, yes.

Update: 6:35pm Thursday. See those requests up there? All cool and kind and nice. Not greedy and insulting. For the next 7 days I will say “yes” to *everybody* who doesn’t know about this experiment. I will also say yes to cool requests like the ones above. I will not say yes to commands. “Go do this” is bullshit and if that’s your request please stop reading this site. We’re not meant to be.

How do you know if your question is “cool”? Simple: would you ask it normally of anybody or myself even if you might get a no? If the answer is “yes, but I’m afraid to ask” then it’s probably all good. If the answer is “no, I just want to be your master” then it’s not all good and please stop reading this site. :)

How this will work:

From the time this post goes live until exactly 7 days from now (when I leave for BlogWorld) I’m going to say yes to every request that comes through my facebook fan page, comments on this post, or in-person.

Bonus Facebook Page Yes, Yes, Yes Giveaway!

Go to the new (and very bare) RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com Facebook Fan Page, “Like” it, make a request, and WIN! ;)

Every day for the next 7 days I’m giving away one copy of Yes, Man along with one of my other favorite life changing books. (You can choose between Kindle or paperback versions.)

To kick it off, today I’m giving away Yes, Man and The Art of Non-Conformity (personally signed by Chris Guillebeau!).

What Kind of Request Can You Make?

Nothing is stupid. Almost nothing is off limits.

The only caveat is if I say yes to something I can’t say yes to something else that takes place during the first thing’s time frame. Unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out how to be in more than one place at once. But you can bet I have a hardcore group of scientists working on that little issue. ;)

I’ll be working through the requests as best as I can.

I expect 1 of 2 things will happen:

1) I won’t receive a lot of requests. This is a strong possibility because maybe this doesn’t seem real. Or maybe you’re letting fear get in the way of making a request. I can’t do anything about that.

or

2) I’ll get so many requests that I won’t even be able to read through them all.

Either way, I’ll let you know how it goes …

Head over to the RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com Fan Page and “Like” it right here.

You’re Too Late. Sale Is Over. (Or is it?)

72 hours to get every minimalist guide on the market for just $27 …

Here’s the deal: after 72 very intense hours this sale has come to a close. But fear not! A new 72 hour sale is in the works! ;)

If you’re interested, get on the list now …

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I’m going to get right into this. The 3 Day Minimalist Book Sale is on now (sorry, sale is over!). I wanted to launch my Luxury of Less eBook in a unique way, and because the minimalist community rocks, I was able to put together a package of ridiculously extraordinary value.

17 minimalist guides from 13 minimalist writers, normally $224.54, just $27 for 3 days only!

The sale ends at 10am Eastern this Thursday, October 7 so you have exactly 72 hours to get in on this package. But here’s why I’d like you to get in on it within 24 hours: I’m sending my first 24 hours of profits to Third World entrepreneurs through Kiva.org!

You Get Everything Listed Below:

1) Leo Babauta’s The Simple Guide To A Minimalist Life

Regular price: $9.95

2) Everett Bogue’s The Art of Being Minimalist

Regular Price $17.00

3) Tammy Strobel’s Smalltopia: A Practical Guide To Working For Yourself

Regular Price: $27.00

4) Tammy Strobel’s Simply Car-free: How To Pedal Toward Financial Freedom and a Healthier Life

Regular Price: $9.95

5) Adam Baker’s Unautomate Your Finances: A Simple, Passionate Approach To Money

Regular Price: $17.00

6) Joshua Becker’s Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life

Regular Price: $9.95

7) Charley Forness’s You, Simplified Handbook

Regular Price: $5.00

8) David Damron’s Project M-31: Simplify Your Life In 31 Days

Regular Price: $15.00

9) David Damron’s Minimalism: 7 Steps To A Simpler Life

Regular Price: $4.95

10) David Damron’s Simple Health & Fitness

Regular Price: $9.95

11) David Damron’s Simple. Minimalist. Life. Version 2.0 Deluxe Edition

Regular Price: $27.00

12) Annie Brewer’s The Minimalist Cleaning Method

Regular Price: $9.95

13) Meg Wolfe’s Minimalist Cooking – Take Back Your Kitchen

Regular Price: $4.95

14) Sam Spurlin’s Living The Simpler Life

Regular Price: $9.95

15) Brett Oblack’s Consume Less, Create More

Regular Price: $9.95

16) Henri Junttila’s Passionate Living Guide

Regular Price: $27.00

17) Karol Gajda’s (that’s me!) The Luxury of Less Special Edition

Regular Price: $9.99

Need convincing? That’s not my bag …

This incredible value is available for a total of 72 hours only (less than 1 hour left!). Get the Minimalist Book Sale package for just $27 by clicking right here.

Big Bonus!

If we reach 1,000 sales during these 3 days everybody will get my How To Live Anywhere Short Haul course valued at $77! This bonus has been unlocked!

If we reach 1,500 sales during these 3 days everybody will get my How To Live Anywhere Long Haul course valued at $97! This bonus has been unlocked!

If we reach 2,000 sales during these 3 days everybody will get my upcoming Mind Control Method course valued at $97!

I will manually update this area with the order tally as time goes on. [Current bonus tally: 1,630 sales with less than 1 hour left!]

Note: bonuses will be e-mailed to you once the sale is over.

Thank you so much!

Karol Gajda

P.S. Please share this sale on Twitter and Like it on Facebook by clicking the buttons below. We’d all really appreciate that…

Sweet Simplicity Saturday #025 (Luxury of Less Edition)

A special edition of epic-ly minimalist proportions. Or something like that …

Two nights ago I had the honor of introducing Chris Guillebeau at his Ann Arbor book tour stop. It was a good time even though I actually didn’t say the main thing I wanted to say and I really could have done a better intro all around. It has been a while since my old Toastmasters days, but I really want to thank Chris for the opportunity to work my public speaking muscle. I used to be (and still sometimes am) incredibly shy, but I like getting up in front of people and I’d like to do it far more regularly.

Today we’re doing something different with Sweet Shit Saturday. Instead of new articles from around the Web, I’m linking to 1 article from each contributor of the upcoming Minimalist Book Sale.

What is the Minimalist Book Sale, you ask? Well, for my Luxury of Less launch I did say I’m doing something big, right?

The Minimalist Book Sale will be a 3 day event starting at 10am Eastern this Monday, October 4. 13 contributors (including myself) have come together to offer their eBooks in one amazing package for one very low price. It’s literally over $200 in value (not an inflated number) for $27.

Bonus! I’m sending my first 24 hours of profits to Third World entrepreneurs via Kiva.org. My goal is to send $2,000 and I believe we can do it!

An extra twist: after these 3 days The Luxury of Less will be off the market. It will be available only in Kindle and Print form (in time for the Holidays), and this is your only chance to get the special edition PDF download version.

Complete details on Monday.

Now? Sweet links!!!

The Lost Art of Solitude by Leo Babauta

This is one of my favorite ZenHabits articles and it’s something I strongly believe in.

How You’re Hindering Your Potential (With Your Stuff) by Everett Bogue

A very important article that maybe didn’t get enough traction back when it was written.

22 Ways To Practice The Art of Relaxation by Tammy Strobel

#1 is by far my favorite. Although instead of frequent, I’m a fan of once/day.

The 10 Most Important Things To Simplify In Your Life by Joshua Becker

#4 all the way. :) I have a lot of practice with this one.

3 Steps Toward True and Permanent Happiness by Sam Spurlin

You’ll see #3 repeated often by a lot of people. It’s because it’s very important. Experiences, not stuff.

Killing The “What If I Need It Someday?” Excuse by Brett Oblack

This is important and it’s a question I’ve been asked at least a dozen times. Thanks for killing this excuse Brett. :)

5 Minimalist Actions In 5 Minutes by David Damron

You can start small if you’d like. You will see the benefits with small, consistent actions.

You Will Never Have Enough, But You Have Everything You Need by Charley Forness

Charley is a very smart guy as proof by this article. I wish I wrote this one.

Simple Carpet Cleaning by Annie Brewer

Because simplicity and minimalism include more than just our stuff. :)

Small Steps vs Big Muddles by Meg Wolfe

I like this because even when you’re leading a minimalist life you can run into stumbling blocks.

How To Be Frugal and Feel Amazingly Abundant by Henri Junttila

As with many of my friends I’m completely biased, but out of all the great stuff Henri writes this is one of the best.

42 Ways To Radically Simplify Your Financial Life by Adam Baker

This is one of the most popular articles on ManVsDebt.com, and for good reason. Check it out and simplify your finances.

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That’s a lot of links! I’d like to thank every one of these fantastic souls for contributing to the Minimalist Book Sale. Without them it would be a really minimalist book sale consisting of just my book. :)

See you Monday at 10:00am Eastern for 72 hours of sales fun! Yes, that’s a transparently commercial pitch. You might not be interested and that’s OK. Next Thursday after the sale is over I will do something radical for you that you will definitely love. ;) Subscribe to the RSS feed so you don’t miss it.

In Transit (A Day In The Life)

A day in the life of a technomad …

4:45am – Your alarm rings. After 4 hours of sleep you feel surprisingly alert. It’s transition day. Leaving the world you’ve known for 4 months behind and heading back to a world you’ve known your whole life. Emotions are a mixed bag of heartache and hope. But at this moment there is no time for dwelling. Your options are one: pack the rest of your few belongings, shower, eat a light breakfast, and hit the road within 45 minutes. 3 flights, 14 hours of airtime, and 19+ hours of total travel time are your future.

WRO – Airport #1; 7:15am: You say goodbye to your birthplace and what you’d like to consider your second home. It’s just a short 90 minute flight to your first transfer destination.

MUC – Airport #2; 9:00am: You approach Passport Control knowing full well you’ve overstayed your Schengen visa by 45 days. You select the biggest, meanest looking border police and get in line. You hand over your passport hoping for a quick passage. So why select an unfriendly looking guard as opposed to a friendly one? First, let’s face it, they all look unfriendly. Second, mean looking people never seem to be. You hope a combination of charm and acting ignorant of the situation will work in your favor. And you’re correct. After a short line of questioning, the confused border police gives you a don’t-let-it-happen-again wag of the finger and you’re allowed to pass with no fines or detainment. Much better than when you entered the Schengen zone in Helsinki and were unnecessarily questioned at length regarding your plans in Europe.

You remember this city and its airport fondly from a previous experience that might have had something to do with a shower. You smile and move on to your next mission: food. Hoping for falafel, a common sight in this country, you settle in for a small green salad as well as a fruit salad, ringing in at a whopping total of 9.40€. You quickly realize this is the most expensive meal you’ve eaten all year. The benefits of staying in lower cost countries like India, Thailand, and Poland.

Now that you’re fed it’s time to get to your gate. You walk up to the gate attendant at 11:00am, 45 minutes before flight departure, and ask if any exit row is available. Usually at this stage you’d be far too late. Since you weren’t able to use frequent flier miles to fly Business class for this particular trip due to varying factors, it’s worth a shot trying to get Exit row. You never know if you don’t ask.

“You’re in luck sir, an exit row seat just opened up as we were talking. Good timing.”

You respond with a big smile and a thank you, knowing full well there is no such thing as luck. No use getting into a philosophical discussion with the busy flight crew though. You take your freshly printed boarding pass, find an empty seat in the boarding area, toss on your headphones, and wait for the boarding announcements.

In the air: The long haul flight is comfortable but uneventful. Lufthansa is always a nice airline to fly and this time is no exception. The flight attendants are smiley, friendly, and make sure your vegan meal gets to your seat piping hot. You spend the flight watching bad movies, reading, writing, and fighting to stay awake so you don’t have to deal with a sleepless night.

CLT – Airport #3; 3:45pm: You enter the USA and head to border control. After a line of questioning the man says “you’d make a good intelligence officer” and passes you through. What does that mean? Is he saying you’re a good liar or maybe that you have a poker face? You decide not to overthink it because there are much more important matters at hand. It’s time for a black bean burrito, sure to be found at any airport in the US. After a long walk to the far corners of the airport you find your drug of choice and settle in for a 70 minute wait for flight #3, the final flight of the day.

DTW – Airport #4; 8:20pm: You know this airport well, having spent 22 years in this city, but with recent renovations at the terminal it all feels new. You’re greeted by family and hit the road for a short journey to your temporary two week home.

Home; 9:25pm:  A sense of comfort comes over you as you enter your temporary home. It’s now almost 24 hours since that alarm thousands of miles, 4 airports, and 3 countries away. The day is a blur. It’s been an exhausting one, but the best days always are. Tomorrow, new adventures await.

Today’s last adventure? zzzzzzzzzzzz …

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Programming note: this coming Monday, October 4, 2010 at 10:00am Eastern I’m launching my new eBook The Luxury of Less in what is sure to be “The Largest Minimalist Book Sale In History!” What I mean is, I’ve put together a 3 day sale where for just 1 small price you can pick up virtually every ebook on minimalism (or at least written by a minimalist) on the market. There are 13 people involved in this sale (including myself). My first 24 hours of profits will be sent to Third World entrepreneurs via Kiva.org. I have a small goal: send $2,000. This isn’t an extravagant launch like How To Live Anywhere was, but you will get more information on Saturday and then again on Monday.

So please bear with me if this doesn’t interest you at all. I have something outstanding (if I do say so myself) planned for you next Thursday.

On Poland (Mostly Wrocław)

My time in Poland is almost over. Here are my thoughts …

An incredible change of pace from my normal articles, but since I’m leaving in 48 hours, and since this is the place of my birth, I thought it would be fitting to write a little about Poland. Specifically Wrocław, which is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (think Province). Wrocław is in the south west of the country, close to both Czech Republic and Germany.

Phonetic English pronunciation of Wrocław: Vrots-wahf. 2 syllables.

Some preliminary details: I was born in Wrocław, Poland, but my family moved to the US 4 days shy of my first birthday. Prior to this current trip I visited Poland twice. Once in 1992 for 1 month and in 2005 for 2 weeks.

All told, that wasn’t very much exposure to the culture. I’ve now been here since 10 May, over 4 months. Although it would be delusional to consider myself anything other than a tourist in my own country, I do feel I’ve experienced a closer connection to the place and its people.

A few glaringly obvious observations between my first trip 18 years ago and this one: the “Western” (or Modern, or whatever you’d like to call it) influence is strong. I remember the first time I was back here it was like a completely different world. Obviously some of that may have been due to the fact that I was 11 and everywhere new seemed like a whole different world.

Today it doesn’t look like a completely different world. Almost anything I can find in the US, I can find here. (Except black beans. I literally bought every black bean I could find in the city. There weren’t many. My apologies to the other black bean lovers.)

It’s just little, superficial things I remember from my first trip. The first Pizza Hut. Or the only milk available having a layer of fat on top (gross, two times!). Now Pizza Hut is everywhere and you can find soy milk at every supermarket. I also remember people “looking” a lot healthier. That is, skinnier. Now, with KFC, McDonald’s, et al. running rampant across the city and the country, waistlines have expanded along with more economic prosperity. The former is sad, the latter is awesome. This may sound judgmental, and again, superficial, but it’s fact.

The People

Wrocław Głowny (main train station)

In general, the people I’ve interacted with have been exceedingly kind.

Something that caught me off guard:

Twice I’ve had a person tell me they don’t like Americans. (In Sydney, Australia I had someone tell me I should apologize for my country after they found out I was from the US. Hate, unfortunately, is universal.) On two different occasions a person stopped talking to me (we were talking in Polish) after they found out I was born here, but grew up in the US. This type of stuff doesn’t affect me. It’s obviously a personal problem exclusive to a select few people. And yes, I could paint a rosy picture that this stuff doesn’t happen, but it does, so no sense in hiding the truth. My only hope is that these types of people continue at the lower rungs of society as opposed to becoming leaders. When hate and leadership combine, well, we have far too many examples to show what can happen.

A few months ago I was asked what I think of the people here. Specifically, “do you find them to be closed off?” It’s a difficult question to answer, because I find most people are closed off. That’s not based on region, it’s based on the human condition. While we’re definitely social creatures, we also stick to our own.

The fact that I did 90% of my socializing through CouchSurfing means I was exposed to an open, welcoming group of people on a regular basis.

Usually when someone would find out I came back here to relearn the language and experience my birthplace I would get nothing but respect. And many times, surprise: “Why would you come back? Nobody comes back after they leave.”

For every old man who tried to push me off my bike, I had 20 positive interactions with friendly people.

English Language

What Better Time Than Now? (mural on Wyspa Słodowa)

English speaking is still in its infancy here. You’ll find that most younger people speak English, because in post-communist Poland they commonly teach English (and German) as second languages in school. If you interact with someone who grew up in, or went to school during, the communist era then English is much less common or completely non-existent.

Obviously this didn’t affect me because I didn’t speak English unless I was interacting with someone who didn’t speak Polish.

I feel like the lack of English makes visiting a place more fun. For example, most of my interactions in Thailand were in “Traveler’s Sign Language” because my Thai was limited to approximately 5 phrases. It’s a fun challenge.

I wouldn’t worry about the language barrier. Come visit! You’ll figure it out.

The City of Wrocław

Odra River with the Katedra in the background.

I’m completely biased, but I love this city. I love that it’s big (~630,000 people), but has a small feel to it.

I love that there are bike lanes everywhere.

I rode my bike through these tunnels near Most (Bridge) Grunwaldzki almost daily.

I love that there are massive parks throughout the city.

I love that the public transportation is safe and generally efficient. (Even though I used it less than 10 times since I rode my bike everywhere.)

I love that it’s just touristy enough, but not overrun with tourists (like Kraków, for example).

Rynek (Market Square) in the distance, straight ahead!

Wrocław is a very artsy city, which I also love. All over the city you will find art installations, some of them without explanation. The city is currently competing to be the European Capital of Culture for 2016 (Edit: they won!). More info here: http://www.wro2016.pl/en/

Corner of Świdnicka and Piłsudskiego
Not sure what to call this: Freedom? ("Statue of Liberty" made of locks, swallowing the key.)

The Country

Poland is in transition. It’s a member of the European Union (since 2004), and with that comes a lot of change. It is expected the country will adopt the Euro as its currency within 2-3 years, but a lot of people are saying it won’t happen so soon. I obviously can’t speculate. [Edit: This was written in 2010. It’s now 2012 and Poland is still on the Złoty.)

It seems the whole country is under construction. For example, train stations across the country are currently being renovated. The whole time I’ve been in Wrocław, the main train station has been under construction. It’s a massive complex and the first time my family visited Poland I distinctly remember taking the train from Berlin > Wrocław and being a little bit in awe of all the activity going on there.

Train station renovations around Poland.

I can’t speak too much else of the country as a whole, since I spent the majority of my time in Wrocław. What I can state is that I feel a general sense of prosperity here. Although the per capita GDP is currently just over $11k USD, the economy has been growing steadily in the post-communist era.

Should You Visit Poland?

Yes. Specifically, come to Wrocław. :) Most foreigners I talk to don’t end up here on purpose, but every single one of them are happy they stumbled upon the city. I’ll be here again in 2012 for EuroCup2012. Let’s hang out?

Sweet Song Saturday #024 (Blast From The Past Edition)

Me + guitar. Also, the first Focus On A Freedom Fighter! …

Thank you for making the First Annual International Minimalist Day a good time! Next year we’ll plan a minimalist event. :)

On an unrelated note …

I’ve had a bunch of questions about guitar and music and whatnot. No, I don’t play in a band anymore. “Oh, really, you used to? What did it sound like?” I’ll get to that. ;) No, I don’t want to be a rockstar. Yes, I love going on tour (have done two 3-week tours of the US). If you’re in the Detroit area come hang out with me and my rockstar friends on October 1 at the Magic Stick.

Guitar and music is a personal experience. Although it’s fun to get a bunch of acoustic guitars together and jam with friends I get a big high from sitting alone and getting lost in the strings.

With that said, today I will share a very old song with you. Very old as in recorded in 2001. This is the last time I was in a band. You won’t like the music. That’s OK. No, that’s not me fishing for compliments. Most people don’t like music with loud guitars, double bass, and screaming. I do. ;)

Break Away

(If you’re reading via RSS or e-mail you might need to click here to see the song player.)

I’m the 2nd guitar that comes in on the intro. Not sure what channel that’s in because I’m listening on my laptop and left/right channels are hard to distinguish.

Now with your ears properly tuned, onto the sweet links!

Sell Your Crap by Adam Baker

Baker finally released the ultimate course to getting rid of the excess crap in your life and making some cash while doing so. You know I fully advocate this. :) Also, I can’t possibly be unbiased since Baker is a friend. But it’s a fantastic course and he worked his ass off on it so you should check it out if it’s up your alley.

The Evolution of a Spiritual Poker Player and Entrepreneur by Henri Junttila

I’ve been doing a lot of chatting with Henri lately and he impresses me to no end. His writing has been extra on fire lately and there are some big things brewing in the coming year.

Free work vs internships by Seth Godin

This is from last year and it’s as important as ever. Seth writes a lot so no worries if you missed this article the first time around. :)

A Minimalist’s Guide To eBay by Adam Baker

Yes, I’m linking to Baker twice. I said I can’t possibly be unbiased, right? This is Baker’s guest post on ZenHabits and it’ll get you started on eBay if you’re looking to get rid of your crap.

Focus On A Freedom Fighter #001: Matt Madeiro

As I mentioned last week, and thanks to Marilia’s idea, I’m going to regularly highlight Freedom Fighters on this blog and in the Freedom Fighters course.

Today, meet Matt Madeiro from ThreeNewLeaves.com.

Matt’s submission really resonated with me, so out of all the submissions I received for this inaugural Focus On A Freedom Fighter section, he gets to be #001. :)

Here’s what Matt had to say …

Karol: Why did you join Freedom Fighters?

Matt: I joined because I was inspired as all hell by the bold things you’ve done and thought I might just be one of the 100 lives you’re looking to change. :) That last part might not happen, but I’m bound and determined to use you as example and inspiration as I eschew cubicle hell for a true, genuine life. And what better way to pick up a few tricks than to join the Freedom Fighters?

K: How has Freedom Fighters helped you?

M: I’ve learned so much! How to market and sell a digital product, for one, but a number of tricks too for pushing my blog to the next level. I’m wholly impressed that you offer the secret to your success for free.

K: What are your goals with your website?

My goals are like any other blogger’s, I guess. I want to build my blog up to the level where it can support me doing the three things I love: traveling, writing, and combining those first two in a way that encourages other people to do the same too. :)

K: Is there anything in particular you’d like to tell the world?

M: Hello, world. :) I’m looking to help and connect with people as best I can, so please don’t hesitate to stop by my site and say hello. Maybe you’ll find something you like! And, on a more inspirational note — you have big dreams. I have big dreams. I’m seeing so much pressure from so many parts of society to temper my ambition and live a simple, normal life, but I absolutely refuse. Something tells me that you do too — so why don’t we take a stand together?

K: Kick ass, thanks Matt! Don’t forget to head on over to ThreeNewLeaves.com and support a Freedom Fighter!

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That’s it for this week! The October 4th launch of the Luxury of Less is coming soon and we’re doing it big. I will give you a hint: You know how there are a lot of great ebooks about minimalism out right now? Well, what if they were all available in one single package for 3 days at a very low price? ;)