Sometimes in order to find balance, you need to fall many times. In order to find the center, you often have to walk the edges.

To find equilibrium, sometimes you have to experience instability.

That’s why I’ve found it helpful to pursue:

The Path of the Ordinary Radical

In the revolutionary sense, radicals are often seen in a negative light. But when it comes to your own self-development, you’ll often need to go to extremes in order to find balance. You will likely need to pursue radical undertakings to uproot your currently undesirable patterns. (It’s probably useful to note here that while they may seem radical to you, they could be perceived as mild or ordinary to others.)

Sometimes the pursuit of radical action is born out of necessity. You’ve hit a bottom and there’s really no other foreseeable path. But there’s also always another approach…

The Intentional Pursuit of Radicalism

This is the desire to pursue profound change in the name of personal growth. It’s not done because you’ve hit a bottom; you do it because you just can’t imagine living any other way. You can’t fathom not completely submerging yourself in the massive spectrum of possibilities life has to offer.

Pursuing the radical path is partly done in the quest of uprooting false paradigms, but it’s also because you’re a glutton for life. You want to arrive at the grave thoroughly used up.

Here are some of the possibilities of the ordinary radical:

• Question all of your beliefs, even the ones that make up the core foundation of your framework for understanding reality.
• Pray for your enemies.
• Commit to the Four Agreements.
• Take a vow of celibacy, or declare yourself straightedge (obviously not for everyone, myself included). These things could also be done for a set period of time.
• Go on a rampage of kindness (see this guy for inspiration).
• Be insanely open about your beliefs and feelings — no holds barred.
• Say yes to everything for a day.
• Be fanatical about living on your own terms, following your own path, and being completely authentic.

You might also seek some of these radical physical pursuits:

• Try polyphasic sleep.
• Move to a completely new city (or country) without knowing anyone.
• Take the 100 pushup challenge.
• Create a goal to visit every single country in the world.
• Run a marathon, complete a triathlon, or take the iron butt challenge.
• Only consume or purchase products from companies that align with your values.
• Create the goal to produce Zero Waste (no trash, etc.) or to have Zero Impact (no carbon footprints).
• Live without debt (this may not seem very radical, but it is in the US).
• Do the Master Cleanse, Juice Feast, or any other type of fast.
• Throw away your TV.
• Become location independent.
• Eat 100% raw food.
• Take a mini-retirement.
• Take Bikram Yoga.
• Laugh your ass off as a from of liberation.
• Start a Revolution.

These are just a few ways you can be an ordinary radical. There are obviously many other paths you can take. Your imagination is your only limit.

The real benefit of pursuing extreme endeavors is that it gives you lots of practice to push your threshold of perspective. The more you stretch your limits, the more flexible and fearless you become. The more you see supposedly big, scary things as not so big and not so scary, the less daunting other challenges become for you.

Then doing something like reclaiming your dreams is easy.

The note read:

Early in the industrial revolution, workplaces typically had no clocks. This was done to reinforce the concept that the company owns you and your time. Thus, on retirement, a watch was given as a token that the worker was given back his time.

My friend and coworker Craig Collins wrote this note to me, and inside the box on my desk was the clock you see in that picture. This is probably the most heartfelt gift I’ve ever been given. I feel as if I’ve just gone through some major right of passage — as platitudinous as that may sound.

As I’m going through this right of passage, I’ve been thinking a lot about:

Owning Your Own Time

I’ve spoken at great length about the importance of owning your own time vs. renting out your mind. While I still stress the importance of you being in complete control of your time, it’s also worth mentioning that owning your own time isn’t everything.

Owning your own time won’t matter if…

• You’re just as much of a tyrant/slave driver to yourself as your previous employer.
• You are still influenced by societal pressures and let that dictate what you should be doing with your time.
• You’re not able to exercise self-discipline in staying focused (which you need to be able to pay yourself).
• You don’t know how to say no. You don’t know how to turn down opportunities when you’re spread too thin.
• You still pay yourself by the hour (instead of by how much value you deliver).
• You don’t have a good filter for focusing on high-leverage (most important) tasks vs. those that aren’t likely to make much of a difference in your business.

There are a number of other pitfalls to watch out for, and most of these apply whether you’re employed of self-employed.

But no matter how deep the trenches are, there’s no other place I’d rather be. I’m rolling around in the mud of life and getting myself dirty in this messy business of living deliberately.

And there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.

My grandfather no doubt transferred his contagious thirst for autonomy to me early in my life. I guess entrepreneurship is in my blood.

Just as my grandfather did 40 years ago, last Thursday I gave my boss my two week notice.

I will no longer be requiring your employment services. My last day of work will be Friday, June 12th, 2009.

Thank you,

Jonathan

It started with a single intention

Last year around May, I offhandedly made a goal to quit my day job by the following year, May 2009.

This wasn’t a serious goal at the time. I didn’t even know if it would be possible. I just knew that I wanted it, and you know what they say: you gotta put a deadline on your goals, right? So I put a deadline on it.

And it worked.

Now I’ll never underestimate the power of intention. If you want something bad enough and are willing to do anything it takes to get it, there is NOTHING that can stop you.

I still think that killing your ego-driven goals is a good thing, but the intention part of goal-setting is nothing to take lightly.

A few other interesting coincidences

1. It’s the year of the Ox. I was born the year of the Ox.
2. I just so happened to be offered a business opportunity that would double my income, right near the beginning of this month, a few weeks before my deadline to quit would be passed.
3. Last May (the same time I made my goal to quit my job), I saw Lyoto Machida fight for the first time in the UFC and he immediately became my favorite fighter. Last May, I said “he is going to by the light-heavyweight champion, it’s just a matter of time.” On May 23rd of this year, Lyoto Machida beat Rashad Evans to become the light-heavyweight champion in the UFC. He said “if you have a dream, it is possible.” He said this right after I found out I had achieved my income goal to make it possible for me to quit my job, and pursue my dream of being a full-time blogger.

How I did it

Some of you may be interested in hearing how I made this dream possible. I’ll briefly outline a few of what I think are the main keys to my success here. They may or may not work for you.

Here are a few of the big factors that contributed to my success.

1. Focused on adding value. If I don’t have something worthwhile to say, I don’t write. I would rather not add to the noise. I always focus on providing unique, genuinely valuable content. When I’m writing, I’m always asking myself what the value will be to you, the reader.
2. Clearly define what makes this blog unique. I’ve worked hard to try to set my writing and the culture of this blog apart from the crowd. I know that if I’m average, I’m invisible. I don’t want to be just another forgettable blog in someone’s feed reader. I aim to make all my content unmissable by thinking differently and acting in no-limit ways. I’m not afraid to push the edges and I’m not afraid to voice a contrarian opinion.
3. Wrote and sold an ebook. This was a huge milestone for me in my blogging quest. I made sure that I spent a lot of time researching what my readers would most likely value, and then I gave it to them. I even did a series on Living Your Dreams, before I wrote my ebook, Reclaim Your Dreams. Testing my idea helped me make sure that it was a hot topic and it would receive a favorable response. I also did a lot of research on how to effectively launch an ebook and spent a lot of time planning the marketing of the ebook. Right now, sales from Reclaim Your Dreams currently make up about one fourth of my income, and it’s steadily rising.
4. Community and tribe unification. I used to try to write for everyone. That failed, gigantically. Now I write for and build a community around a tribe of people I most connect with. I seek to connect with unconventional, off the beaten path self-development seekers. Focusing on cultivating a community and connection with my “right people” has greatly aided the popularity of Illuminated Mind. Sometimes discrimination is the key to connection.
5. Saved an emergency fund. In the past year, my wife and I have worked to building an emergency fund that would support us for several months once I quit my job, if the income from my blog completely dropped off. Having this safety net gives us some peace of mind and helps ease the calm-panic when faced with the unknown.
6. Transition. I made my first goal to create an income of $100 through this blog. Once I reached that goal, I aimed for $500. Then $1,000. I steadily increased my goal and refined my methods until I reached the next, bigger goal. I also transitioned from 40 hours a week at my day job, to 32 hours a week. That extra day a week allowed me to spend more time on the blog and helped ramp up my efforts to increase my income.
7. I stole Leo’s mantra. Last year, my good friend Leo quit his day job and revealed that the mantra that helped him do it was the word “Liberate.” I had to admit that this was a pretty badass idea. So I stole it, and made the word “Liberation” my mantra. It was my reminder of the reason I spent hours responding to email through dinner and working on my ebook on the weekends.
8. I wanted to get paid to exist. I’ll be the first one to admit, getting paid to exist is not easy to do. Most jobs want you to do something more than just existing. Since I’m not too keen on that, I realized I would have to create my own “job.” So that’s what I set out to do: to create a life where I get paid to be me, where the value I give to the world by just being me is a way for me to feed my family.

I also did things like put myself on auto-response and I ruthlessly stopped caring about a lot of things (to make psychic space for my primary aim of liberation). That’s about the gist of it.

What’s next?

In the next few weeks I will be officially open for business with coaching. I will be taking on a 3-4 clients a month so I can focus on providing as much highly-targeted value as possible. If you’re interested in signing up before the sales page goes live, contact me and let’s talk — my hourly rate will be $97 per hour.

I have another ebook that I’m working on and a few other ideas for expansion that I’m currently mentally toying around with.

I have some ideas, but honestly, I’m not sure what exactly the future will hold. That is the best part, I think, about self-employment. When I went to my boring job every day, I always knew what to expect. I knew the schedule, the routine. I knew the same tasks would be waiting for me each day. And when I finished them that week, they would renew themselves next week. My job was predictable, and that was part of what made it so painful.

That reality is gone. Uncertainty is on the wind now, and while I have my ear to the ground, I’m not sure what the next week or month will bring. While this might be daunting to some, I love it.

This is what I do for a living now. This whole blogging, ass-kicking craziness is now my gig. And I have to say, causing trouble for a living is a highly favorable condition. If you can find create a way to make it work, grab it by the tail and prepare for a ride.

Lastly, THANK YOU

Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting me in my dream. If you have a dream, it is possible.

My time is now completely yours; there is no more renting out my mind and diluting my mission. Instigating self-actualization is what I do now. And I am unconditionally devoted to making that happen.

Freedom tastes as good as they say it does. Now I know the price is worth the promise.

[Note: If you're interested in a thorough guide of how I built this blog and business to allow me to quit my job, please let me know. I'm considering doing a free ebook about this is if there's enough interest.]

I’ve found the secret to being excited about waking up every day; and I’ll tell you what it is right now. It’s starting a Revolution. I didn’t always think in these terms though…

I used to ask: What can I gain? How can I turn this into a business that will support me?

I focused on helping others by sharing my perspective, but that was the extent of it. When I did that, working on this blog would be exciting sometimes, and at other times it would feel like just a chore.

Now, I can’t even contain my energy for the work I’m doing. I feel like there’s electricity in the air. I’ve changed my mindset and made the decision to do something epic. Now I’m focused on creating a social movement of people living on their own terms. Because of this, I’ve moved from ego-centric to collective-centric.

It’s bigger than me now.

Guess what happens when you make something bigger than you? You get plugged in. You become connected to this amazing source of energy that was never previously available to you.

Now I ask: How can I take action that will support this vision? How can I create momentum to further ignite this revolution?

Waking up excited

The biggest benefit to working on a revolution is that it gives you an insane amount of energy. Working on a revolution will make you want to wake up. You might even have a hard time falling asleep at night, because you’re so motivated to take action on your vision. This is how I feel when I’m laying in bed thinking about all of the awesome stuff I’m doing with this blog and with Project Mojave, and my plans to expand this project into something even bigger.

So if creating something worth remembering is likely to make you a thousand times more productive, why isn’t everyone working on something like this? I think more people would devote themselves to something greater, if they just knew how to do it.

I often spend a lot of time talking about perspective and cultivating an authentic state. While that’s all good, I want to switch gears here to practical and logistics of the application of these perspectives.

First, we need to define what it takes to create a Revolution…

• It has to be something you care deeply about and would be willing to devote your life to.
• It should be something that will help other people.
• It should have a long term impact.
• It has to be remarkable; it has to be worth sharing and bigger than you.
• Working toward a revolution often involves the pursuit of being an ordinary radical.
• Your revolution must have a distinctive quality to it that is caused by you working in it. It wouldn’t be the same if someone else did it. But it is definitely a collective movement created by similar values.

Secondly, how do you discover what Revolution you’ll start?

This is probably the most difficult question to answer and where 99% of people get stuck. It’s impossible for me to completely guide you in this pursuit, because you’ll have to do a lot of exploring.

You’ll probably start some projects and have to let them go, because they didn’t work or they weren’t a good fit for you. This can be difficult to do when you’ve invested a large amount of time in them, but ultimately it’s necessary to throw away a lot of good ideas, if you really want to find what bigger purpose you want to devote yourself to. Mediocrity must be sacrificed in the wake of greatness.

Creating a meaningful revolution demands the habit of quitting a lot of things.

I currently have 30 drafts in my blog admin area. At least 28 of those won’t see the light of day.

I’ve gotten really good at throwing away ideas, because I care about producing only things of remarkable value. I feel that if I’m not supporting something compelling, all I’m doing is contributing to the noise. I would rather not water down my content or pollute the already congested content sphere.

So the best advice I can give in this area is to fearlessly walk your path. Generate lots of ideas and be willing to throw most of them away. Practice. The more you practice the more you’ll be able to refine and shape your vision. This might sound odd, but it’s only really through the constant movement in the direction of what you might think your vision is, that you’ll find what your true vision is.

It might start out with something that you’re kind of, sort of passionate about. You like it enough to work hard at it. Then a few months later, you’ve gained enough experience working on it to have explored other possibilities. Now you decide that part of what you originally set out to do still applies, but it looks different than it did at first. Then another few months of work go by and your vision is refined even more.

It’s only this kind of walking the path that brings clarity. Don’t wait for clarity or your “one true purpose” before you start. Please, please, don’t do that. It will never happen. Epiphanies are found in the dirty, messy circuitous routes of practice.

Other than practice, there is an awesome, invaluable tool to help you figure out what your revolution will consist of. And that’s asking questions.

I think asking ourselves questions is one of the most powerful, overlooked things you can do. If you can develop the habit of initiating these kinds of conversations with yourself on a daily basis, you will achieve greater things you could have otherwise envisioned.

Here are some potent questions to get you started:

• What do you teach others simply by being you?
• What would  you spend your time on, even if you didn’t get paid to do it?
• What do you find yourself researching and can’t stop yourself from learning more about?
• Is there anything you would consider yourself an expert in? If not, is there anything you’d like to be an expert in?
• What gifts do you have that you’d like to make available to the world?
• What do you want to change?
• What lessons do you often find yourself repeating in life?
• How does your purpose impact your local community? How does it impact your family? Your friends? The world?
• What does your tribe (the people you most connect with) look like? What do you identify with on a collective level?
• What legacy do you want to leave behind when you’re gone?

All of these questions aren’t meant to come up with the one-true-answer; they’re simply an impetus for getting your mind moving. Try combining asking these questions with mind-mapping. Have conversations with people, get their feedback. Connect with like-minded people and use them as a sounding board to explore your ideas. Just remember to stay true to yourself.

The most important thing is not holding back. Allow yourself to be ridiculous and completely authentic.

Now it’s time to start creating.

Moving from thought to action.

Once you’ve figured out what your project will look like, it’s time to start taking action. It’s time to stop thinking about it and start cultivating.

Just like discovering what to work on, a lot of people get stuck on how to start. It seems daunting when you’re staring up at a mammoth of a project from ground zero. There are so many things to do, so many approaches you could take, so many options.

But there is a reach, I promise you. And there is even that elusive grasp. But it only comes from starting. It only comes from not caring about what step you’ll take next, but just caring about the fact that you are taking a step.

The necessary ingredients to every revolution:

1. A revolution can be big or small. Whether you’re trying to change the education system or change the way people look at folding underwear, what matters is that you are passionate about it.
2. Rally your tribe. No revolution is a revolution without a group of people that share similar values. If you get really clear about your cause, you will easily be able to spot these people and make connections with them. Before long, you will likely not even need to seek them out. They will come to you.
3. Tap into your outrage. Most revolutions involve some kind of outrage or anger. This is a good thing. Your anger can be a gift if you use it wisely and don’t let it consume you. Use your outrage and your passion to fuel your action for change.
4. The cause rules. Movement and direction of your revolution should be dictated by the demands of the cause. Guru worship or leader exaltation results in the cause becoming obscured. Avoid these things so the movement is centered on the mission, and not a single individual.
5. Break down actionable steps. What change needs to be made and how will those changes best be accomplished? If the status quo needs to be interrupted, how will you deal with the resistance? Are you willing to stay true to your cause despite the protesters you will be faced with?
6. Keep the end in mind. It’s easy to get side-tracked with things that might seem to benefit your mission, but are really just distractions. In order to be effective, you must learn to cultivate an unshakable focus on your ultimate aim. Triage ruthlessly. Anything that does directly or indirectly benefit your cause, is a weed suffocating and diluting your objective, and it must be pulled.

Once in a while you’ll question whether or not you’re up to the task.

But something else is even scarier: what you left behind.

The ordinary, conventional, safe, secure, default life that you could have chosen instead. That’s what’s really scary. Remember that and you’ll be okay.

Everyone’s project will be vastly different, all I can offer are the necessary ingredients I’ve found. So instead of offering more practical advice, I’ll tell you about…

My Revolution

Since I wrote this article about work being sacred, I’ve given a lot of thought to creating something bigger than me. (Chris Guillebeau’s post Creating a Legacy Project and Charlie Gilkey’s Do Epic Shit, also spurred me to think more deeply about this.)

I’ve always aimed to be remarkable with my writing and this blog. Actually, there’s never been a time in my life where I’ve really pursued something in the hopes of being just okay.

So reaching to be uncommon and exceptional wasn’t a challenge for me, but the idea of creating some bigger than me was. Being unconventional and providing value is one thing. Creating an entire social movement, now that’s nothing to shake a stick at.

That is my reason for waking up. That is something I live for. That is something that gets me excited about being alive.

Thinking in terms of leading, or at least stimulating a collective revolution, really made me rethink what I’m doing with this blog. It made me think about something bigger than just me and my ambitions.

Thinking about this forced me to crystallize how all of the stuff I do fits into a universal picture. I still have the same plan, I still have the same style, that’s not changing. What is changing is a deepening of community and purpose.

So this is my revolution:

To create a movement based on authentic action. A social revolution of people liberating themselves through living on their own terms.”

That’s it. That’s my reason for waking up.

How this revolution will take form is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to.

The plan

As you can probably guess, the medium for my revolution is mainly, this blog. But it’s also the ebook, the liberation manifesto, my work with Project Mojave, and the other products that I’ll later release (that are currently in development). I plan to develop a collection of products (some free and some for sale) aimed toward creating personal freedom that will outlast me when I’m gone. Some of my ideas may seem dissimilar, but they are all related to stimulating a social movement of living on your own terms.

Some of this collection of resources will come in different forms. Obviously there will be blog posts, but there will also be ebooks, physical books (later down the line, when I become famous, of course), and possibly some audio and video courses.

The best part about this is I now have a crystallization of one underlying intention behind everything I do. The way my action manifests might be different, but the purpose is unified.

All of the stuff  I’m creating revolves around a similar theme: unconventional methods for improving your life and living more authentically. I want to help promote this revolution in an unconventional way. My aim is to create a wealth of resources for people that are easily bored with the same approach and crave something different. I want to appeal not just to the typical self-help typecast, but to punk rock kids, iconoclasts, recovering lawyers and cubicle-dwellers, people living off the grid, and people that aren’t satisfied with the status quo. I want to connect with those that question supposedly unquestionable belief-systems, and those that want live on their own terms.

My message is personal and collective liberation, my style or medium is an unconventional, renegade kind of approach. The message is my core passion and purpose, the medium is the style that I most resonate with.

My project isn’t about prostrating myself as a guru and saying “follow this one true way.” I simply aim to say “Hey, this seems like an interesting idea, and it’s worked well for me. Plus it’s a pretty interesting and uncommon way to live.” Not a lot of people are killing their goals, giving up caring and embracing ADD.

My project is to create an abundant wealth of information and resources for people interested in non-traditional modes of living. That’s it. That’s my legacy. And I think it absolutely kicks ass. It keeps me up at night, and makes me excited to wake up the next morning.

Others may think that this project is totally lame or downright silly. And that’s okay. It’s my legacy, not theirs.

I’ve found a meaningful pilgrimage to devote my life to, in the service of this cause and the service of others. Knowing that, I’m no longer perpetually searching. My actions are guided by a coherent mission.

Keeping perspective

Creating a revolution to me is something worth living for. But it’s also important to remember that the little things in life are what really makes a difference. You can be fighting AIDS in Somalia, but if you’re an asshole to your sister, it kind of negates the rest of it.

Remember that even if you’re thinking big, it’s the small things you do every day that make a difference.

Massive change and working toward social change is awesome, but it’s also how you live your life on a daily basis that matters most. It’s how you interact with people you meet on the sidewalk waiting for a bus, or in line at a cafe. It’s how you treat your loved ones and family that makes a difference. It’s the small things that create the possibility for huge change.

In short, it’s not just having your eyes on the future and how things will be when your aim is realized.

Because it’s right here, right now. That change is possible. It’s this moment that we must live in.

That’s where transformation culminates.

It’s in this moment that the revolution takes place.

—–

PS: Part of this revolution I’m working on is through Project Mojave. We’re teaching people how to create ‘freedom businesses’ that allow people to liberate themselves and create massive freedom-supporting lifestyles. Freeing yourself from your dead-end job isn’t everything, but it’s part of the process of this revolution of self-liberation.

If you’re interested in working for yourself, escaping boring work and living on your own terms, I highly recommend that you check out and join the freedom business revolution.

In 24 hours, enrollment will be closed. I hope you take action before then.

Cubicle-dissenters and freedom-seekers, I present you with this manifesto on the liberation revolution.

This movement happening all around us is, quite literally, the story of mental bondage to freedom. People everywhere are finding liberation through ditching the work-template and living on their own terms.

If this movement interests you, we would like you to be a part of it.

You kick so much ass, it would be a shame to see that squandered by asphyxiation, due to fluorescent lighting and pointless committee meetings.

What you’ll find in this manifesto is 5,000 free words on the characteristics of this uprising. You’ll hear the reasons of others and why they’re committed to the freedom of working for themselves and reclaiming their time and their minds.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE MANIFESTO HERE.

The reason for this:

People have long been ditching the employee model of life, but rarely has there been a collective banding together of individuals to support each other in this movement. This manifesto is an attempt to create a coherent, articulate representation of the reason we are unsatisfied with the work-template and why we are seeking a new paradigm.

What’s under the hood:

• Why we’re tired of choking back vomit because we’re going another day doing a job we hate, with people we don’t connect with, working for someone we don’t respect.
• How we’re transforming our relationship with work, through breaking down social conventions and overly politicized nonsense.
• Why we think entrepreneurship is one of the highest forms of self-actualization and self-improvement.
• How we’re in this together.
• How to cultivate the “Free-man” (or free-woman) mindset and seven things you can do right now.
• The importance of getting to Game Over.

Are you totally down with this revolution? Is this something you’ve been waiting for?

Here’s how you can help:

1. Spread the word. Send this manifesto to your friends, family, or co-worker that’s about to commit suicide (she needs to read this). Tweet about it, send it to your friends, print it out and post it on the telephone polls on your block.
2. Declare your freedom. There is no better way can you help strengthen this revolution than by declaring your own sovereignty. By reclaiming your own freedom, you give others the courage to do the same.

What the hell is this all about man?

This manifesto is something I’ve been working on for the past two weeks as part of Project Mojave, my new lovechild.

I’m a member of the faculty there where my title is Director of Ass Kicking.

No I’m not joking (I couldn’t make this stuff up). It’s basically what I was born to do.

Over the course of the next few days, you’ll get a chance to see what this crazy revolution is all about and how you can become a member. There’s a really awesome video up right now called “The Freedom Business Blueprint,” which basically defines the qualities of a massive freedom-supporting business. I highly recommend you go check it out.

Lots more awesome, free stuff is coming, so I hope you sign up for the list so you can get updates.

Anyway, that’s about it. More details will be coming soon.

Please let me know what you think of the manifesto. I can’t wait to hear your feedback.

I’m really excited to announce that my wife, Ev’Yan, has just launched a brand new blog called Ask Apricot.

Did I mention there’s a giveaway?

Anyway, I’m really excited about this. Ev’Yan has been looking for an outlet to express her passion for helping others, and I think it’s a perfect fit for her. She may just start life coaching and be kicking my ass soon. =]

So I highly recommend that you check it out.

Oh and speaking of ass-kickings, there’s something else launching this week that is totally going to rock your world.

All I can say right now is that it involves five of the coolest people I know, and tons of free stuff.

Stay tuned.

It really hurts when you shoot yourself in the foot. Especially when you keep doing it over and over.

And over.

I see this happen all the time with people with a rebel, nonconformist kind of mindset. It’s typical for these types of people to sabotage their own efforts and start rebelling against themselves. (I’m one of these types of people, in case you haven’t guessed yet.)

Here’s an example of the way this typically works:

You start something you’ve really wanted to do for a long time. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn how to draw. So you sign up for a class, and you’re really digging it. You’re getting better and drawing all kinds of awesome stuff. Maybe you even come up with a tattoo design for yourself. Sweet.

Then a few weeks later the class ends and you’re still going. But since you’re the type of person that wants to really master something, you start this mental arithmetic of requiring yourself to practice drawing. You want to get better, right? So you practice, and you’re excited.

Then something not-so-good happens. You don’t practice one day and you feel like shit. You beat yourself up over it and now you’re not so sure you’re “disciplined enough” to practice mastering your craft. (You don’t realize that you can establish new habits without discipline.)

But you keep going anyway; you keep practicing. And then you start judging yourself, not when you miss a day of practice or play, but when you don’t practice long enough. You think you could do more. You think an hour’s not enough, because that one guy from your class draws all-the-time. And look at you, you’re not doing it all-the-time so you must not be dedicated, right? Or so you think.

What used to be something you pursued because it was fun and enjoyable, is now a chore. It’s now something you must do.

Your inner rebel is awakened, and it’s pissed. Those of us with nonconformist tendencies typically don’t like doing things we must do. So we rebel. We disobey. We can’t help it, this is just the way we’ve always been.

The problem

There’s some great benefits to rebelling against the status quo and questioning authority. You learn to think for yourself and form your own opinions. You learn to explore, research and investigate; and this helps you to develop your consciousness.

But there also tends to be something not so good about rebellious tendencies… Sometimes you rebel against yourself.

Kind of counter-productive, don’t you think?

But how does this happen? How does being anti-mainstream lead to being anti-you? It has to do with one word:

Must.

When you must do something, it’s not fun anymore. Your level of passion completely flat lines. When you must do something, you naturally want to rebel because you’ve backed yourself into a corner. You resist because you feel that you no longer have a choice.

Restoring the choice

I’ve been dealing with this very problem for quite some time. I’ll commit to doing something, but I’ll feel like I’m letting myself down if I don’t commit to Olympic level ascension. I obviously see that this is kind of silly, but I hold myself to high standards. Sometimes too high.

But what’s more than that, we often think that there are less options than there are. You don’t have to do anything. That’s your ego spiraling out of control.

What I’ve found helpful is not just to realize that my standards are absurd, but to realize that there are always more options than you think there are. So here are a couple of good questions to ask yourself when you think you must do something:

1. What would happen if I did?
2. What would happen if I didn’t?

Sometimes it’s better to ask “What would happen?” instead of “Why do I want this?” When you ask why, you have a tendency to feel like you have to justify yourself, and it’s too easy to let your emotions cloud your judgment. By asking what would happen, you’re allowing yourself to explore the possibilities of the many possibilities that are available to you. Then you can choose one of those options, instead of feeling like you only have one choice: that you must do this.

Whenever you think you must, ask yourself those two questions. And ask yourself if there are any other possibilities that you might not have considered. Ask yourself if you missed something. Go past your Herculean ego-driven desire to be record-breaking best, and ask yourself what else is there.

Where you previously saw a cage, you may now see a hidden door or an alternative path.

The price is being raised for $19.95 to $24.95 (and I’m still hearing people say this is a ridiculously low price, compared to most other $39 ebooks).

I just wanted to give you a fair warning.

You have 24 hours.

credit: h.koppdelaney

Freedom is supposed to be a state of mind… Or is it?

If I can’t afford to buy my own time, am I really free? If I have to sell my time to someone else, to achieve their goals and their agenda, then am I really free?

For a long time, my mind has been rented out. I’ve been whoring out my mind so that someone else can further their goals.

We justify this kind of whoring as serving a means to an end. You gotta eat, right? You gotta have a place to sleep, right? Sure. Survival is important. But I’m tired of whoring myself out for survival. I want to live, not just survive.

So like throwing away money to rent an apartment month after month, I’d rather stop throwing away my time to serve someone else’s goals. I’d rather finance the freedom of my own mind, then sublet it to a corporation that barely resembles anything human. Just like people make it a goal to own their own home, I’d like to own my own mind.

But the reason this is so difficult is because of:

The Deep Roots of Domestication

From a young age, we’re lead to believe a certain framework of beliefs and “realities.” Depending on your culture, place of birth and social/financial status, you may be lucky enough to grow up with the belief that owning your own time is a birthright. If you’re not so lucky, you’re ingrained with the belief that whoring yourself out is the only option. It’s “just the way it works,” we’re told.

If you belong to the latter group, you’re told that you can possibly rise past this limitation, if you rent your mind out to a university for four years. Maybe you’ll get a high enough position where they’ll give you a few weeks off every year, so that you can recover from the aneurysm they gave you.

Good deal, huh?

Cubicle to the casket is not my idea of a good deal.

When we’re born, our minds are completely free. We eventually learn a language and our minds become mostly the property of our parents. But we’re promised in the future, when we become an adult, we’ll be able to reclaim that ownership. But then we’re expected to give up our minds all over again. I think this is bullshit.

As you can see, I’m a little tired of this. That’s why I’ve created:

Operation Disengage

This plan has been over a year in the making. Since I started this blog in February 2008, my ultimate aim has always been to have this project — this blog — become my main source of income. I’ve managed to get halfway there. This blog is making up about 50% of my income right now.

My plan is to quit my day job in 90 days, or less. So my ultimate aim (as you can tell, I’m allergic to goals) is to increase that revenue to completely match the income from my mind-landlord. I think I can do it. We’ll see.

The main way I plan to do this is by starting to take paid clients for life coaching. I’ll probably start out at a reasonably low rate like $95 per hour (most other coaches charge around $150-250). Currently, I am coaching a lot of clients for free, gaining experience and being coached by a number of other experienced life coaches. It’s really awesome, and I’m excited to help people in such a personal, one-on-one way. It’s much different than responding to a question in an email, or getting comments back from an article. It’s hard to describe, other than that it’s a deeply fulfilling experience for me.

If you’re interested in reserving a coaching spot with me, before I put up the sales page (I’m only going to take 3-6 clients a month), send me a note through the contact form.

As of right now, I have three income streams through this blog and writing. My biggest is my ebook sales, and the other two are affiliate commissions and income from freelance writing. If I can match the income I’m making from my ebook sales, and with doing life coaching, I’ll be able to quit my day job. It will only take about 3-4 clients a month (four sessions per month) for me to be able to meet this objective.

I could break everything down into more detail here, but I’d rather not bore you. In the next couple of months, though, I’ll be writing an ebook about how I built my blog, my brand, and created my online business. (Assuming all goes according to plan, of course.) It will be written after I quit my day job. Whether that’s sooner or later, I can’t predict. But it will happen eventually. That’s a promise.

All of this brings me to something else that’s very important to me and pretty much the reason I do this stuff:

The reason I wake up every day

The more I write, the more I know that this is what I’m meant to do. This is the reason I wake up everyday. This is what I think about before I go to sleep. Living to my fullest potential and helping other people awaken to their own, gives me so much satisfaction that sometimes it’s hard to contain it. Sometimes I just want to break into tears when I read some of the amazing feedback I get through this blog.

But working toward someone else’s goals while I’m pursuing my own, obscures and dilutes my mission. I know that I could do so much more if I had complete ownership of my mind and my time.

Moving closer to that dream has been my reason for working seven days a week. It’s been my reason for waking up early to have a little more time to write, and a little more time to think. It’s been my reason for sitting on the couch with my laptop, working through dinner, responding to emails and questions, because during the day I have no other time.

Making progress to reclaiming my dreams has been my obsession over the past year. It’s amazing what an unlimited well of energy you have when you are insanely clear about your purpose in life.

River-mind, heart-sight

The problem is this… I have this immense constant surge of energy moving into my life. It fuels my passion for helping others live more authentically. But by owning only two out of seven days of my week, that energy is ridiculously bottle-necked.

It’s like the energy available to me is this massive river. White water rushing, and a swift moving current. It’s wide and deep. The depth of its strength is unknowable.

But as it flows, it runs into a crevasse no more than six inches wide at the face of a cliff. The river pushes up against the canyon, but the passage can’t contain the flood. It’s too great and the entry is too small. The cliff and the ravine suffocates the waters entrance.

But it’s persistent.

It keeps pressing up against that gap. Keeps pushing. Keeps rushing. It is patient.

The river knows that sooner or later, it will edge away at that crevice. It doesn’t give up. It doesn’t know what that means. It just keeps flowing. Keeps moving.

Days, weeks, months go by and eventually that fissure becomes a great divide. Now the river’s energy is unrestricted, uninhibited. It flows freely.

I am that river. River-mind and heart-sight.

In case you’re interested, here’s how you can help…

I certainly am not deluding myself that I’ve been able to create this amazing community without all of you. The amount of support and feedback YOU have given me has been invaluable.

Now I want to move this project into phase two. I want to be able to create even more awesome products and write even more in-depth articles on non-standard ways of living. I know that I can do that, but only if I’m doing this stuff full time.

So, if you want to see this unconventional craziness taken to a whole new level, here’s what you can do:

• The biggest thing you can do is take this survey. I’m trying to get as much feedback as possible on what you want to see written and what you are interested in. That’s really what I care about, above everything. By taking this survey, I’ll have a better understanding of you and what you want.
• Spread the word about this blog. Email the articles to your friends or family if you think they could benefit. Tweet about it, share it on facebook, or however you share cool stuff online. Whichever way you do this, is appreciated.
• Buy my ebook, Reclaim Your Dreams. This is really the best way to support my efforts. All of the money goes straight to me escaping cubicle hell (after Paypal takes its cut, of course). And what better way to start working on your dreams than by helping someone else live theirs? I think it’s a pretty sweet deal.
• Lastly, make a donation. If you’ve ever gotten any value out of my writings, I would sincerely appreciate a donation. If you’re not in the position to make a donation, that’s completely fine, as well. This site will never cost money and my posts will always remain ad-free.

Above all, thank you

I want you to know you are the number one reason I keep doing this stuff. Creating a social movement of liberation is what keeps me moving, even when I feel like the culmination is so far away. This community means more to me than anything, and I couldn’t do it without you.

The path of the liberation artist is not an easy one, but there’s nothing I’d rather be doing.

Thank you for inspiring me to follow my own path.

Now I would like to extend the reach of this ebook even further. I think there are more people out there that want to start living instead of just existing. They just don’t know how.

I’d really like to change that.

So if you have a blog that gets at least 1,000 page views a month, then I’ll give you a FREE copy of my ebook, Reclaim Your Dreams.

All I ask in return is that you either:

1. Review the ebook on your blog, with a link back to the book (preferred), or…
2. Mention and link to the ebook on your blog (not a full review).

Here’s where you can link the mention/review to: http://illuminatedmind.net/reclaim-your-dreams

That’s it. Pretty awesome, right?

If that sounds good to you, send an email to jonathan at illuminatedmind dot net, with the subject “Reclaim Your Dreams Gift.”

Oh, and on May 1st, the price of Reclaim Your Dreams is going up to $24.95. If you want to get it for $19.95, you might want to hop on over here now and pick it up before the price goes up.

A couple of other cool things…

Firstly, special thanks to Jun Loayza for setting up the outstanding webcast with me on Sunday, which almost bombed when my internet connection failed. It ended up being fixed after my wife haggled with AT&T, but we started 15 minutes late.

Despite the wonderfully timed technical difficulties, we had some great questions and one on one interaction. Let me know if you’d like to see more webcasts in the future; Jun and I are thinking about doing them once a month.  And while you’re at it, you should go check out his blog now (if you haven’t already) and follow him on twitter. He’s an entrepreneurial juggernaut. (I love that word “juggernaut.”)

Secondly, I have some really exciting news coming up about phase two of Illuminated Mind. I’ll be talking about my allergic reaction to goals and about How to Create a Legacy very soon.

My question for you is this: What makes you visit Illuminated Mind and what would you like to see written about in the future?