Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity comes out with his third book, The Happiness of Pursuit. This book is all about finding meaning through engaging in quests that matter – first to the quester, then to the world.
Watch the video for more.
I’m giving away several copies of The Happiness of Pursuit here. By Monday September 22nd, please leave a comment below answering this question:
What quest are you on right now and what’s important about it for you?
First, welcome home. Heard your webinar yesterday with KC. Excellent. Now my quest is that I’m planning my first solo trip to Europe for next spring. I’m going to England, maybe for 2 weeks, maybe a month, maybe Amsterdam too. I’m working on the itinerary now. I really want, really need to see if I can do this and not change my mind. I’ve sent my 2 girls off to France and Germany several times, told them to just go for it, all the while saying, well, they can but I can’t. Wrong. So I started another blog on my site, http://www.bobbirubinstein.com I’m taking it a step at a time. My husband and kids are on board with it. I gotta break out of this exburb bubble and see if I can live on my own, again, somewhere else.
I love the line where you said/he said – the quest is important to the quester and then to the rest of the world. I think that’s how a lot of us wind up finding our tribe. We want something, so we go do it or look for it or create it because we can’t find it, and then it turns out that lots of other people want it too. Anyway, I’d love to read the book as I venture forth on MY quest to only work nine months a year (without being a school teacher!) 🙂
Hi Cynthia,
My quest at the moment is to “Downsize”. I’ve been preparing our property for sale, where I’ve lived for 38 years. Without this move we can’t move onto the next phase in life, where we will buy a smaller house, easy care, buy a motorhome and go travelling around the little backroads of New Zealand. I intend to give free clown shows to country kids (and adults) where ever I go……my future quest is to have fun and make people smile and be creative!
Namaste
Jimu
My quest is to find meaningful work I can do which brings in plenty of money to live on and plenty of time and energy so I can pursue my fiction writing (finished the first draft of the novel, Cynthia!). Yes, it would be lovely to make a living out of fiction but the reality is that very few do. My biggest challenge, my dragon to tame (I don’t slay dragons – like ’em too much), is finding quests that matter to me AND the world. If they matter to me, they tend not to matter to the world (e.g. my now defunct acting career) and if they matter to the world, they tend not to matter to me (e.g. my aborted attempt at being a life coach).
I’m on a quest to discover what I’m passionate about in life, what makes me come alive, what do I want to be when I grow up. It’s important to know that because there is a restlessness going on inside of me nudging me and saying “There’s more to your life than this”.
I’m on a quest to learn to live life on my own terms without worrying about the opinions and expectations of others. This is important to me because I’ve spent my whole life being a people-pleaser. Now that my children are grown, I’ve realized that I need to learn how to please myself! It’s time to begin to pursue my own dreams!
I am on a quest right now to allow myself to experience happiness again after a long period of grieving for the loss of a beloved family member. It is important to me because I feel that my very survival depends on it.
Thanks for sharing ,and your generosity
Sep 20th 2014
My quest is to find to venues by march 2014 and start teaching my creative program.
I been an artist all my life ..and study human development for many years,
Love to be a contribution to others
And i love to meet you personally one day.
love your energy and enthusiasem.
Best wishes
Take care and keep well
iris
My quest is to develop my love for painting and to “come out” and share it with the world NOW. I signed up to be in an Art Market this next weekend with the local arts association, also posting on an e commerce site and am also taking a painting class in fine arts. These actions both represent big leaps for me since I’ve only really known myself as a coach and trainer. I know that my love and appreciation for nature and beauty contribute to others.
I am totally inspired by your work Cynthia and courage to always be stepping out. Original Impulse is such a good name for your site. I feel the permission to be me and that my original expression will be good enough!
I can’t wait to read Chris’s book. I follow his accounts of travel and have a goal to travel more to countries outside the US.
My quest is to help more people learn to remember and record their unique significant life passages, and use their personal stories to connect and engage with others in a more authentic way. I believe everyone’s story matters, and too many people die with their music still in them. I hate seeing these experiences of life’s journey extinguished. So I’m on a quest to create a movement that inspires others to capture their truths as a leave-behind legacy. One sentence, a few words, a brief video, a blog post, an infographic… there are so many ways to inspire and to be seen. Modern media offers great tools for sharing our histories; one doesn’t need to have a goal of publishing. Everyone can do this. We can do this!
I started to bind books in 2006 because I couldn’t find a watercolor sketchbook that I liked. I then developed a plan to research and make one classic book structure per month in 2013, and actually made two or more copies each month. Now I’m taking a 15 week basic bookbinding class to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I think I’m trying to save the physical structure of books – one book at a time – as my way of holding off a complete takeover by e-readers. My quest: Long live books!
Thanks, everyone for sharing your quests here! It’s great to see the variety of interests being shared and quested for.
I’ve chosen at random three people to receive copies of Chris’s book, which is on the New York Times bestseller list!!!
Please respond to me at cynthia@originalimpulse.com by 7:00 PM MST Monday September 22nd with your postal address. If I don’t hear from you by then, I will offer your copy to another commenter.
TESS
SUSAN
IRIS
Congratulations!
Congrats to the winners: Tess, Susan, Iris! I can’t wait to read Chris’s book too. Thanks, Cynthia, for sharing your perspectives!
You’re welcome, Debra! I haven’t heard back from two of the winners so a book is on its way to you, too. 🙂
Whoot! Whoot! I received my book today, Cynthia! What a sweet surprise since I’d missed this update on your blog. Thank YOU SO much, dear friend. I can’t wait to dip into it later tonight. So excited! Thank you!