Our biggest obstacles are usually our own fears and insecurities. They are the biggest roadblock to get over.We’re usually afraid of one of three things when you get down to the roots:1. Fear of failure2. Fear of success3. Fear of changeWe typically resist making any change until the pain of making the change is less than the pain of not making the change. To make change, we must make it painful to not make it.

The Obstacle Known As Fear

What You Don't Do Doesn't Matter.

<ul><li>If you can’t pay for something now in cash, don’t buy it</li><li>Time is more valuable than money.</li><li>Don’t cut expenses, earn more money.</li><li>Work towards financial independence, but never retire.</li></ul>

Personal Finance: Basic Rules

By giving you a bunch of options, gatekeepers make you think you’re completely free to choose, but you’re really limited to what choices they give you.The stuff that really matters to you is often left out. In order to see what’s really possible, you have to challenge the rules those gatekeepers set for you.

Options: The Illusion Of Freedom

<ul><li>Your own competence is the best job security you can have.</li><li>Most gatekeepers just give you the illusion of freedom, so challenge them to really get what you want.</li><li>Produce work that will outlive you and make the world a better place.</li></ul>

Key Lessons From The Book

“Asking “why?” to everything like a three-year-old is helpful in making sure you don’t jump off the bridge without at least considering the alternatives.Whenever you find yourself confronted by a request, obligation, or expectation you don’t like, it helps to look carefully for the motivations and rationale behind what you hear.”The Art of Non-Conformity teaches you how to play life by your own rules by giving you practical glimpses into the world of self-employment, a new approach to travel, to-do list minimalism and conscious spending habits.

Non-Conformity: The Premise

Plan and execute a one year, self directed, alternative graduate school where you broaden your life horizon. A few examples:<ul><li>Acquire at least three new skills during your year. Suggestions: photography, skydiving, computer programming, martial arts.  Cost: variable, but each skill is probably less than three credits of tuition would be at a university.</li><li>Read at least 30 nonfiction books and 20 classic novels. Cost: approximately $ 750 (can be reduced or eliminated by using the library).</li></ul>

Do Stuff That Others Usually Don't

Most of us don’t want to chill on a beach for the rest of our life, we want to work on something meaningful to us.We need to create some idea of our own “ideal life.”Here are some ways:<ul><li>Write out what a perfect day looks like to you in excruciating detail. Then assess what needs to change to help you get there.</li><li>Create a life goal list, like a bucket list, to give yourself some direction around what you want to accomplish.</li></ul>

The Remarkable Life

<ul><li>When you can think in terms of abundance or scarcity, think in terms of abundance.</li><li>If you’re unsure about taking a leap of faith, take it.</li><li>You can have unlimited dreams and goals but not priorities.</li></ul>

Live An Interesting Life

<ul><li>To exclude everything unnecessary from the life you want:</li><li>Eliminate the unnecessary distractions. Ask yourself “why should I do this?” and “what will happen if I don’t?”</li><li>Come up with the 3-5 things that most drain your energy right now and stop doing them.</li></ul>

The Power of Convergence

<ul><li>Becoming an entrepreneur or small business owner. Showing yourself you can run a blog and make $2,000/month from it and do work enjoy will sure boost your confidence.</li><li>Setting your own rules at work, for example by visiting art exhibitions in your lunch break or moving to a lower-paying job on purpose with more opportunities to develop.</li></ul>

Show Yourself That You Are Non-Conformist

Chances are, a life that’s built around you and you alone won’t really make you happy in the long run. That’s where legacy work comes in. It’s what happens when you use your unique skills to help others in a way, which would’ve been impossible without your contribution, and leaves a lasting impact.Once you know what your legacy work can be about, set a metric to measure your progress with it, for example 1,000 words a day, 1 hour of work on your charity publishing a blog post every day.

Produce Work That’ll Live Longer than You Do

The Art of Non-Conformity teaches you how to play life by your own rules by giving you practical glimpses into the world of self-employment, a new approach to travel, to-do list minimalism and conscious spending habits.

If you've ever thought, "There must be more to life than this," The Art of Non-Conformity is for you. Based on Chris Guillebeau's popular online manifesto "A Brief Guide to World Domination," The Art of Non-Conformity defies common assumptions about life and work while arming you with the tools to live differently. You'll discover how to live on your own terms by exploring creative self-employment, radical goal-setting, contrarian travel, and embracing life as a constant adventure. Inspired and guided by Chris's own story and those of others who have pursued unconventional lives, you can devise your own plan for world domination-and make the world a better place at the same time.

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Personal Development

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Motivation & Inspiration

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Books

If you've ever thought, "There must be more to life than this," The Art of Non-Conformity is for you.Based on Chris Guillebeau's popular online manifesto "A Brief Guide to World Domination," The Art of Non-Conformity defies common assumptions about life and work while arming you with the tools to live differently. You'll discover how to live on your own terms by exploring creative self-employment, radical goal-setting, contrarian travel, and embracing life as a constant adventure.Inspired and guided by Chris's own story and those of others who have pursued unconventional lives, you can devise your own plan for world domination-and make the world a better place at the same time.

Chris Guillebeau is the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup and other books. During a lifetime of self-employment, he visited every country in the world (193 in total) before his 35th birthday. Every summer in Portland, Oregon he hosts the World Domination Summit, a gathering of creative, remarkable people. Chris also hosts Side Hustle School, a popular podcast that is downloaded more than 2 million times a month.