“I’ve found my Burning Man”, I texted my sister on my third day attending the World Domination Summit (WDS).
What is the World Domination Summit? Like Burning Man (which I have never attended), there is no single answer. All kinds of people gather for all kinds of reasons to share all kinds of things. From dreamers to doers, from community builders to serious entrepreneurs, from introverts to bagpipe players, the diversity is celebrated as attendees support and encourage each other.
The purpose of WDS 2014: to contemplate the question “How Do We Live a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World?”.
The values of WDS: Community, Adventure, Service.
My original thoughts about these 3 words were rather conventional. I should have known better. As the weekend progressed, I experienced what these values mean to WDS’ers. Community is about supporting each other, being open, connecting, being in a safe place to take risks. Adventure isn’t always about travel and bungee jumping, but about doing something brave, getting out of your comfort zone, attempting something that might fail, facing your fear. And service is not just about putting in some volunteer hours – its about using your skills in a way that brings up other people, makes the world a better place, and promotes love.
When meeting someone new at WDS, the question was more likely to be “What are you hoping to get from this weekend?” instead of “What do you do?”. Since I am just starting on a new path, one that will lead somewhere that I’m not sure about yet, it was encouraging to remember that it isn’t all about what you are doing, but also what you are striving towards.
The speakers were inspiring: Put yourself out there, leave your comfort zone, pursue your dreams – there is no way to fail in trying. Say your dreams out loud, take imperfect action, ask yourself what brave decision do I need to make today and what is one brave thing I want to do but haven’t. Do things before you are ready, be an expert at the attempt, create accountability, find your voice and use it to do good things in the world, do the work (even when it is boring). Design your life with intention. Just start.
And that is exactly what I was there to do.
Months ago, I decided I wanted to have a blog to share how I plan to do something brave and unconventional in my own life. I put many hours into learning about blogging and websites. I got caught up in studying the digital nomad, the blogger, the WordPress guru, the lifestyle designer. None of these things involved me writing and they certainly didn’t involve me telling anyone that my blog existed. I wanted it to be polished, to have enough content so it looked like I wasn’t new, to have a voice that can only really be developed over time.
I was afraid.
The answer was to push past that fear. Three days before I was leaving for WDS, at 10pm on a Sunday night, I ordered business cards. No, they don’t have my logo on them because I don’t have a logo yet. I didn’t particularly like that color of green and the font didn’t allow the words to be visually appealing. I did not put my twitter or Facebook info on there, which I should have. But I knew that if I was ever going to tell anyone about my blog, WDS would be the place to do it. I chose imperfect action over inaction.
The whole weekend was mind blowing. There is so much I could say about my experiences and my thoughts, that I almost didn’t say anything at all. But my people are rooting for me. I want to show up to WDS2015 with a story of bravery.
(Armosa Studios)