But here’s the thing. I can only figure out my strengths because I know how great I am, no weaknesses here. I’m kidding… sorta. But it is hard to determine what they are because how I see myself is probably different from how everyone else sees me. And it’s important how others perceive me because my trailblazing journey depends on working, networking, and helping others.

So here’s my game. Email your friends or hang out with them over a coffee (or a beer for more honest answers) and ask them to tell you your strengths and weaknesses.

Here’s an answer I got from one of my friends I emailed:

Collonius Best Qualities:

- Innovation: Clearing the table and making things his own, rather than trying to fit it into someone else’s formula.

- Presentness: Always “there” with you, being fully present in the conversation/ situation.

- Interested: Collonius always seems to find the good in everyone, even when everyone else is throwing tomatoes (eg. Dev Chevendra’s speech)

- Ballsy/Adventurous: BodPod, running DOWN the Grouse Grind, etc. etc.

Quality to Work On:

- Hmm. I honestly sat here for 20 minutes thinking, and then I had to “Save Now” for later.

- Three hours later, and still nothing. Maybe you’re perfect? ….Awwwwwwwww, snugglebunny.

- Hmm. Something you could work on.

- Strange. I think this is probably the part you were looking forward to the most, for self-development’s sake, and it’s something I can’t even come up with.

- Maybe…..? I honestly can’t think of anything. What you’re doing, who you are, the way you’re building yourself… it all seems to be going in a very promising direction.

- It sucks that I can’t think of anything, dude. What’re your thoughts on what you could work on most? You seem very well-rounded to me, brother.

- Strengthening ties with the family unit? Like with your mom/pops/Russ? I dunno – even that isn’t bad in any way – I think it might just be strained temporarily ’cause cash is temporarily scarce for you, and your pops is getting money-focused more recently… but even that you’re making headway with, so I can’t think of anything, dude.

My head was slightly swollen after I got this.

I asked another friend and she said:

Best Qualities: “You’re driven”

Quality to Work On: “Being transparent and authentic”

This is helpful. I thought I was a transparent person but maybe people around me don’t think so? This is definitely something I can work on because being both transparent and authentic is important to my life.

Whether this exercise inflates your ego or gives you some practical to work on, it will be interesting to see how the people in your life perceive you. So send out some emails and see what cool answers you get back.

And it wasn’t until 6 months ago after reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It that I actually got excited about blogging. By this time I was following Seth Godin’s blog and loved his insight but that’s all that I knew about blogging. Now I was ready. Crush It sold me on the idea that blogs were important and even gave me the basic knowledge of how to start one. For four months I played around with blogging on two different platforms, Blogger and Tumblr. Yet neither blog had any direction and it caused me to experience blogging high and lows – periods of time where I really loved blogging and I would write all the time and periods of time where I hated it and avoided it like a 9 to 5 job.

I’ve learned a lot since then. Mostly from reading other peoples blogs and actually understand why I should be blogging and how to do it properly. Blogs have helped me on my Trailblazing journey and I guruantee they will help you, too. So let’s share our favourite blogs. I’ll go first:

• Seth Godin This guy is a guru on life. His focus may be marketing but damn does he have good life insight, too. I honestly don’t know anyone in the blogging world who doesn’t read this blog. Nor do I want to. So you should read it, too.
• Dan Pink My favourite author. His book “A Whole New Mind” changed my life and has given me the courage to be a Trailblazer.
• Escaping the 9 to 5 My current favourite blog. I have a strong feeling this girl is going places and it’s exciting to follow along. And as she learns at rocket ship speeds she offers helpful advice to me about starting a business that will change your life. Good for all aspiring entrepreneurs and those unsatisfied with their day jobs.
• Life Without Pants Matt Chevy is young, transparent, and knowledgeable. He blogs about life, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, and how to get rid of your pants.
• Jonathan Fields The minute I read his about section, I was sold. I even emailed my business prof his blog ’cause I thought it was so cool. Follow this guy for a refreshing take on life, adventures, and business.
• Penolope Trunk Penelope is definitely a Trailblazer. She’s bluntly honest, a little distracted, and sometimes full of herself. But that’s why you should read her. Instead of follow the normal way to blog, she defines her own way. And it works.
• Exile Lifestyle This dude just has a kickass story. Colin Wright travels the world doing 4-month stints in random countries that his readers vote on. Do you want to participate in sending Colin to his next location? You can vote on his website. Not only is his story kickass, but so are some of his products. I just bought “Networking Awesomely” and love it.

But here’s a tip: once you start following along with blogs, don’t be the creeper who just watches from afar. The whole point of blogs is to contribute to the conversation. Let the people know that you’re out there and that you like what they have to say. Or offer up an opinion that challenges what they say. Or just write a bunch of !!!!!! in the comment section. I don’t care what you do, just stop doing nothing.

So, what are your favourite blogs?

——————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Hey Maren,

I just woke up to the best phone call and I literally can’t stop smiling. It was from my brother who was calling during his 9 to 5. After shooting the shit for a bit, our conversation drifted to Escaping the 9 to 5.

I came across your blog only a few weeks ago after Googling “top Gen Y blogs” and have been following your work since. It’s opened up my eyes and has completely inspired me. I’ve been actively pursuing the freedom and independence that an entrepreneurial life can bring for about 8 months. I’ve made a lot of progress and have had some great work opportunities that I’m really passionate about. For example, I’m collaborating on a Career Chaos book project which has my friend and I interviewing all sorts of people to get their thoughts and opinions around the topic of work/career/life. Our goal with this project is to help people answer the question “What should I do with my life?”. Another thing I’m really excited about is several new-world-of-work-type courses that I created and will be teaching to youth at my local YMCA. I have a lot of learning to do with regards to becoming independent and free but I’m getting closer and more excited with each passing day.

Anyways, back to this great morning conversation with my brother. Unbeknownst to me he has been following your blog since I told him about it last week. I was surprised ’cause it’s not like him. He’s never followed a blog in his life nor has he ever showed any interest in doing so. However, he has hated his job for some time and is quite passionate about escaping. Maybe the name of your blog caught his attention enough for him to jump onto the blogging bandwagon? I dunno…

Well last night he read your post “I’m Unemployable… Are You?”

His answer: almost.

In my eyes he’s been unemployable for some time. But he hasn’t had the fortitude to jump ship. Well, Maren, I think your blog might just be the tipping point. He woke this morning at 5 am because he had so many ideas flying through his brain. He got up, excitedly, to write them all down. That in and of itself is impressive because this is a guy who hasn’t woke up excited during a week day for ages! So not only to wake excitedly, but also to be productive in the process.

Unfortunately he was interrupted from this state of flow by the nagging reminder that he had to go to a job he hates. But that’s when he called me. And that’s when he told me he’s going home after work to work on his ideas, to cancel his cable subscription so he can focus on escaping his job, and to look into places to rent in Vancouver so me and him, brother and brother, can join forces and escape the working world together. Was our conversation realistic? Not at all! It was pure, giddy, big dreaming hype. But that was the beauty of it. For the first time this guy was be unreasonable and thinking risky. And I loved it. I feel like he’s seen the light and he’s finally going to be able to live up to his potential.

So I just wanted to say… thanks. Thanks for helping to push my bro to achieve whatever his definition of success is.

Cheers,

Collin Vine

Maren Kate

She recently overhauled her website and as I was perusing all the new features, I came across a page titled “Intern”. Curiously, I clicked on it and was met with an online form to apply to work with and learn from MK herself. I kind of chuckled to myself thinking about how cool it would be to do this. But I felt like I wouldn’t get it. I felt like it would be a waste of time. I felt like I didn’t deserve it. “Don’t deserve it?” I thought. “Fuck it, I’m applying.”

Do I have a lot of specific skills to offer? Not really. I’m curious, a hard worker, and I can create fitness programs to make her workers healthier which will make them more productive. But I’m no programmer, designer, or serial entrepreneur with tons of business experience. But why should I judge whether I’m of value to her? Might as well apply and let her decide that.

This isn’t the only time I’ve jumped on opportunities like this. I did this earlier this summer and am now working on a collaborative project with a fellow from Ottawa to write a book about Career Chaos. Four months ago I did the same thing and applied for a position with One Week Jobs. I ended up as one of 7 finalists across North America. I didn’t land one of the three top positions but I learned a helluva lot during the process. But if I tried to play it safe or actually believed that I didn’t deserve these opportunities, than I would be destined to a life of being miserable.

What opportunities are out there that you think you’re not good enough for? Are you playing life safely or are you taking risks in order to continue your Trailblazing journey?

Erin was hosting a party for my roommate Aeron’s birthday. Erin was staying at her parents beautiful waterfront condo overlooking False Creek, a prestigious area in Vancouver’s Yaletown, the yuppie area of Van. Being fairly new to town and wanting to get to know my roommate and her group of friends a little better I willingly accepted. That Thursday night I had previously signed up to go to an entrepreneurial networking event and told Erin I would arrive shortly after 9.

After a surprisingly awkward interaction with these entrepreneurs – surprising because I expected them to have extraordinary people skills and was shocked to find nearly 3/4’s of them to be conversationally awkward, maybe from all the years of selling themselves and their ideas – I called Aeron to get directions to the party. As usual, I had doubts in my mind as to whether or not I should attend this party. Networking events always stimulate my creative mind and novel ideas were racing through my head. To top it off, I had images of me being supremely productive as I thought that the only way to be successfully self employed is to work hard and say no to others. As the phone rang, I questioned whether I already networked enough for one night and it was time to go be a loner hard worker at home. I often struggle with the competing thoughts of maintaining a rich social life and achieving career success; tonight my social life won. I decided, as the phone continued to ring, that I would commit to the party and be “in the moment”. It was very calming. I began envisioning what the party might look like: maybe 15 – 20 people, a mix of well dressed men and women in their early to late 30’s, would each be casually drinking a beer or a glass of wine while cigarette and marijuana smoke would flow smoothly from the patio into the night sky and the conversation would be intelligent and sophisticated. At 25 I would definitely be the youngest and would probably be looked down upon by these sophisticated elders. Maybe I should just go home and be a loner.

Aeron answered and was happy to hear that I was coming. She gave me the address and just before hanging up she asked if I was excited to be the only guy at a party of eight girls. Me and 8 girls? Nice!

I was slightly intimidated by the thought that I would be the only guy. Don’t get me wrong, it was an exciting thought. But still, I was intimidated. I felt like I would be judged, both as Aeron’s new roommate and as a man in general, by my presence at this party. I better be ON tonight.

I began the 20 minute walk to Erin’s house. I purposely slowed my pace and forced myself to smile in a light-hearted way. I knew that if I could spend the next 20 minutes getting into the right frame of mind I would be able to radiate my positive, youthful energy to the girls and would give off a fun and charming impression – and hey, maybe meet an older woman in the process! I began saying hi to random people I walked by and engaging in quick conversations with the people beside me who waited at the stop light.

I arrived to the prestigious condo unit shortly after 10. Immediately I was blown away by the grandiose feeling this building gives off: False Creek waterfront, 26 levels, 225 large luxury suites including this $18 million penthouse suite. Wow, this is going to be an awesome night. But of course, a building this epic cannot be easy to get inside. I took me nearly 30 minutes, buzzing wrong units, prying on doors that were always locked, and sneaking into wrong entrances behind other tenants until I found the right entrance (I’m sure I wasn’t giving off the best impression to the security guards who were patrolling the building). As I finally entered the building, a little more stressed due to the “where the hell is the right door” debacle, I ran into Erin in the lobby. Her bubbly personality and her genuine character make her a pleasure to run into and tonight was no exception. She gave me a big smile from across the room which was followed by a big hug which calmed my nerves. We took the elevator upstairs and Erin began explaining the party scene. “There are 8 of us in total and we’ve been drinking wine and having appetizers all night. You know you’re the only boy tonight, right?” she exclaimed with a little wink in her right eye. I said nothing but gave her a pleased smile. I was ready for this.

As I entered the apartment, I tried to muster up every last ounce of energy and confidence that I had in me. I quickly reminded myself how. Loud projected voice, strong, upright posture, be in-the-moment, smile, have fun. Erin escorted me into the living room where the other 7 girls were sitting. Some sat cross-legged on the modern sofa, a few more were relaxed in leather love seats, and two sat on the floor positioning themselves perfectly next to the table full of appetizers and wine. They were all dressed exceptionally and each one drank a glass of wine. The scene immediately reminded me of Sex in the City. I love sophisticated girls. This was so different from the last few years of my life where I was used to the college life which included hanging out with early 20 year olds at house parties filled with people arguing over who won the last flip-cup contest. This was different and I liked it.

As soon as I entered the room the female energy escalated as they shouted phrases like “Oooww our male entertainment has arrived!” and “Stripper!” I playfully began pulling at my shirts buttons, pretending I was going to give them a personalized show. This must be every guys dream!

After the initial rush subdued, I went around the room and greeted each girl with a handshake. Erin came back to the living room and offered me a beer at which point I pulled up another love seat and positioned myself into the already formed circle. The conversation, still piqued from the only male arriving at the party, had a group conversation to it as Aeron and I explained the recent story of me walking in on her in her underwear. It was exciting, fun, and I was in my glory. The conversation naturally broke up and small mini conversations started to form. Sitting to my right was a beautiful young lady named Lindy. I struck up a conversation with her and quickly learned that after years of free work and unpaid internships, she now owned her own company that consulted fashion-related business throughout North America on how to use social media to best represent themselves and their brands. Being a striving entrepreneur and someone who is driven to the self-employed style of work, I immediately took a liking to her. Plus she wasn’t that bad to look at. Blond wavy hair flowed to her mid-back, big brown eyes attentively held the flow of the conversation, and her well dressed, well spoken professional image put it over the top. I officially had a crush.

An hour goes by and Aeron, realizing that she has to drive 18 hours to Saskatchewan the next day, announces she’s heading home and asked if I would like to join. Sensing that the party was breaking up and that I would have a free ride home, I agreed. I left that night thinking how cool it was to hang out with this group of sophisticated, older women. Man, my life is good!

Life continues and the party and Lindy are forgotten. Well, sort of. It’s not every day that you get to be the only guy at a party with 8 beautiful women so naturally I enjoyed bringing this story up to my friends. “You were the only guy with 8 girls?! How the hell did you swing that one?” was their usual response. It felt good.

Several weeks went by and I was surprised to realize that Lindy was still on my mind. She was cute – I would love to see her again. When Aeron brought up that night one day while sitting in our living room, I couldn’t help but mention what a fun time I had talking with Lindy. “I was really attracted to her that night. She was a complete cutie, had that sexy professional look to her, and the conversation was amazing.” I told Aeron, unsure of what her reaction would be.

“Wait, are you actually attracted to her or were you just attracted to the situation?” she said.

“No, I was definitely attracted to her. She was a complete cutie.” I responded. She was, right? She wasn’t the best looking one there that night but she was surely attractive. What’s with this question?

“Ok….” Aeron didn’t believe me, I could tell. But I remember, she had style. She was sophisticated and accomplished. She was a good conversationalist. And she was cute. Surely I was attracted to her, right? “You know she’s younger than you are, right?” Aeron continued.

“What! No way, she has to be at least late 20’s.” I didn’t believe it. How could she have done so much and be self-employed while being younger than 25. Not possible. Aeron, not being the type to go on hearsay, called her to get her age.

“Oh, you are 24,” I heard Aeron say, “Collin and I were just talking about that. He could’ve sworn that you were older because of everything you’ve done.” I couldn’t believe it, only 24 and she’s accomplished so much. I think I’m more attracted to her now. I secretly wanted Aeron to tell Lindy what we were talking about, how I was attracted to her, and to set up a time for us to hang out again, matchmaker style. That’s what a good roommate is for, right?

“Why were we talking about that? Um… we were just talking about the party from a while ago and Collin said… that he thought you were a great conversationalist.” Smooth, Aeron, smooth.

“What did she say when you told her I thought she was a good conversationalist?” I was hoping that she said something back, something like ‘Ya I had a great time with him, too’ or ‘Oh ya, he was really cute’. Instead she said ‘cool.’ I realized my wishful thinking was a bit of a fantasy. I took pleasure in the fact that she received a compliment which probably brightened up her day.

This morning, a week after that compliment was given, Aeron say’s, “Just to let you know Lindy is stopping by in a few hours.”

“Cool.” I was kind of excited to see her again. Maybe we’ll have another great conversation. But I wasn’t expecting fireworks to fly. I was curious to see whether that feeling I had at that party would still be there.

Lindy arrived a little after 2:00 pm. I had just got out of the shower and was in my room changing when I heard her arrived. I finished getting dressed and came out to be social. I expected to feel that attraction again. “Hey ladies!” I chimed as I came out of my room and around the corner of the living room. There she was sitting on the couch, the girl I had crushed over at a party nearly a month earlier. She was… different. This couldn’t be what she actually looked like, was it? I remember her being so… so… so hot. What happened? I was shocked to see her again. Shocked because the image I had in my mind was not what I was seeing in front of me. What happened to that beautiful smile, that perfectly shaped face, and that runner’s body that I remember? I remembered back to when Aeron questioned whether I was actually attracted to her or just attracted to the situation. She was right; I was just attracted to the situation.

I was surprised to realize that I could have been that misled by the emotion of the moment. I fully bought into the situation I was in and made myself believe that I was completely attracted to this girl. Don’t get me wrong she is still an amazing conversationalist and a great person through and through. But I wasn’t physically attracted to her like I thought I was. It was purely the emotion of the moment that made me think I was. I was fooled.

Jonathan Fields wrote a great post about selling to the driving emotion which I think really relates to this story. But I don’t think this is just limited to the art of selling. It’s for everything: reading a book, eating a meal, starting a business, or meeting a new person. If you can include emotion into each one of these activities, they will be more memorable and have greater influence on us. How many times do you remember eating a plain old boring bowl of Kraft dinner? You might remember them in general, but do you actually remember a specific one of them in such detail that you’ll never forget it? Probably not and if you do then it probably doesn’t impact your life in any significant way. But let’s say a birthday dinner out to a fancy restaurant with all your friends where you were served a delicious 10 oz filet mignon served with a cranberry pecan salad topped with crumbled goat cheese and drizzled with lemon vinaigrette while sipping a well aged glass of pinot noir. This will definitely be memorable and it will probably influence your future birthday dinners. And not just because it was more expensive than KD but because it is emotional. You had your friends, it was a birthday, and the food was presented in a beautiful way. Emotions not only sell but are memorable and influential as well.

Is it bad to influence people emotionally? I don’t think so. I may have been fooled to think that a girl was more attractive than she really was but is there anything wrong with that? If only we could be so lucky as to have that strong of emotions with each of our interactions.

So next time you cook someone a meal, write a new blog post, or meet someone new, try to make it more emotional and see how it affects the situation.

I’m not kidding. Seriously… it’s a fantastic idea, so hear me out:

That was the first line of the email. Not a bad email to get on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, eh!

I’ve had several emails from people asking if I want to collaborate on projects, to write books, or to discuss the next big idea. But no one’s asked if I want to shoot a porno. But before I do, I need to find out if you would buy it – would ya?!

Of course I’m kidding. And so was my friend who sent me the email… well, kind of. She did want to write/create a picture book about sexual health for peoples with disabilities. According to her I was perfect: I like talking about sex, I have the physical knowledge from my kin degree, and I would be a great male sex object. She had a niche market, she had done her research, she had the facts to back up why it was a good idea, and she had the perfect potential partner.

I’m a curious guy. I’m excited about new opportunities. I’m always interested in discussing new ideas. But do I want to be known as the “sexually objectified book writer for disabled people”?

As much as I like the Yes Man philosophy sometimes you just need to say no. If I’ve learned anything from studying personal branding it’s that you need to know who you want to be and then be consistent with your message. Confusingly, “sexually objectified book writer for disabled people” didn’t come up when I asked myself who I want to be.

Are there opportunities out there that aren’t a good fit for your brand yet you’ve taken before? Although it’s good to have lot’s of opportunities and experience, sometimes you just have to say no.

Sorry friend but I won’t be able to collaborate with you on this idea…

(and when you turn down an opportunity don’t say “but maybe later…” because that’s as bad as telling a girl you’ll call her when you know damn well you won’t. It’s just mean. Man up and stop that)

They must’ve been charging $5 a glass, right?

Wrong.

These two girls gave their lemonade away. And once you were drinking it they asked politely but confidently for a donation to help support their choir.

The key to making that much money was their product. As soon as you took that first sip, you realized that this lemonade would be worth whatever you chose to donate. And the girls knew that, too. Which made them confident to ask for a donation instead of a set price which would have just put a ceiling on what people would have given.

Create a remarkable product and tap into peoples emotional side (the money you donate will help our choir create beautiful music) and you will be more than likely to succeed.

“You have a responsibility to become more permeable…. You should share ideas liberally – if not for the sake of your own success, then for the sake of society.”

- Scott Belsky

Giving away your precious ideas may seem counter intuitive to some. What if someone steals them? What if you don’t get credit for them? Surely protecting them is the smart thing to do. Just look at Steve Jobs – he hoards all his ideas very close and Apple is extremely successful. Isn’t that what you should do, too?

Scott Belsky would argue otherwise. “My research indicates that sharing ideas significantly increases the odds of ideas gaining momentum and ultimately happening” he writes in his book Making Ideas Happen, “The fact is that great ideas are plentiful, and very few people have the discipline and resources to make them happen.”

Yet many people hold on to their ideas very closely. Charlie, my roommate for the last 3 years, would always bring up the point of protection when a new idea floated around our house of 5 guys. He studied a few business law courses and saw case studies of people losing their precious ideas. So it made sense that he would be cautious when it came time to sharing these potential million-dollar ideas. But I never agreed. I would hear him, but I wouldn’t listen. Ideas are free and they deserve to be shared. If they aren’t, how are they ever created?

Just look at TED.com. Their slogan is “Ideas Worth Spreading” and “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world”. Or how about openpatents.net, a site dedicated to sharing ideas. On their FAQ section, one question asks “So why should I give up my idea?” Here is their response:

Most of us will never get around to going after most of our ideas. We don’t have the time, money or strength to turn our ideas in to products that can sell. Even if we do this for some of our ideas, we usually have many more ideas that are totaly out of our expertise, and we’ll never get around to getting them out there. These are the ideas we should share on Open Patents!

Rebecca Thorman of the popular blog Modite would also agree. She has an entire series called “Free Idea Friday” which is dedicated to giving away free ideas. She’s a busy woman and can’t possibly start all of her ideas. So instead of hording them all and putting them on the back burner where they will most likely die in isolation, she shares them with the world. And why not? If you have an idea that will make everyone around you better then, as the quote at the top suggests, it’s your responsibility to share them – “if not for the sake of your own success, then for the sake of society.”

How about you? Are you keeping all your ideas close to heart, protecting them from the world? Or are you sharing them liberally? You know what you should do, now go do it.

But a lot happened before moving to Vancouver a little over a month ago…

Graduating university, I was pretty stoked to get some real education under my belt (school and education are very different). I work best in informal, self-directed situations so I was eager to light an intrinsically-fueled fire under my ass. I came out of the doors running as I immediately got involved in a real cool opportunity.

One Week Job Program

I heard of Sean Aiken and his One Week Job Project from an interview on personalbrandingblog.com. One man, one year, 52 jobs. Obviously this piqued my interest. His quest was simple: try to uncover his passion by working a ton of jobs in one year. His experience was so remarkable that he felt others should have the same opportunity. Thus he created the One Week Job Program, a chance for others to go on an 8 week/8job passion exploration. Plus he would give you money and guidance on how to do it. The best part was that there was a ton of flexibility so you could pick the jobs you wanted to learn about.

This opportunity seemed to good to pass up. The first week of May I began creating my written and video application.

The application process was North American wide and had two parts: the video and written application and then if you were chosen as a finalist, it was down to online voting.

Well, I was one of 7 finalists in all of NA and the only one from BC. I was stoked! Stoked at the thought of going on an epic adventure. Stoked at the thought of having thousands of people reading my blog posts. Stoked at the thought of the opportunities that would arise from this. I couldn’t help but have visions of body guards protecting me from all the pushy paparazzi as they swarmed to get interviews. I know, it was a bit unrealistic, but hey, I’m a dreamer.

After I got my head out of the “I’m going to be famous” cloud, I realized there was some serious promotional work that needed to be done. I facebooked everyone I knew, sent out emails to everyone on my list, persuaded friends and family members to send the voting link to their friends and families, and I even printed business cards to hand out to people in the street to encourage them to vote. It was an all out self-promotion war. And checking the poles became more addicting than checking email.

Voting lasted for 1 week and by day 3 I realized it would be tough for me to get into the top 3. The three girls ahead of me kept gaining more votes than I thought was possible and I didn’t know how to catch up.

I ended the contest in a respectable 4th place – one away from the top 3 positions. It was devastating at first. I really wanted that opportunity and now my visions of 8 weeks of body guards and paparazzi turned to visions of 8 weeks of Mom’s home cooking. The cooking’s good but not as delicious as an 8 week passion-seeking adventure.

Why didn’t I win? Twitter. The 3 girls who won twittered like crazy. I didn’t.

The point? If you need to reach large amounts of people really quickly, old traditional ways (handing out business cards) no longer makes the cut.

Sir Ken Robinson

I’m not the type to dwell on missed opportunities for very long. Instead, I focus my energy on what’s next. Turns out, I was in the middle of stumbling on a real cool group of people from all over the world who were very passionate about revolutionizing the school system, a topic I care a lot about. I happened to watch Ken’s latest TED video and was inspired to post my thoughts about it in the TED discussion forums below the video. Then I got to reading everyone else’s thoughts. And that generated more thoughts on my part that I shared. For about 2 weeks, I was addicted to checking this discussion forum. I had felt like I was stumbling onto a group of educated people who were discussing something really important to me: making our education system better.

It wasn’t long before we realized the need to create a group of some sort to capture and organize all these powerful thinkers into one place. And so The Learning Revolution group was created on FB. The beginnings were very modest with only several members. Yet it didn’t take long before we got up to several hundred people who would contribute to the discussions. It was phenomenal and my TED forum addiction got transferred to this. I felt like I found my tribe and I spent hours each day in difficult discussions. The group now sits at over 1000 members from all around the world. The group focuses on awareness (schools need to be better) and action (check out the idea school, created by one of our members).

This group was a great transition from the One Week Job program as it got the hamster running inside my brain. Ideas seemed to be pouring out from left right and center (my problem is not coming up with ideas but putting them into action). My favourite one is to create a school called “Explore Dream Create” that focuses on a project-based style of learning for entrepreneurs (more on that in the future).

If at all felt like the school system let you down, like it could be better, or that it needs to be changed, please stop off at the Facebook group and add to the discussion.

Career Chaos: The Book

The summer started off with me putting myself out there. I had to approach random strangers and ask for their support through online voting. Self-promotion is not easy for me. It makes me sick. I’m much better at selling someone else’s idea than selling my own. Usually I’ll stutter my words, get all nervous, and make my ideas sounds like I stole them from a homeless persons chanting monologue (there’s a lot of them in Vancouver – one even called me out on carrying a man purse).

This summer has been great and I’ve been putting myself out there every chance I get more often than before. For example, I’ve been busy calling and email people who do cool work. One fellow I really wanted to contact was Shawn MacDonnel, founder of Creativision. He gave a presentation at my university in February about finding out your interests and pursuing your passions. I thought his work was thought provoking, unique, and cool. I tried to take him out for lunch of buy him a coffee after the presentation but, expectedly, he was busy. Instead he gave me his business card and told me to follow up. Follow up is what I did. And boy did it go well.

After an hour of chatting about life, work, school, and dreams, I asked him what he saw himself doing in the next 5 – 10 years. “Collin, I have a really cool project I’m working on… well, I think it’s cool.” Shawn went on to explain to me how he wants to interview 100 people about the topic of career chaos, asking them “what do you want to be when you’re older?”

As he told me this, I did everything in my power to not interrupt him or LOL on the phone. It wasn’t that his self-proclaimed cool idea was funny. Not at all. But I was excited because I had come up with the exact same idea in March. However, after two attempted interviews and two “no’s”, I got discouraged and gave up.

When I told him I wanted to do a similar project to put together a resource for people like me, people who graduate university and still don’t know what to do with their lives, so they can make more informed choices based on what others had done before them, he said the most excited thing I had heard in months:

“Well, I like to collaborate.”

Him collaborate with me? This guy wants to write a book with me?! Ok Collin, breath. Inhale and exhale. Don’t scream into the phone and don’t jump up and down. Be cool.

I was stoked. I wanted to jump in the air as high as I could. But I realized how lame that would be. Instead, I said “that would be cool” in my suave, relaxed James Bond voice.

How I felt

How I acted

So for the last 3 months, Shawn and I have been out interviewing people and asking people “what do you want to be when you grow up?” The answers I’ve heard so far have been inspiring. And it’s cool to hear how many others are struggling with this question, too – I’m not alone!

Our plans for the book are as follows:

• begin blogging and sharing stories immediately.
• write an ebook.
• get a deal with a publishing company to write a full book.

Hopefully it pans out! But remember, you never know what will happen when you network and put yourself out there. For me, I got a cool opportunity to write a book and have meet and collaborated with amazing people all around the world through the Learning Revolution.

Put yourself out there and you’ll be amazed.

So this is update numero uno of my summer. A lot has happened but I’ll leave that for another post…

To Be Continued….

(didn’t you hate it growing up when you were watching a show like Fresh Prince and they would leave the episode with “To Be Continued…” – it drove me nuts! But I’m going to do it to you regardless muhaha!)

“Creativity is more likely in places where new ideas require less effort to be perceived”

– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

All innovation begins with creativity. Creativity is the first step to being an entrepreneur and becoming a trailblazer. But are you maximizing your chances of being creative?

A 2009 article in Scientific American Mind points to research that shows ceiling height has an influence on your creativity. The lower the ceiling, the less creative you’ll be.

I know, I know – you can’t change your ceiling height. Neither can I. But the important piece of information here is that your environment matters. You think your ceiling height is the only thing that matters? Unlikely.

So instead of standing on a chair and pushing on your ceiling on hopes of coming up with that million dollar idea, focus on the area you can control. I recently moved into a new home in Vancouver and went and bought a role of packaging paper and taped it to my wall:

My creative wall. On the left I have my felt pens, on the right I have white paper and notes posted up, and on the paper itself I have started to write out numerous ideas and projects I’m working on. For me, seeing things in the bigger picture helps me understand my work.

You don’t need to make a creative wall (but I swear it helps) but you should be thinking about how to make a creative environment for you to work it. Buy some plants, some artwork, get a small bookshelf and put all your most influential books on there for quick reference. Making your own creative space is a personal thing and you should come up with ideas for what makes you the most creative. But if you’re having a hard time thinking about what makes you creative, check out Stanfords d.school or search for “googleplex” on Google and be on your way to creating your brainstorming mecca (notice how both the d.school and the googleplex have high ceilings? Damn, maybe that is the secret after all…).