The street is chock full of complaints about how life is too busy, too boring, too normal, too purposeless, too meaningless.
Forget the normal life – these people and organizations have taken the liberty of taking control of their own destinies and found their passions outside of the box in various refreshing ways. For some, it is often for a cause much larger than themselves.
Need inspiration to do the same? Here it is – my top 9 list of unconventional passions you should check out right now.
My constant source of inspiration, Chris Guillebeau (Founder of The Art of Non-Conformity) is indeed the chief revolutionary of the non-conformity movement that is rocking the conventional world of yesterday.
Chris Guillebeau writes about personal development and life planning, entrepreneurship and unconventional work, with the theme of non-conformity linking all of them. He also has an awesome goal of visiting every country in the world, and has visited more than 150 countries so far – you can view his progress here.
Many of his thoughts and ideas are similar to mine – definitely worth checking out!
Recommended post to start with: Why You Should Quit Your Job And Travel Around The World
A local non-profit organization founded by Singaporeans for Singaporeans youths, established to empower young people to Be Strong, To Serve. How are they doing that? Their aim is to bring together a community of Singaporean and Global youth leaders who are keen to use new media, technology and their various talents and passions for good, and aid them in pursuing their various projects.
The projects undertaken by this community are pretty fantastic – some fairly unconventional: Dragon boating, shuffling, travelling without money, helping out at elderly homes.
More importantly, every project has a strong rationale behind it pointing it back towards society at large. For example, Jailbreak 2012 (travelling without money) aims to get people to do something truly out of their comfort zone and test their personal limits. They did this by travelling all the way to Bangkok without money within 48 hours – quite a feat in itself. You can find out more about this project here.
If you’re seeking to find a project that can put your talents and passions to work, or to create a project centered around your passions that can contribute back to society in one way or another, this might be the place to find or create it.
Recommended post to start with: Our Vision
3) Zappos
Zappos is an online store for men and women apparel. But that’s not what they are famous for. What they are famous for, is their incredible customer service and working culture. Check out this statement on their About page:
“We’ve been asked by a lot of people how we’ve grown so quickly, and the answer is actually really simple… We’ve aligned the entire organization around one mission: to provide the best customer service possible. Internally, we call this our WOW philosophy.”
Wow! Usually companies would opt to place lines about how they have amazing revenue, best products around the globe, and so on. Not Zappos. These guys want to make it known that they have the best customer service in the world. Not only that, but their other focus is on “The Zappos Family Culture”, which can be found here. Definitely unconventional in the business world – a great example of passions beyond the norm.
The passion in this company isn’t solely in the making of money. It lies in amazing work and service culture. Brilliant, and out of the usual business box.
Recommended post to start with: The Zappos Family Culture Blog
4) Man vs. Debt
We all know how the typical Singaporean life path is a path of loans and debts that never seem to disappear at any point. Adam Baker and his wife Courtney were on that path a few years back – only theirs was the American life path (which is similar). With two car loans, several credit cards, loans from parents and student loans, it was a living nightmare for them.
In crisis, it seems, the most inspired and daring solutions seem to rise up. Within a few years, they aggressively cleared up their debt by sell everything they owned and living a frugal and credit-free lifestyle. At this moment, they still have debt, but they are well on their way – and enjoying the journey.
At the same time, they started this site with the intention of sharing their experiences in dealing with debt and personal finance, which will free one up to pursue his/her passions. Their message is simple:
“The first step to living a life of passion and purpose is to remove the barriers that hold you back.”
Trying to find out how to de-clutter your life? This is the ultimate example.
Recommended post to start with: 42 Ways To Radically Simplify Your Financial Life
Travelling around the world, living the life you’ve always wanted wherever you want to, while at the same time generating steady paychecks online. Sounds too good to be true?
Fact: Owing to the incredible connectivity of the online world today, Digital Nomads are popping up everywhere in the world in droves, smashing the established convention of the 9-to-5 job.
Never Ending Voyage is a blog started by a couple who have sold everything (!) to travel the world indefinitely (!!). In their words:
“It was awe-inspiring and beautiful and frustrating and scary and exciting – it was everything but dull.”
So far they have spent a year in South America (2010), before continuing onward towards Asia, bypassing Panama, Costa Rica, USA, Cananda, and England – all this while running their own web design and development business, in the style of the Digital Nomad.
Their blog features tips on long term travel, language learning, and becoming a digital nomad.
Recommended post to start with: How To Sell All Your Stuff – Part I
6) World Vision
As of 2012, almost 1 in 7 people in the world are hungry, with children being the most visible victims of undernutrition , playing a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year. That is almost equivalent to the entire population of Singapore. Think about that for a moment, and let it sink in.
If you knew that the entire population of Singapore was going to die in a year, wouldn’t you scramble to find a way to save them?
This is where World Vision comes in. World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. They are in the business of transforming communities, responding to disasters, and seeking global change – world-changers in their own right.
Looking to help the less fortunate, and save lives? Find out how you can right here.
Recommended post to start with: Child Sponsorship Stories
The life of a writer is traditionally known to be one where the writer in question is always struggling to meet the next deadline, bending over backwards to find his next client, and please him to find his next paycheck. It is an art that many enjoy, but few actually dare to dedicate their lives to.
Enter Jeff Goins. Armed with a curiosity as to how successful writers managed to make their living and be published, without giving up their creative lives, he opened this blog to showcase his thoughts and results of his research. This was what he found:
“What I found in this search was a community of like-minded individuals sharing many of the same struggles with the craft. Here is where we wage war on the blank page, where we band together to find purpose in our art and lives.”
What separates him from other writers online is his authenticity – in the words of one blogger, he “writes from his heart, and it bleeds over the screen”.
If you’re a struggling writer (or artist of any type), you will definitely find comfort and advice here.
Recommended post to start with: The One Fear That Will Destroy Your Art
8 ) charity: water
Scott Harrison’s (Founder of charity: water) story is one that one that exemplifies the principles expounded on The Original Life. His story began as such:
“In 2004, I left the streets of New York City for the shores of West Africa. I’d made my living for years in the big Apple promoting top nightclubs and fashion events, for the most part living selfishly and arrogantly. Desperately unhappy, I needed to change. Faced with spiritual bankruptcy, I wanted desperately to revive a lost Christian faith with action and asked the question: What would the opposite of my life look like?”
What he needed was a break from the conventional “high life”, and find a cause larger than himself. He managed to find this in West Africa, where he served as a ship photojournalist on board a floating hospital with a group called Mercy Ships. It was there that he came face to face with the incredible poverty in the world today, and a single solution that could make their lives better: charity.
From there, an organization that focused on the most basic human need was born – bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
A brilliant example of looking outside the self, and finding a need in the world bigger than oneself, the story of this organization and it’s vision will spur you into action.
Recommended post to start with: charity:water Mission
9) TOMS
Can you imagine being barefoot wherever you go, no matter where you are, and what you are doing? I couldn’t imagine it – it would probably be quite uncomfortable and dirty.
In 2006, while on a visit, American traveler Blake Mycoskie found out that children in Argentina were in that exact predicament, except far worse – they were developing soil-transmitted diseases through the skin on their bare feet, as well as infections through any cuts and sores. Adding insult to injury, shoes were a required part of the uniform of certain schools, and as a result, many children without shoes could not get the education they needed.
Touched by the need, Blake took action:
“Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.”
Again, another excellent example of a man seeing the need of the people around him, and reaching out, taking action to provide and remedy.
Recommended post to start with: Sunrise
Heard of any other extraordinary people and organizations that are unconventional in nature? Tell me about them and share the love!