a brief guide to world domination* HOW TO LIVE A REMARKABLE LIFE IN A CONVENTIONAL WORLD *and other important goals By Chris Guillebeau THIS REPORT is 100% non-COMMERCIAL AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY AFFILIATE LINKS A Brief Guide to World Domination Copyright © 2008 Chris Guillebeau. All rights reserved. Layout by Reese Spykerman Important: If you have access to a printer, please PRINT this report. You’ll get a lot more out of it if you’re not reading it from a monitor. Take it to your favorite coffee shop, read it at home in your comfortable chair, or bring it with you on the airplane the next time you travel. There are a number of hyperlinks in the report that lead to more information online. Whenever you’re at the computer you can follow each link to read more or check out a resource I recommend, but it’s still better to read the report in printed form if you can. 2 A BRIEF GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION World Domination Table of Contents PART ONE: What You’ll Learn in PART THREE: The Crowded PART FOUR: The Plan of Attack These 29 Pages World and the Way to Break and How to Overcome • Introduction Through the Noise the Challenges • Who Should Read This Report • Do We Really Live in a World so • The Toolkit for World Domination Distracted that the Truth Can’t • • The Plan of Attack What You Need to Know First Be Heard? • • My Upcoming Plans What’s the Catch? • A Small Blog with 50,000 Subscribers • Farewell from Singapore Airlines’ • The $6.7 Million Dollar Lecture PART TWO: The Unremarkably Seat 4D • 50 Marathons in 50 Days Average Versus the • Fixing What Is Wrong with Charities Remarkable Few APPENDIX: Acknowledgements • How to Be Unremarkably Average • The Vision To Rule (and Change) and Resources the World • The Two Most Important Questions in the Universe • Challenges You’ll Face • A Big Problem and the Simple Answer Copyright © 2008 ChrisGuillebeau.com GREATNESS If you want it badly enough, and are willing to make some changes in your life to cause it to happen, you too can take over the world… or do anything else you really want to do. Yes, you really can have it all. The only things you’ll need to give up are assumptions, expectations, and the comfort zone that holds you back from greatness. PARTpart one ONEwhat you’ll learn in these 29 pages 4 A BRIEF GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION “Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” -ALAN KEIGHTLEY THIS IS A MANIFESTO THAT CAN LITER- Who Should Read This Report Some are professionals fighting to ALLY HELP YOU TAKE OVER THE WORLD. I should warn you now that this report change the status quo in their industries, If you’ve ever wanted to invade a small is not for everyone. In fact, it’s probably while others are involved in rewriting the country and become your own benevo- not for most people. Instead of writing rules in institutions especially known lent dictator, the next 29 pages will help for the general public, I spent about 35 for being resistant to change, such as you prepare to do exactly that. hours writing these pages for a small churches or universities. Still others are minority of people interested in living doing something completely different, If you have any other worthy ambitions, life on their own terms while making a perhaps something that’s never been like starting your own business, becom- dramatic, positive difference in the lives done before. ing a successful artist, or something else, of others at the same time. the report will also help with those goals. It’s a lonely road for those of us who In short, I wrote it for people who are choose to be remarkable, and the path of You’ll also learn how your own personal serious about ruling—or at least chang- convention can sometimes be appealing. goals can be directly related to helping ing—the world. That path is paved with safe lives, middle other people. While you are pursuing of the road monotony, and little chance your big ideas, you can also make a dif- How this remarkable minority will end of failure. But where’s the fun in being ference in the lives of others at the same up taking over the world varies consider- like everyone else out there? time. I’ll tell you a few stories of ordinary ably. Some are artists of all kinds, from people who have been doing this in very painters to writers to musicians; others By the way, this report is affiliate-link unique ways, and help you get started are entrepreneurs who have started busi- free. I have several recommendations for with your own plan of attack. nesses that radically shift the way we live you here, but I won’t earn money or any our lives. other benefit from your taking action on Copyright © 2008 ChrisGuillebeau.com any of them. (Also, most of the recom- No matter what you have been told, no A Quick Introduction mendations are free.) matter what has happened to you, and no But wait—I’m probably getting ahead of matter what mistakes you’ve made, you myself. Who am I to tell you all this? What You Need to Know First can completely change the way you live every day of your life. You can focus the I’d like to let you in on a big secret, right You can read my whole story here, but majority of your time on the things you here at the beginning. Whether you go the short version is that I have been self- enjoy, and you can also make an incredi- on to read the rest of this report or leave employed for my entire adult life and ble difference in the lives of other people it behind and move on with the rest of have never had the dreaded “real job.” I while you are at it. your life, please remember one thing. recently turned 30 years old, so I figured Are you ready? Here it is: that since I’ve made it this far, there’s In fact, they are counting on you to do no sense in looking for one of those real exactly that. You don’t have to live your life the way jobs now. other people expect you to. What’s the Catch? In 2006 I returned to the U.S. after spend- I’ve put the best world domination If you’re still with me, you may be won- ing four years as a volunteer in West instructions right here in the beginning, dering what the catch is. There always is Africa. During that time, I lived in Sierra so pay attention to that statement. If one, right? Leone, Liberia, and six other African you come to understand and apply it to countries, helping to improve access to the hundreds of choices you make every Well, not really. I’m not out to sell you healthcare and clean water in the world’s day, no one will be able to stop you from anything, and this report is entirely non- poorest places. whatever it is you want to do. commercial. However, I should warn you in advance: nothing is for sale here, but I worked with everyone from presidents If you want it badly enough, and are will- free ideas can have tremendous value. to warlords, and learned a lot about un- ing to make some changes in your life to conventional living in the process. The cause it to happen, you too can take over Victor Hugo once said, “One can resist four years I spent in Africa was by far the the world… or do anything else you really the invasion of an army but one cannot most rewarding experience I’ve ever had, want to do. Yes, you really can have it all. resist the invasion of ideas.” After you and I only left it behind to enter a gradu- The only things you’ll need to give up use these ideas to take over the world, ate program at the University of Wash- are assumptions, expectations, and the I’ll show you a couple ways you can give ington in late 2006. comfort zone that holds you back from back. But don’t worry, you won’t need greatness. to do that until you’ve invaded your first The conversation about world domi- small country. Does that work for you? nation started earlier this year when I 6 A BRIEF GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION was getting ready to finish my master’s years (I’ve been to 83 so far, but there are degree. A couple of friends asked me a lot more). In addition to the crusade what I was going to do next, and at first against convention, my web site docu- I didn’t know how to answer. I went ments the progress toward this goal with through the list of “normal” responses blog posts from every country I go to. to that question—maybe I’ll start a new You can follow along or contribute your business, enter a Ph.D. program, go back own ideas on the site through email to Africa, etc. updates, RSS, or just by checking back every couple of days. But after thinking about it for a long time, I started telling people, “I’m going to start my own social movement.” (Here’s a quick side lesson: if you want to know who your real friends are, start telling your craziest idea to everyone you meet.