Ready to live up to your own standards of success? Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity and one of the writers at the Escape Velocity blog talks about what it means to him to carve his own path:

CR: How do you define “The Art of Non-Conformity”? And why did you write this book?

CG: The central message is: You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to. You can do good things for yourself and for others at the same time — and here are the stories of people who have done that in different ways.

Part of the answer about why I wrote the book is admittedly circular: I wrote it because I always wanted to be a writer, and traditionally, writers have written books. That’s changing now, of course, but I still believe that old-school print books are special and reach a different group of people than those of us who live online.

I was also challenged by the longer format, and forced to (hopefully) create a broader narrative instead of just a blog post

CR: Why do you think so many people are afraid of challenging the status quo and settling for mediocrity?

CG: Because the status quo is comfortable, and no one will ever question for you for doing things the same way everyone else does.

CR: You believe that more people are held back by fear and insecurities rather than circumstances. How can people go about changing that?

CG: First of all, acknowledge the fear and don’t try to be fearless. I was terrified of leaving home and moving to West Africa eight years ago. I was terrified of starting an online project with my name on it for the world to see. I hate criticism and take it personally even though I shouldn’t. But yet, I just keep doing things. So I think that’s the second part of the answer — first, acknowledge your fear, and second, don’t let fear make your decisions for you.

CR: What about the people who don’t really know what they want out of life? How can they define success?

CG: I’d start by asking questions. What are you excited about? What did you like to do when you were a kid? Then I’d take it farther and ask What bothers you about the world? There are plenty of problems out there; which one bothers you the most and how can you work towards fixing it?

This kind of thinking is helpful if you’re trying to figure yourself out.

CR: You focus on an abundance mindset. In the area of personal finance, why do you advocate increasing income over cutting expenses? Do you think this applies to everyone?

CG: If you have a low income, there’s only so much you can cut. You’ll gain much more freedom and opportunity by finding a way to increase income. I think of it as a general rule, not necessarily something that applies in every case.

CR: How do you decide what to say yes to and what to say no to in business and in life?

CG: My strategy has been to say yes to everything! I hate the idea that you must be selective, say no 10 times for every 1 yes, etc. Perhaps it’s not truly everything, but whatever success I’ve had has come from being open and excited about new adventures.

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Thanks to Chris for sharing his insights on how you can pursue the art of non-conformity. His book by the same name is available everywhere!