1 Share the Badass Manifesto on The Badass Manifesto Live Like You Have a Pair By Lisa Creech Bledsoe The Glowing Edge | Fight For It Dallas: Well... some of you may have figured out we're not home yet, we're only half way there. Mother's interrupted the course of our journey. She's programmed to do that should certain conditions arise. They have. It seems that she has... intercepted a transmission of unknown origin. She got us up to check it out. Ripley: A transmission? Out here? Lambert: What kind of a transmission? Dallas: Acoustical beacon. It, uh... repeats at intervals of 12 seconds. Kane: S.O.S.? Dallas: I don't know. Ripley: Human? Dallas: Unknown. – Alien, 1979 2 Share the Badass Manifesto on Shit you should know before you start First of all you may be asking yourself, could I write this book without swearing? The answer is yes. But I didn't. I don't plan to coddle you in other ways, either. There are plenty of websites and gurus who will give you the message that everything's fine, you're okey-dokey just the way you are, don't worry about those mean people – they don't understand you like I do, the timing isn't right, wait for your prince or ship or winning lottery ticket, etc. I hope you're sick of that shit. I know I am. The reason I wrote this is because I think you've been coddled for too long. You have a sneaking suspicion that there's waaay more to life, love, art, relationships, health, and work than you've gotten so far. The world isn't a perpetually sunny utopia filled with unicorns, with cupcakes and juice boxes for all. A call for badass warriors The truth is that the world is filled with opposing forces, battling for supremacy. I don't care if you're a dedicated pacifist (and some of these are the greatest badasses of all), our world needs warriors. People with inner zen and outer bad who never back down from a fight worth having. Badasses. Yes, a badass is a sinner (which makes you a candidate!), but they are also absolutely ordinary people. Authentic. They live on the edge, act despite their fears, and they don't tolerate bullshit. Sometimes they look isolated, and in fact that's part of what is hard about being a badass – people are glad to have you around so long as you're saving their bacon, but they also hope you'll go away so that they don't have to take responsibility for their own lives or feel bad about the busted crap everywhere. Badasses are not good to have around if you're trying to maintain the status quo. But they don't act alone, no matter how it appears. They have a posse. Mentors, trainers, a tribe. 3 Share the Badass Manifesto on And yes, there are lots of fun, lighthearted ways to talk about badassery. Jackie Chan is supreme at this; he has serious skills (Hapkido black belt, operatic vocalist, stunt man) but isn't afraid to make a goofy comedy. Facebook is filled with funny comments about being badass. If you haven't seen any of the badass puppy meme, you better check it out now, because it's epic. There are also plenty of people who will go down in history as being crazy motherfuckers who left a trail of bodies and destruction in their wake and never gave something wonderful to the world. That's not badass, that's just criminal. You don't have to be a felon to be a badass. But it IS in the nature of badassery to be destructive. Because there are a lot of things in this world that need to be stopped, broken, put an end to. If that makes you cringe, good. This book may serve you well in the same way that learning to be bad served me. Some things need to be torn down before they can be rebuilt. Where this is going My reason for writing this is to share a little bit of my journey (more coming on that below) and more importantly, show you how you can become a badass, too. The first section is a warning. Because this isn't for everyone, and it isn't necessarily pretty. I'll tell you what your three choices are, and you can decide what to do about them. And I'll tell you where I began this journey. In the second section, I'll explain to you at least 7 reasons why the odds are stacked against most people. You may find yourself on this list. It's my hope that you'll decide to forcibly rip your name off of it. Forever. I'll also give you a bit more about me, then share the 15 characteristics of a true badass. This is the first beating heart of the book. (There are two beating hearts.) (I know, that's a bit weird.) (You ain't seen nothin' yet.) In the third section, you'll hear what's possibly the most painful piece of my story. Don't worry, it 4 Share the Badass Manifesto on doesn't get gory. And it has a good ending, but the lessons definitely are not what you might expect. Then I'll tell you the single big thing you need to know before you decide you want to be a badass. And then you'll get right into the second beating heart of the book: How to become a badass and live like you have a pair. Thirteen principles to make you an ass-kicker like no other. The last section will ask the single most important question of the entire Manifesto: What are YOU fighting for? There's also an invitation to join the fight team I'm a part of, and a little taste of the Fight For It program. Here's what that looks like in Table of Contents form... The Badass Manifesto, Part One Warning A badass is made, not born Your three choices This is not an S.O.S. How I became a badass (part 1) The Badass Manifesto, Part Two The odds are against you How I became a badass (part 2) 15 characteristics of a true badass The Badass Manifesto, Part Three How I became a badass (part 3) So you wanna be a badass? How to become a badass and live like you have a pair The Badass Manifesto, Part Four What are you fighting for? Join the fight team Learn to fight for it Share the badassery 5 Share the Badass Manifesto on Who the hell am I? And how the hell do I know anything about this? Well, that's part of what I'm going to tell you. But for now you should know that I didn't start out asking to be bad. I used to think, “I'm not badass. Lieutenant Ellen Ripley is badass.” Which is why I let Sigourney Weaver's famous character from the Alien movies describe the way the fight comes to you, like it came to her and it came, eventually, to me. I'm not a huge fan of the “all you need is positive thinking” camp or the “manifest your way to inner peace or a million dollars” group. I didn't meditate my way into boxing. I love rainbow-wielding peaceniks but I tend to find my toughest problems impervious to their impact. My life has needed a 12 pound sledgehammer with a 36 inch fiberglass handle and a rubber grip more frequently than happy thoughts. Which is not to say I'm not positive-minded, or creative. I'm intensely both. My degree and career are in the fine arts; I've been a writer all my life. It's just that bad cultural training poured a layer of slow- hardening concrete over my soul and secured it in hard plastic clamshell packaging. That shit will kill you. As we go, my story will come out – most of it, anyway – and maybe yours will too. Why should you care? We are in the middle of a cultural, personal, corporate, communal, [insert your descriptor here] shitstorm, and somebody needs to tell it like it is and call up others to do the same. And more than that, we need to learn to bust a few heads and kick some butts. It's not complicated, I'm not writing a master's thesis here. Just a couple of quick notes about the warning signs all around you, the forces hoping to eat you alive, the lies you're telling yourself, the characteristics of badassery, and how you can live like you have a pair (balls, ovaries, you choose). 6 Share the Badass Manifesto on More fight power Also, I'm building a tribe of like-minded badasses, and I want you to be a part of it. If you're reading this book because you got it free on Amazon or Kindle or just forwarded by a friend, I hope you'll come join a fabulous group of fighters I'm connected with. Who do you give a wider berth to, when you're walking down the street: a lone badass or a whole freaking pack of them? Right. That's why we want you in the pack. There's fight power in numbers, and you may just find you could use somebody who has your back.