Author: Karol

Sweet Shit Saturday #008 (Pre-Launch Edition)

Preeeeee la la la launch! This week is pre launch week and we’ll be talking about lots of business stuff!

Whoa, the official launch of How To Live Anywhere is coming up fast. June 8!

Next week, being that it’s pre-launch week, will be full of lots of nitty-gritty bad assery™. (Not really ™ I just wanted to be super cool and insert a symbol. Seriously, super cool.) In this particular case, I’m sticking to biz-related articles until launch. We’ll cover how I started my first profitable biz for less than $200 (and how you can too), why I once shut down (as opposed to selling for a large sum or continuing on with it) a biz that was pulling in over $10k/month profit, and what it feels like to make 5 figures in a day (multiple times) but why I still think money isn’t of utmost importance.

The next 10 days will also be spent mobilizing a group of affiliates to make the launch a success. While I don’t have the network to pull off a Chris Guillebeau launch of epic proportions right now, it will still be a fun time. The affiliate program is currently open to anybody who bought Version 0.9 and a select few other people. If you have a blog with a readership that trusts you and for some reason you don’t get an e-mail from me by Wednesday please get in touch. (Launch day commissions are going to be a massive 95%. I don’t mess around when it comes to treating affiliates well. Ba ba ba booya!)

How my eBook made $1,800 In 3 Days with 78 people on my list by Kelly Kingman

This is a great story and reinforces what I talked about in 7 Ways To Establish Trust In An Age Of Skepticism. I’ve had Kelly’s blog in my RSS reader for a while and she comes across as very genuine. In other words, trustworthy. As a result, her small list and a few key actions produced tremendous results.

How To Achieve Your Dreams by Tammy Strobel

The most important part of this article is tip #6: action. No article, book, course, or person will ever help you as much as you can help yourself by simply taking focused action right now. Thanks for reinforcing that Tammy. :)

The Importance of Being Unremarkable by Jonathan Mead

Jonathan (who I just interviewed for How To Live Anywhere) has an awesome take on doing unremarkable but important things. I especially like this line: “When we’re focusing too much on doing epic shit, we can lose sight of the truly epic things that aren’t outwardly or obviously epic.” I do a lot of unremarkable things that I really enjoy. Hand washing my clothes in a bag is one of them. Without fail, everybody who sees me do it makes a comment and thinks I’m weird, but I enjoy the process of hand washing my clothes … in a bag. ;) It’s unremarkable, but to me it’s epic.

How To Pursue Work That Matters by Everett Bogue

I agree with a lot of what Everett writes here (and a lot of what he writes in general, dude rocks!), but also disagree with some of it: “…answering every blog comment whether or not it’s relevant or even requires a response.” I seem to be in the minority with this thought (well, Pat and Glen seem to be gung-ho on the same page as me, although I won’t put words in their mouths), but I think answering all (or pretty much all) blog comments is pursuing work that matters. Yes, it takes time, but showing appreciation to fans who allow me to do what I do is time well invested. I liken it to an actor who wants to be famous, but when they get famous and have lots of attention from fans they ignore them. You can tell who not only deserves success, but appreciates who gave them that success. Without you, this blog is just a tree falling in the forest with nobody around to hear it. Thanks for hearing the tree fall and for telling your friends you liked the sound. ;)

Travel Hack: How To Take 40kg Of Luggage On Low Cost Carriers by Benny Lewis

Benny forgot the most important part of this situation in the headline: it’s free! Benny did this without paying extra baggage fees (well, beyond the regular check-in fee). This is simply awesome … and fun. I almost wish I had 50kg of stuff so I could attempt a new “record.” :)

Veganize Your Life by WA Christopher J.

I mentioned I had an article about veganism about 6 months ago and I’ve dropped the ball. Mostly because I haven’t looked at it in months, it’s a good 3-4,000 words, and it’s not done. I get a lot of e-mails about veganism and I really will post that tome some day. For now, my friend James wrote this awesome guide, but he includes a disclaimer: “This guide was written for those who have already made the choice to become vegan.” James is a great writer so it’s worth a read even if you haven’t made that choice yet. :)

The #1 Habit Of Highly Creative People by Leo Babauta

If you know me by now you know I highly recommend this habit myself. You’ll see exactly what it is when you read the article. Here’s a hint: I don’t own the domain HowToBeAlone.com for nothing. (A free Black Book will launch there in a few months.)

That’s all for this week. I hope even if you don’t ever plan on buying anything from me or if you already bought Version 0.9 of How To Live Anywhere you’ll stick around during (and after!) the June 8th launch. If not, it’s cool, we’re still best buds. ;)

Questions/comments/want me to cook you my famous gluten-free soy-free 4-bean veganized chili? You know what to do …

The Anti-Schedule and MIIMIO Productivity (or Behind The Scenes Of The War Room)

In which I discuss my creative process and talk about computer science and water fights …

By “war room” I mean whatever room (or park or beach) on this great blue Earth I’m currently working out of. :)

I really do feel like I’m fighting a war. My enemy is normality.

Ever since I was a small child I’ve done things a little bit differently, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not. Whether that was playing with weird chemicals that I probably shouldn’t have been playing with at age 8 and creating a stink bomb in a test tube (which I subsequently smashed in our front yard), mowing an Anarchy symbol in my Parents’ lawn and calling it a day at age 13, or quitting my very last job (in the Business School of Wayne State University) when I was 19 and getting fired an hour later. (That’s a funny story for another day.)

Where I’m going with this is that we all have different processes for doing whatever we do. I like reading about how other people create and I think that’s probably why I love reading autobiographies. It’s cool to get personal insights into how and why people do what they do.

With that all stated, here is my creative process. It has changed over the years and continues to change, but here it is at this very moment:

Don’t Force It, But Force It

I’ve mentioned it many times already, but before this blog started I spent 30 days writing at least 1,000 words every single day. It was my way of forming the habit and getting into the flow of writing blog posts. Nowadays I don’t work like that. Sometimes I write 5,000 words in a couple hours because they keep coming and sometimes I only write a few hundred words in a few minutes and stop.

I don’t force anything. When inspiration comes I grab hold and go along for the ride. That mofo might take me places I didn’t expect to go or it might drop me off exactly where I was expecting in a timely fashion. Whatever happens, I stick around for the duration.

I force everything. Because I’ve honed inspiration in such a way, I know it will come. So in a way, it’s almost like I forced it. A better way to put it may be that I ordered it to pay me a visit. This is part of going pro. Once you tell yourself you’ve gone pro, a mental shift happens in a way that I can’t explain unless it has happened to you.

It’s important to force it until you form the habit. Then you don’t have to force it anymore. Remember when I quit drinking last September? Since that time I’ve had a few drinks, but the habit of not drinking is in place and I don’t have to force it anymore. You can do the same, with literally anything.

The Anti-Schedule

I dislike schedules and I don’t use a calendar. But I do have a work schedule. It’s this: every day (for as little or as much as I feel like that particular day). I may not stick to it gung-ho 365 days/year, but I do work on something most days. Here’s the kicker: it’s not because I have to. It’s because I want to.

When I was in high school I worked at a car dealership doing all their computer stuff. To everybody else at that dealership it was rocket science. To me, it was like 1st grade math. In other words, I’d get a week’s worth of work done in a day. Instead of sticking around (and getting paid more) I’d leave and play guitar or hang out with friends. Why? Because I hated that work. I just wanted it to be over.

What I do nowadays keeps me up at night with excitement. It’s not work when you love it.

Even if you’re currently working a dreaded day job you can actively seek out projects and a way of life that you’re passionate about. (That’s not an affiliate link. Use code ‘freedom’ to get 25% off for a few more days.)

MIIMIO (Most Important In Most Important Out)

Now I’m getting all computer-sciencey and coming up with acronyms based on data storage algorithms. Shoot me. (Please don’t, unless it’s with a water gun, in which case, I challenge you to a duel!) If you’ve had a math or computer background you’re probably familiar with FIFO: First In First Out.

My take on FIFO is MIIMIO, Most Important In Most Important Out. That is, I have a most important task that I need to complete and everything else is ignored until that’s done. BUT, and there is always a BUT, that doesn’t mean I don’t work on other things. Huh? Whatchyou talkin’ bout Karol?

For example, my current most important task is getting How To Live Anywhere finished (almost done, I’m loving it!). But I still have blog posts I want to write and awesome people to interact with (that’s you) via comments/e-mails.

What I mean by MIIMIO is that I don’t take on another big project while I’m already focusing on a big project. Do I have ideas for other big projects? Yes. Can they wait until this project is done? Yes.

Do you take on too many tasks at once? Don’t worry, most people do. Just remember MIIMIO and you’ll be golden.

Is There A Better Way?

Yes. Whatever works for you is the better way.

That’s where you come in. I want to know, what does your creative process look like? How do you structure (or un-structure) your days?

7 Exceptional Ways To Establish Trust In An Age Of Skepticism

Trust is difficult to establish and easy to lose. Here is how to be trustworthy …

Trust is difficult to establish and easy to lose.

Last week I did a very small promotion (you may not have even really noticed it) for Chris Guillebeau’s Empire Building Kit. I don’t know how well too many other affiliates did, but my results exceeded expectations. I wouldn’t be surprised if I outperformed bloggers with much larger (but not as bad ass!) fan bases than mine. (The 4,000 word Anatomy of a 4 Figure Affiliate Promotion case study will be in How To Live Anywhere.)

And the reason for that success is simple: trust.

Whether you bought the Kit or not, thank you for being here.

I really do appreciate the fact that you trust me. I work hard to keep that trust. Actually, I’m borderline obsessed with establishing and growing your trust in me.

I have big plans for the future of Ridiculously Extraordinary (speaking to high school and college students and writing a series of print books, among other things) and they won’t happen without you.

How To Establish Trust In An Age Of Skepticism

If you’re starting a business or blog or trying to establish yourself in an industry, you can guarantee your success by being trustworthy.

Here’s how:

1) Provide value.

Sometimes those words come across as empty. Or maybe just confusing. How do you provide value? At its essence, it’s simple: be a problem solver.

If you solve problems you will not only be well paid but well liked and well lived.

How do you find problems to solve? Ask, listen, and pay attention to your people.

If you’ve been here for a while you know that I never planned on monetizing this blog or creating products. This was my passion project. But after getting well over a hundred e-mails asking how to do what I do, I decided to solve the problem by creating How To Live Anywhere. That way I can still write about whatever I want to write about here, but if you’re interested in learning how to do exactly what I do you can go there.

2) State your own opinions and ideas.

There are too many people simply rehashing thoughts and ideas. And while you might think that some of my ideas aren’t necessarily unique, I do put my own spin on them. I don’t agree with everybody about everything, even many of my peers who I respect. You don’t earn trust or respect by being a pushover lapdog.

3) Help others.

It doesn’t matter if you’re interacting with someone “famous” or not, treat them well. Help them when and where you can. Yes, it does suck getting the same type of e-mail 10, 20, 100 times per day. If you have to, create stock responses, but sheesh, at least respond. If someone takes time out of their day to contact you, to pour their heart out to you, is it really so difficult to get back to them?

There are a handful of mind bogglingly successful (and busy) people I have e-mailed who personally responded with thoughtful responses. (And I’m not referring to Gary V.) If they can do it, so can you.

4) Showcase your true personality.

This goes along with state your own opinions and ideas.

Bill O’Reilly is a douchebag, but the reason he has such a devoted following is because he has personality. Sure it might be a hateful, abhorable, cantakerous personality, but it’s a personality. And lots of people connect with it. Then people like me write about it even though we don’t want him to get even more free publicity. ;)

You have a personality. It’s interesting to your right people. Make sure they can see it!

In a recent CopyBlogger article, Johnny B. Truant talks about his alter-ego. I’m not advocating copying Johnny’s approach directly because it’s difficult to pull off, but let the passion in your art, heart, and mind shine.

I liken it to a comedian who is funny in public, but just a “regular person” in private. Fans expect comedians to be “on” all the time, but they’re not. That’s not the art. The art is standing up on stage and making a room full of people forget about their problems (see what I did there?) and laugh.

Your blog, your public persona, is your stage. Dominate that stage. Trust in that stage. In return, your audience will trust that you deserve to be on that stage.

5) If you tell someone you’re going to do something, do it.

Being a man/woman of your word is the ultimate showcase of your trustworthiness. You will be forgiven if you make mistakes, or if you’re late or you realize you just can’t make something happen. But if you make failing people a habit the trust will diminish. Quickly.

6) Be cool.

You’re a leader for your audience. And you’re probably in the audience of a leader (or leaders). Treat your audience the way you want to be treated. Before taking any action think to yourself “Is this cool of me or not?”

Success does change people, whether they want to admit it or not. I’ve seen it so many times, with myself and my peers, that I know it’s true. But success is more than just a catalyst for change, success actually brings out the real you. If you come to find out the real you is a greedy sack of depression (that’s what I found out 5-6 years ago) you can take steps to change that and just be cool. (These days I’m a fun loving sack of ping pong balls!)

7) Provide value.

In the mid-90s J Yuenger, guitarist from the band White Zombie, had a monthly article in Guitar World magazine. Every month he offered advice to musicians and bands who hadn’t yet made it. One piece of advice: if you have a song that your fans love, open and close with it. Open with a bang, close with a bang. (Yes, my brain does remember everything.)

Providing value is so important I’m opening and closing this list with it.

Your business, your brand (I don’t really like that word, but it gets the point across), boils down to this …

Without trust, what are you left with?

Sweet Shit Saturday #007 (Singing In The Rain Edition)

It has been a rainy time in Poland thus far, but it’s looking up! Lots of good stuff this week. Watching TV, creating raving fans, passionate living, relationships, creating high quality content, and more …

Minus the singing, plus lots of rain.

It has been rainy (and floody) and cold most of my time in Poland thus far. It’s warming up a bit now.

Hey, I have an idea –> instead of me babbling about the weather like some lame dude trying to pick up some hot chick (or a hot dude, whatever, it’s cool), let’s get right into the …

swt lnks:

Are You Living The Dream or Chasing It? by some dude with a girl’s name that he tells everybody is Karl

“Hey Karol, WTF are you doing linking to your own post here when I already read it on Monday?!”

Wait, wait, let me explain! :) There was a lot of resistance to the tests in this article. It kind of made me sad just how much resistance there was to the no TV watching thing. Originally I made the tests 30 day tests, but I removed the sentence mentioning that before posting. I think maybe that’s where all the resistance comes from. It’s difficult to think about quitting a TV addiction forever. 30 days? No problem. Forever? Youz a crazy mofo dude with the girl’s name!

The point of the article was to get back to basics. To be mindful of how we’re spending time and how we’re wasting time. To be mindful of what is going into our bodies and enjoy the process instead of scarfing something down as quickly as possible. To actively seek knowledge.

I do eat at restaurants, sometimes. I do watch TV. That’s mostly a lie because it’s a rare occurrence, but I can’t state that I absolutely never watch. And I don’t read books every single day. Also rare, but there are days when I don’t actually pick up a book.

You can officially consider the tests 30 day tests. But you will never, ever, not in this lifetime (what other lifetime is there?) convince me that TV is productive or useful. I had an interesting thought about that …

The people who create TV shows spend more time creating TV shows than watching TV shows. Why? Because they’re living their dreams, not chasing them. Thoughts?

How to use Personality to Build a Loyal Audience and Create Raving Fans — with Naomi Dunford by Corbett Barr

I paid for a consultation with Naomi last week. Naomi is not cheap. And I don’t mean that in the sleazy red light district way. Wait … I mean … hmmm … how do I dig myself out of this one? Got it –> You can get some of Naomi’s sweet sweet … info! … frrrreeeeeeee in this interview on ThinkTraffic.

ThatTravelSpark.com by Shannon Albert

Cool new travel tip blog (with video!) that Shannon just launched. She has already added lots of content and is adding more regularly. If you have a family I think this site will be especially useful because Shannon has a husband and 2 kids and has a lot of experience traveling with the whole crew. Shannon and I disagree about cheap ponchos. Does that mean anything to you? It shouldn’t. Probably just check out the site and have a look-see before I go off on more tangents.

Lack of Content is a Lazy Excuse by Pat Flynn

“You should never have nothing to write about.” If you have nothing to write about you’re probably forcing yourself into the “wrong” niche because you’re chasing money or fame or something of that sort. I have about 30,000 words of content in backlog for this blog and it just doesn’t stop pouring out of me. I refuse to post more than 3 times/week though. :)

Passionate Living Guide by Henri Junttila

I interviewed Henri about how he earns money while living anywhere for How To Live Anywhere (coming June 8!). Henri’s an awesome dude who has been known to watch a lot of Los Simpsons lately to practice his Spanish. Damn, I guess TV can be educational. I take back everything I said earlier. (No, I don’t. TV drools, avocado rules!) He just released this sweet guide for $9.95. If you enter coupon code ‘freedom’ you get 25% off for the next week. Booya! (Just doing my thing and hooking you up!) Who the guide is not for: if you’re already living a passionate life, then rock! You’re all good. Who the guide is for: if you’re stuckified this guide can help. You know, you’re just not quite on the path in life you wish you were on. That type of thing. It does not have all the answers. Nothing does, nothing ever will. It’s 92 pages and full of lots of content.

Tim Ferriss Scam! Practical Tactics For Dealing With Haters by Tim Ferriss

Man, I really wish Tim’s site worked in Chrome (also known as Better Than Your Browser Unless Your Browser Is Chrome). But then again, there are a lot of sites that don’t. Step up your games people! This commentary has nothing at all to do with this post by Tim, but I had to get it off my chest. As much flack (flak? flaq? flac? Aflac?) as Tim gets, he has inspired many people, including myself. And the dude deserves all the success and acclaim he has received.

Proof You Can Create High Quality Content With No Money by The Swellers

The link above is to a video called Fire Away by my friends and tour mates The Swellers. You’ll notice that the video looks like something that might be on MTV if MTV still played videos. I won’t tell you how much they spent on the video, but let’s just say you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. :)

The key for them was relationships. Over the years they built up a lot of relationships with people and were able to call in favors. Take away: relationships are how you build a business as well.

Language Hacking Guide by Benny Lewis

Benny rocks it. I linked to this on Monday, and I’m linking to it again. I’ve linked to Benny a bunch of times before and I’m sure I’ll link to him in the future. Dude rules. Yes, I get paid if you buy the Language Hacking Guide. If you don’t want me to get paid just go to www.languagehacking.com and buy it and give Benny all those sweet sweet duckets (cash, skrilla, bills, bread, dough, cabbage, you get the point). It don’t matter (how’s my grammar?). If you’ve tried and failed at learning languages before, follow Benny’s advice already. Or don’t. :)

Special shout out to @norcross (andrewnorcross.com) for fixing my Thesis theme (aff) when I upgraded it and it didn’t look quite right about 20 minutes ago. :)

Questions/comments/wanna bake jelly filled donut cupcakes and tell me your deepest darkest secrets? You know what to do …

Is Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom Possible At A Day Job?

In which I talk about the possibility of day jobs *and* freedom. What? It’s inside …

“Understanding that your job is to make something happen changes what you do all day.” – Seth Godin in Linchpin

The answer is yes, Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom is possible with a day job.

Surprised?

Here’s why: Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom means you are able to do what you want to do, but are not forced to do anything you don’t want to do. If you want a day job, if that is Freedom to you, then it’s all good.

A couple months ago I created a list on twitter: http://twitter.com/KarolGajda/only-person-id-work-for

It’s the only list I’ve created thus far and it consists of exactly one person: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, HDNet, Landmark Theatres, blogger at BlogMaverick.com, and all around bad ass.

And when I mean I’d work for Mark Cuban, I mean if he wanted me to clean his house or scrub the floor of the American Airlines Center, as long as I had access to his brain in some way, I’d do it. (There’s the rub!)

I know I would learn a lot from him. I know I could execute a lot of ideas for his businesses that others wouldn’t be willing to try. And I also know it would be hard work, but fun as hell.

But let’s get off that for a moment because, well, although I would accept if Mr. Cuban contacted me, I’m not looking to get my first job since the year 2000. :)

Where this is coming from: I’m currently working on the anti sales letter for How To Live Anywhere and it starts with a story of two of my friends.

One of them, who makes a very nice amount of money online in only a few hours (usually less than 10) per week (*ahem* thanks to my teachings), doesn’t want to quit his job. I think that’s awesome. He has the option, the Freedom, but he likes his job, so why quit?

It’s almost the ultimate Freedom: knowing that the second he doesn’t like his job he doesn’t have to worry about what he’ll do. He can move on.

When To Stay and When To Kill a Day Job

If you have a business that is generating enough cash to live on and you hate your job, you quit.

If you have a business that is not generating anything, and you hate your job, and you have no savings, you stay. And you get your ass in gear to start generating that cash!

If you have a business that is generating some cash, but if you worked on it harder you could ramp it up, and you hate your job, you quit. And you get your ass in gear to start generating more cash!

If you have a business that is generating some cash, but if you worked on it harder you could ramp it up, and you love your job, you stay … and reevaluate that decision when your business is generating job replacing income.

Or if you’re Dave Navarro, you wait until your business is rocking so hard you’d be crazy not to quit your high level management day job.

Your Turn …

Seriously think about this: What is Freedom to you? I write so much about Freedom, but I don’t think I’ve ever directly asked you what your version of Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom looks like. I’m excited to read what you have to write!

Are You Living The Dream or Chasing It?

Is it difficult to be happy if you’re chasing dreams? Yes. How to start living them …

I cracked a big dopey smile while in my almost free Business Class Finnair seat last week. (I’ve caught myself doing this often in the past 8 months.)

Heading back to my birthplace (Wroclaw, Poland), it hit me again that I’m living my dreams. I wrote down the question “Are you living the dream or chasing it?” in my notebook and reflected on that for an hour while dozing off to sleep.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, wiser (ha!), or what it is exactly, but I love my life. Which is interesting, because growing up my only goal in life was to own lots of sweet shit and have lots of money.

So I chased the dream.

When I “chased the dream” and acquired a BMW, a bunch of guitars, a big screen TV, a 2,500 sq foot home (WTF, I’m single!), and all the other trappings of the “good life” I was depressed.

I was 24 and should have been living it up.

But I was horribly depressed.

Hard for anybody to understand unless they’ve been there depressed. What I mean is, it wasn’t just a week or two of feeling sad.

It was years of “just get it over with and end it” darkness.

When I finally started getting down to what I really wanted in life (some time in late 2007/early 2008) I began to see the light. It was a slow, but beautiful, process.

No matter where you are in life, you can make steps towards living your dreams right now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. Today.

First Step: How Stop Chasing The Dream

I’m a “do it or don’t” type of person. I know almost anything can be broken down into black/white, good/bad, right/wrong, easy/difficult.

If somebody were to ask me how to stop chasing the dream, I would give them the following series of tests. These tests are about getting back to basics.

They seemingly have nothing to do with dreams, but I promise they will force you to focus on what’s important.

When you’re focused on what’s important you’re no longer chasing dreams.

This test is difficult. If living your dreams instead of chasing them is worth anything to you that won’t matter.

But you’re free to quit right now. If you read on and don’t actually follow through on the test you’re just wasting your time.

Test #1: Cancel Cable TV and don’t watch free TV

Life Lesson #76: Stop watching so much TV.

Unless your dream is to be a screenwriter TV is getting in the way of you living your dreams. Why? Too many reasons to list, but the strongest is that watching TV conditions you, in a mostly subtle way, to want.

I’m not referring to the advertising (although that doesn’t help matters), but the actual content. It’s poison.

That includes the “news.” Watching the news seems to make people feel cultured. That’s bullshit. The news is a waste of your time and you’re getting nothing of value from it. Except maybe fodder for depressing “watercooler” arguments.

Any important news you really need to know you will hear about somehow, someway, while you’re living your dreams.

If you need more reasons to stop watching TV check out Joshua Becker’s “Ten Reasons to Watch Less Television.”

Test #2: Stop eating out

Completely.

If you’re interested in a healthy lifestyle (for yourself, the planet, the future) you’ll cut out meat and dairy, but that’s not what this is about.

This is about living the dream. And living the dream means you respect yourself.

Eating fast food is disrespectful to your mind and body.

Whatever you want to eat, prepare it yourself.

– No pre-mixed sauces

– No preservative-laden microwaveable shit-boxes

– No frozen dinners

– No store bought soda pop or booze

Eat whatever you want, but prepare it yourself. Want cookies? Bake them. Want potato chips? Fry them. (It’s not healthy, but you’ll appreciate and savor them more than fast food fries.) Want an extravagant 7 course meal? Make it.

The point of this test is to be mindful of what you’re fueling your body with. I’m willing to bet 99% of Western Civilation can’t pass this test. Be that 1%.

You’ll be thrilled with how good you feel when you fuel your body with nutrients instead of garbage.

Test #3: Read.

Books. (Life Lesson #25: Successful people read books.)

Every day.

Ridiculously Extraordinary People are in a constant search for knowledge.

I have a strong feeling that if you’re in the 1% that passes Test #2 you already read books. If you don’t, it might be something to consider. :)

It doesn’t matter what kind of books. Choose subjects that interest you. And every once in a while choose subjects you know nothing about. New languages. New cultures. New sciences. New people.

Some of my favorite books are autobiographies. Even autobiographies of people I’m not particularly interested in. I love learning other people’s life stories, especially when it’s directly from their mouths.

Second Step: How To Live The Dream

Before you can ever get to the point of living your dreams you have to stop chasing dreams. Get back to basics as in Step One and don’t worry if you’re not ready for this step yet.

The Honest Truth About Dreams

I didn’t mean to lead you on, but the truth is I can’t tell you exactly how to live your dreams. They’re yours. And that’s an important point. Don’t let anybody force their dreams for you onto you. Nobody knows what’s best for you. Not your Parents, not your friends, not your teachers, and not me.

If you’re unhappy in any way with your life the first thing you have to realize is that nothing will change overnight. It’s a process. I don’t know how long it will be for you, but just know that progress may be slow. It may take years like it did for me. Accept that. Take action.

No matter how difficult it is, remember this: the dream, your dream, is attainable.

A Great Example of Someone Living The Dream

Somebody who I know is living the dream is Benny Lewis. You’ve probably seen me mention him quite a few times in the past couple months. Benny has been traveling the world for 7 years and learning lots of new languages (7 and counting!). Hence his moniker The Irish Polyglot. I have the utmost respect for what Benny is doing with his goal to help bring language learning to the masses by making it accessible and fun. I spoke to him on Skype for about 30 minutes a couple weeks ago and the passion that comes across in his writing I could also hear in his voice.

Benny is releasing his 7 years-in-the-making Language Hacking Guide today. I had a chance to read a pre-release copy and I’m excited to start using Benny’s language hacking methods to help me learn Polish better. If you’re at all interested in learning languages, without stuffy high school or University home work assignments, I highly recommend you check out the Language Hacking Guide here.

Sweet Shit Saturday #006 (Into The Wild Edition)

Another wonderful Saturday full of Empire building, getting access to big shots, a bankruptcy thought exercise, one of my favorite authors, and more …

As you know if you read Thursday’s article I’ve been hanging out 50km outside of Wroclaw, Poland. To get more specific, I’m basically in the middle of nowhere. There are not many people here. Very few cars pass by the house. It’s quiet. It’s serene. I love it. But I’m a bigger city person and am back in Wroclaw as of about 37 minutes ago. :)

Let’s get right into the sweet, sweet, links!

Empire Building Kit by Chris Guillebeau

This was first launched last month and is being re-released for 24 hours Tuesday. During the first release last month I bought the middle option … I think it’s called Hail Caesar. :) I’ll be sending more insider info about building Empires to the Freedom Fighters on Tuesday. So if you’re thinking about buying this, wait for that e-mail to find out:

a) Whether you should or shouldn’t spend your hard earned dollars. (It’s not for everybody, and it may not be for you.)
b) What I like and don’t like.  (Nothing is perfect, and nothing has all the answers.)
c) How to build an empire without spending a lot of money. (Yes, it is possible.)
d) A bonus I’m not revealing publicly. (Sweet, sweet, bonus!)

If you’re not already a Freedom Fighter sign up below this article or to the right on the sidebar and look out for an e-mail on Tuesday with the subject: “[FF] – Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Letting Go of Attachment, from A To Zen by Lori Deschene

Lori usually writes on TinyBuddha.com, but here she hits us with a great article on ZenHabits.net. I’m a practitioner of detachment although that wasn’t always the case. My favorite part of this article is G, Go it alone sometimes. I know far too many people who don’t know how to hang out with themselves for 5 minutes, much less a longer period of time, and it’s important to grasp this concept.

6 Steps That Get Big Shots To Answer Your E-mail by Pace Smith

I’m a fan of big shots answering their e-mail. :) And you’ll see that Pace states many of the same things I stated in Fear of Competition Is Bullshit (or Why Competition Is Your Friend). Most importantly, keep it short and on point.

I’m Going Bankrupt by Jonathan Volk

Jonathan is not really going bankrupt. In fact, he has pulled in over $1,000,000 in revenue using just Facebook Ads in the past 10 months. No, this article is a thought exercise. “What would happen if I went bankrupt?” The most important point in this article is “focus.” I’ve been paying attention to Jonathan for a couple of years. He’s a smart dude. :)

The Difference: Living Well vs Doing Well by Rolf Potts

Before I state anything else you should know that I think Rolf Potts may just be the greatest author/writer/putter-of-words-to-paper of my generation. His book Vagabonding got my ass in gear to explore the world. His other book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is a beautiful insight into the genius behind his writing. Actually, that’s all I’m going to write. Go read this article, and go read his books! ;) (I give out Vagabonding as a gift like it’s candy. Seriously, go to the library or Amazon or eBay or Paperbackswap and read it.)

That’s all for this week. This coming Monday’s article is about living your dreams vs chasing dreams. I wrote the first draft in Cairns, Australia 6 months ago, but never felt comfortable posting it. You’ll see why … or maybe it’s all just in my head! :) See you soon …

How To Climb (or What I Learned From A Pair Of Rambunctious 5 Year Olds)

An important lesson I learned from my 5 year old nieces …

The past few days I’ve been 50km outside of Wroclaw, Poland playing with my 5 year old twin nieces (+ 3 cats and a dog) for 12 hours/day. (Children don’t get tired?)

Being that I don’t have kids and don’t know many people who have kids I can’t say I’ve ever been impressed by them.

But watching these kids live and play has taught me a few things.

Most importantly, to get what we want, we have to be willing to climb.

For a child trying to get to the cereal in a cupboard 10 feet high, this is literal. Most of us have less tangible obstacles, but they’re obstacles none-the-less.

Just like children sometimes we’ll slip and fall. If we get up and climb again we’ll eventually make it to the top.

Is there something currently stopping you from reaching your peak?

It’s simple: channel your inner child and start climbing.

On Changing Your Mind (or Don’t Be Afraid To Kill Good Ideas)

The origins of this Web site and when to kill a good idea …

Sometimes, when we have a good idea and get to work on it, we see that idea through even though it might not be our best idea.

In late March of 2009 I had an idea for a blog. I bought a domain name, got a few different logos designed, wrote content, and had the site almost ready to go …

That site was TRVLGR.com. TravelGear without the vowels.

It was going to be a weekly travel gear review and travel tips site. Benefits would be three-fold. One: I’d get free travel gear. Two: I’d get to test said free travel gear. Three: I’d get to connect with bloggers.

I didn’t plan on writing the blog to make money. (Sound familiar?)

A New Idea

By now it was the end of May 2009 and I was getting close to launching. And then … I had a new idea for a blog that I felt really passionate about. It would be about inspiring people. Helping people. And connecting with people.

That is what you’re reading right now.

Once I had the idea for Ridiculously Extraordinary (I didn’t have the name yet, just the concept), I immediately dropped TRVLGR, and got to work again.

If you look in the early archives of this site you can see a couple articles that were originally written for TRVLGR:

Zero The Hero or How To Pay 0% Credit Card Transaction Fees When Travel Outside The US

Powder Is For Babies (or How I Keep My Only Pair Of Shoes From Smelling Like Boiled Rat Piss On Extended Trips)

When I had the idea for Ridiculously Extraordinary it was like a fire was lit under my ass. I spent all of June 2009 writing, writing, writing at least 1,000 words/day. Sometimes upwards of 3,000. It was all coming so easily and it reinforced that I made the right decision. (Now in hindsight I’m definitely sure I made the right decision.)

Don’t Be Afraid To Kill Good Ideas

My point is, don’t be afraid to kill a good idea when you have a better idea.

But here’s the rub: don’t make that a habit.

Some of us jump from “good idea” to “good idea” and never get anything done.

That’s not at all what I’m advocating. What I’m advocating is to focus all your energies on an idea until you see it through or until a fire is lit under your ass for a better idea. This won’t happen often.

If I would have launched TRVLGR.com it would probably currently be languishing amongst millions of other blogs. The passion would have died. I’m not passionate about writing travel gear reviews, although it is fun every once in a while.

Should You Continue With Your Idea Or Kill It?

This is a difficult question to answer.

If you’re truly passionate about something you won’t give much thought to trying something else.

Since launching RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com I’ve had tons of ideas for other Web sites, but none of them hold a candle. I’m having too much fun with this to do something else. More than that, I’m not going to stretch myself thin and start another project in addition to this one. Focus is as important as passion.

How about you: how do you handle all the ideas that come to you? Do you try every single idea hoping something sticks? Do you focus on just one until it’s a failure or success? I’m interested in your idea vetting process …

Sweet Shit Saturday #005 (In Transit Edition)

In which I talk about my time in Chiang Mai and announce last week’s contest winners …

Today my time in Chiang Mai came to an end. I’m actually at the BKK (Bangkok) airport right now waiting for my 00:15 flight to Helsinki and then to Warszawa and then to Wroclaw. I flew to BKK from CNX just a bit ago. This is my least favorite part of traveling. Transitions, yuck.

That said, I LOVE flying. I even love when there’s turbulence. I don’t know what it is. Something about being high in the sky like a bird with one eye. (WHAT?!)

But I only love flying when it’s just 1 flight. 4 flights, with hours upon hours of layovers between them is not my cup of genmai cha tea (<– so help me I love this tea). Flying Business Class helps a lot, but 34 hours of transition isn’t very fun no matter how you slice it. (Can you slice transitions? Something to think about.)

Biggityback to the story at hand. I love Chiang Mai. If it wasn’t for the pollution I would consider living there for longer than just 34 nights. :) I’m told right now (April/May) is the worst time to be there pollution-wise because of all the burning (rice crops) going on. Actually, a lot of people leave during these months and come back when the worst is over.

I’m heading out to see family that I haven’t seen in 4 years! Somehow I bought about 423,974 gifts and managed to pack them in my tiny bags. I’m not much of a shopper, but I had two 5 year olds and a 13 year old to buy sweet shit for and who doesn’t like getting something cool from a faraway land?

As I mentioned last week, I shut down HowToLiveAnywhere.com sales until June 8. I’m revamping and re-releasing and have lots of amazingly awesome good-looking extraordinary people involved. I’m looking forward to this and I hope you enjoy the process with me. I’m unsure exactly how to make it fun if you already purchased or don’t ever plan on it (no worries, I still love you!), but I’ll do my best to not bore you or inundate you with shitty sales messages. :) (That said, I probably will mention HTLA a lot.)

Contest Winners!!!

If you entered last week’s Loksak contest, thanks! Lots of awesome travel tips and stories. Unfortunately, if you didn’t follow the rules (travel tip/story must be 5 sentences or less) you were disqualified. :( (If you added additional non-tip commentary or whatever I let that slide.)

I’m a stickler for these kinds of rules.

Quick story, you may have heard how in their tour riders Van Halen would request a bowl of M&Ms with NO browns. It’s not because they were assholes. It’s because they knew if this odd request wasn’t taken care of then the promoter wasn’t paying attention to more important things.

Sometimes, like when entering a contest or jumping out of an airplane, paying attention to and following the rules is necessary.

I used Random.org to pick the winning comments. I videotaped the selection process just in case there is some legal controversy. :) But I’m not posting that video, because who wants to watch that?! (Plus uploading videos in Thailand has been near impossible. Although, as you’ll see in a bit, I was able to upload 1 short one.)

Package #1 winner: Comment #19 by Yael

“Hi, I wish we had aLoksak bags when we went to 2-days trip in Nachal Yehudia (Israel). We knew we’re gonna walk in water, but didn’t think it’s going to be so deep… Well, wet bread is not so tasty…”

Package #2 winner: Comment #22 by Jeanie

“If you want to commit suicide upon returning from a vacation, your life is too stressful. Take Karol, Leo, Adam and Everett’s advice, simplify, and redesign your life to reflect what YOU want vs. social conditioning. Always take the opportunity to connect with fellow people-I helped a woman with MS in her wheelchair get on a luckily delayed flight back from Vegas, and damn, it felt good!”

Package #3 winner: Comment #60 by Joe

“My tip – NEVER NEVER NEVER book hotel for more than one night – you will always find better deal when you arrived. More – hotel restorants aren’t the best in terms of quality for your buck.”

Congrats to you 3! And if you didn’t win, thank you for entering! I don’t know that I’ll do contests often, but I enjoyed reading all the tips/stories.

(To the winners: You all should have received an e-mail from me by now. If not, contact me (KarolGajda AT Gmail DOT com). Make sure to include your mailing address.)

Onward with this week’s sw-sw-sw-sw-sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet liiiiiiiinnnnnkkkkksssssss …

Write Your Own Life: It’s Easy To Leave Hollywood by Melissa Gorzelanczyk

Great interview with a newlywed couple who were grinding it out in LA and decided to up and move to Mexico. Boom! More proof that anybody can break free if they want to.

Always Split Test by Brian Evans

I’m interviewing Brian for How To Live Anywhere (coming June 8th!) just as soon as we can get our schedules lined up. :) In this article he helps a homeless man double his money. You seriously just have to read this.

Dear part of me who thinks that if something good happens, something bad must follow… by Havi Brooks

I love Havi’s writing, but just to warn you: if it’s your first exposure to her you will have to dive in for a bit to really figure out what she’s talking about. Metaphor Mouse runs rampant! :)

27 Tips For First-Time Traveler’s To Thailand by Cody McKibben

Fitting, since I’m leaving Thailand today. :) If you’re ever plan on visiting give this page a read/bookmark. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to meet up with Cody since when I was in Bangkok last time he was out exploring the country. Another time. :)

The Most Empowering Post You Will Ever Read by Henri Junttila

I’m a fan of ballsy titles. I’m also a fan of articles that deliver good shit. This one does.

SMYM Dance Contest – Participant #4 – Karol – by Jenny McCoy

Hmm, I wonder if it’s me, or some other Karol? ;)

That’s it for this week. Next week’s SSS #006 will come to you live from Wroclaw, Poland!

Questions/comments/can I have this dance? You know what to do …