I am asking myself this morning what makes Revolutionary Misfit different? What makes this website idea that I envision as a forum for thought, conversation, and inspiration around a concept that I call impact mindfulness unique enough to deserve your attention?
The truth is that there are many good sites out there focused on living impactful lives. I follow many of them, like:
Scott Dinsmore’s Live Your Legend
Chris Guillebeau’s Art of Nonconformity
AJ Leon’s Pursuit of Everything
also Srinivas Rao’s blogcast – BlogcastFM
Thinking hard this morning about what truly sets my idea apart, I believe there is a big difference between Revolutionary Misfit and these sites.
The sites above deal with alternative career and lifestyle choices. That is a very timely topic these days and it has been since the economy collapsed in 2008. What many thought was the functional career path toward realizing the “American Dream”…
primary then secondary school – university – advanced degree or training – job for life – retirement…
suddenly, no longer works. The guru of the alternative career (Seth Godin) predicted the death of the industrial age some time ago and the birth of a new era in which you must “ship your art.”
And that is what those sites are about…discovering, creating and shipping your art.
And this thing called the internet has now developed to the point that traditional career path thinking is indeed outmoded. All of a sudden the opportunity has emerged to do what one loves and make a living at it…online…anywhere.
OK, I get all that. I love those ideas and I am inspired by all of the above sites. In fact, I have been making my living primarily online now for over a decade. That is why I follow them.
But the fact that alternative career choices are suddenly the trend and making an impact has now become more interesting than simply making a buck, doesn’t answer the question of…
WHY?
I admit my idea for Revolutionary Misfit and Impact Mindfulness is more philosophical than practical. I do not envision the site as a practical guide to alternative career or lifestyle design. It centers more on the philosophical why than it does on the practical whats or hows.
Revolutionary Misfit focuses more on the philosophical why than it does on the practical whats or hows.
And that is a pretty important distinction…I think. People need a why…and now more than ever. And the why proposed by Revolutionary Misfit is Impact Mindfulness.
The why proposed by Revolutionary Misfit is Impact Mindfulness.
Lately I have written about what I believe are the three prongs or legs upon which the idea of impact mindfulness stands. They are:
– Prioritizing Impact over Interest
– The Big US
– Removing Impact Blinders
Impact over Interest – This idea penetrates to the heart of what impact mindfulness is about, as well as why it is different. The other sites place the priority on interest. That is, figuring out what you are interested in and creating a life around it. That’s great. However, when we place priority on interest, we tend to live our lives ensconced inside our compact interest bubbles. Anything on the outside escapes our notice. The idea being that there is simply too much noise to allow anything and everything to penetrate the membrane. And the harder we work to keep the noise out, the thicker the membrane becomes. Impact mindfulness suggests breaking the bubble and being open to all universal calls for impact. That is the essence…prioritizing impact, even when doing so is outside our immediate interest.
The Big US – Impact mindfulness proposes that the universe does not recognize fictitious boundary lines (geographical or mental) that only serve to constrain our realms of impact (i.e., the small us). And we shouldn’t either. It is rather a “we’re all in this boat together” mindset.
Removing Impact Blinders – Here is where impact mindfulness can take a predominantly philosophical turn. For it adamantly disregards ideological or dogmatic patterns of thought that constrain our realms of impact. Impact mindfulness strives for a form of free thinking that seeks the absolute goods of truth and love.
From what I have written above I believe it is clear that this site will indeed be different.
What do you think?
[…] have previously listed what I believe are the three prongs (or legs, or pillars…you pick the appendage) of “impact […]