Two weeks ago today I was just getting into the thick of WDS14 in Portland, Oregon.
WDS is the World Domination Summit, an annual gathering in its fourth year designed to bring together people who are seeking answers to this question:
How do we live a remarkable life in a conventional world?
WDS focuses on three values:
- Adventure – taking risks and doing new things
- Community – connecting with interesting people
- Service – making the world a better place
The event is hosted by Chris Guillebeau, a guy who set out to lead a non-conformity movement and visit every one of the world’s 193 countries by the time he was 35. And he achieved both goals.
This was my second year attending WDS, which I awkwardly describe as:
“going to Portland with 2,500 other people of all ages and backgrounds from around the globe to attend thought-provoking TED-like talks and participate in quirky activities.”
Why?
For me, WDS is a weekend of inspiration.
WDS14 poster created by cartoonist Gavin Aung of ZENPENCILS. An inspiring speaker, Aung gave each attendee this artwork at the close of his presentation.
WDS is a weekend of gleaning new ideas from thought leaders, some well-known, and some not-so-well-known.
WDS14 speaker Dee Williams, author of The Big Tiny, talked about striking a power pose with a superhero cape when you need the courage to get started on big ideas. (In this case, the cape is a red blanket from a Delta airlines flight.)
WDS is a weekend of meeting people –very unique people– who all are already doing, or who want to do something out-of-the-ordinary with their lives.
WDS offers many opportunities to connect with interesting people – from St. Louis (left) to Tokyo, Japan (right).
What’s most impressive about my attendance at WDS14 is what I’m doing differently in my life two weeks after the event.
After all, it’s easy to go to conferences or training session or weekend retreats and get excited with new ideas.
It’s another thing to go home and put them into action.
It’s especially challenging to keep at those new ideas when the going gets a little tough.
Because, sooner or later, life happens, and the energy to keep working on pursuing new things becomes diluted.
Two weeks after WDS14 I’m happy to report that I’m 12 days into a 30-day Green Smoothie Challenge, inspired by speaker Jadah Sellner, co-founder of Simple Green Smoothies. Even more impressive is that fact that Mr. Jones, despite his I-was-raised-in-Alaska-with-only-canned-vegetables-so-I-don’t-eat-them mantra, is also enjoying a daily green smoothie.
The take-away from Jadah’s presentation was not about converting to the green smoothie tribe. Her presentation was about overcoming difficulties in entrepreneurial businesses, and about taking consistent, ninja-focused actions, and trying new things to see what sticks. She mentioned that Simple Green Smoothies started with sharing recipes via an Instagram account, so my take-away was to check out her feed. Those fabulous photos and easy directions made me want to try this green stuff. Plus, when I bought Chia seeds I learned that a spoonful a day was the power food of the ancient Mayan warriors. If you’ve ever been to Chichén Itzí¡, you know how impressive the Mayans were both in strength and brain power.
Now, thanks to Jadah, not only are we consuming more vegetables and fruit every day, we are thinking about how to better harness the power of Instagram for sharing travel discoveries.
While I’ve followed Michael Hyatt’s Intentional Leadership blog closely for several years, I was surprised how he shared a “new” story during his presentation at WDS, about the challenges and impact of his father’s drinking problem. Michael shared about falling into the drifting life, where you just kind of drift along. He also described the opposite, the driven life, which can result as an over correction, to the point that live has no meaning or joy. The third alternative is the designed life, the one in which you determine what’s most important, and what brave decisions you have to make each day to get the designed life that you want.
Be brave was a continual theme of WDS14.
We are fairly adventurous in our travel, and most would consider “brave” about trying new things. But it’s always good to have a reminder.
Author AJ Jacobs spoke about his “quest” books such as The Year of Living Biblically where he spent a year trying to follow every rule in the bible.
Jacobs claims that he’s not naturally brave, but he’s forced himself to 1) be bold, 2) be experimental, and 3) be strategic. No one achieves much by staying home or avoiding risks. Now I’m reading My Life as an Experiment: One Man’s Humble Quest to Improve Himself. I’m intrigued by the idea that “it’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking, than to think you way into a new way of acting.”
Besides embracing living experiments, my take-away messages from Jacobs are to: “try new things”, and “don’t over think if the action will or will not work; instead, throw yourself into the action and see what happens.”
Another WDS14 take-away was a preview copy of Chris Guillebeau’s newest book coming out this September. In The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life, Chris shares the stories of his own quest to visit every country in the world. He also shares the stories of a number of other people’s quests. Just reading the “sneak peak” has made us set a couple of new major quest goals, which we will be sharing on this blog in the future.
I’ve already signed up for WDS 2015. If it seems like something that you might be interested in, you can get the details of when tickets for WDS 2015 go on sale here.
Are you pursuing a quest related to travel? If so will you share in comments below?