Unfortunately, I don’t have any brilliant ideas on how to save the world. Earlier this month, while I was searching for files on my computer, one bothersome search result kept coming up – howtosavetheworld.pdf. What is that? Why does that file keep coming up on every search? Creepy.
On the plane ride from Osaka to Bali, I decided to find out. When I opened it, I confirmed that I had never seen it before, but there it was – “On Becoming and Individual or HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD” by David Cain, author of the site www.raptitude.com as it turns out. Oh boy.
The 46 slides include evocative images, quotes, and principles for changing your life to do something meaningful. How a propos… (eye roll).
“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” – Albert Camus
(Um..yaaaahh, for real.)
Some messages from the section called “Knowing”:
- Raise your standards, a lot – basically, be conscious of your life and have them be real choices vs. just accepting a life of convention, convenience, inertia
- Individuality defies gravity – we are frequently driven by the will of others and their expectations of our life vs. what we want
- We’re not good at what we’re trying to do – well-being is what we aspire to but often don’t actualize because we are living for other people vs. doing what resonates with us truly
- You will naturally tend towards security and conformity – “I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.” – Rita Mae Brown
- You are being trained by big business – I sort of disagreed with this one to some extent, but he basically says that “small businesses create products and seek customers to buy them. Big businesses create customers who will buy the products they already create, or can cheaply and easily create.”
- You are going to die
It goes on, talking about how the common citizen has so much more power and can be so much more individualistic than in the past. People may have the capability to change the course of the world but not the will – there are too many other demands on our life.
In the section called “Acting,” the paper encourages the reader to:
- Become a free agent
Most people end up serving the values of more focused people. Your servitude to others is inescapable unless you become exceptionally focused on what your own values are.
Do whatever it takes to end your obligations to people and companies whose values do not reflect your own. It will probably mean making a plan to change careers.
Such a change will require you to live on less than you earn, so that you can accumulate time and freedom. You can use this hard- earned space to find a new way to create value for others, and eventually earn a living from it.
If you don’t love your job then you’re in the wrong line of work, and this is mistake that you ultimately can’t get away with. Some part of you will always know you’re selling out. It will drain your self- confidence and your gratitude, even if these weary feelings become normal to you. It will follow you every day for as many years as it takes you to do something about it.
No matter how long you expect it to take, make a plan to become a free agent. Free up your money and your time and use them to build a life that creates more of what you think the world needs.
- Find your thing
- Find like-minded people
- Be creative – “without creativity, you’re just hitching a ride”
- Know what self-love really is – “Love is an active quality. Self-love is the work ethic behind what you do for yourself.”
- Take responsibility (for everything!)
- Take a few years and change everything
I jotted down some thoughts on the plane ride from Osaka to Bali:
I don’t think I want to work in a traditional office. It’s important to me to have a good community of people around me who I can really be myself with. Even my stupid self. I don’t need to be exceedingly wealthy, but I want to have time and resources to do what I want. I’m not sure if I want a family. I somehow feel unhappy whenever I’m in a relationship. Maybe I’ll just stick to building up a good community of friends. I want to be contributing in a meaningful way to the world, and it needs to be impactful. I want to live somewhere beautiful or at least part of the year. I might want to write books. I may want to help victims of domestic violence. I want to be an entrepreneur. I don’t want to just do one thing. I want to do multiple things. I want to start a non-profit, something that helps people even locally. Somehow, small direct help might be better actually. I don’t think I will be living in NYC. I don’t think SF either. Nor LA or Boston. Maybe Bali.
Beyond that was a list of skills I wanted to develop, most of which centered around languages, music and the arts, and some more useful skills like graphic design, data science, and stats.
On the question of short-term income, the list ranged from starting my own consulting firm to being a music events coordinator to yoga teacher certification to life coaching to driving an Uber (well, they are always looking for drivers! Scary.).
There were some long-term things on the list as well. Those are way off the wall.
For the first time since I’ve been in Bali, I seriously revisited those plane ride questions today. Someone I met a few weeks ago in Bali texted me today offering me a job that would allow me to have the needed flexibility to do all of this, though not really the income level I’m used to. Pensively, I sat at breakfast and wrote out my plan. Then I walked around the post-rain muddy streets of Nusa Lembongan turning them over in my head. Something to think about for now. No action needed (yet).