The Uncommon Life

Common: Dreaming of a life of travel while working for yourself.

Uncommon: There are a lot of people who fantasize about traveling the world and working from anywhere on their own schedule. Few people actually do it. Natalie Sisson is one of these adventurous, risk-taking souls. But, according to her, she wasn’t always this way.

We crossed paths on an entrepreneur retreat in the middle of the Costa Rican rainforest in 2009.  After learning more about her background and her renewed passion for entrepreneurship, we stayed in contact and I’ve been observing her already impressive list of adventures only grow in number. Today, I’m reaching out to her all the way to Buenos Aires—her newest hotspot (well, for a little while anyway).

KH: In a few sentences, what’s your life story and how did you end up working full time from Buenos Aires?

NS: I’m a Kiwi entrepreneur, passionate about getting more women into business, travelling the world, and playing Ultimate Frisbee. I left New Zealand in 2006 to go and live in London for 2.5 years. Following that I moved to Vancouver, Canada, to play in the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships. I was determined to start my own business after almost 10 years working in the corporate world of brand marketing, product management, and new business development.

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Common: Going through traditional daily motions and working from habit rather than effective strategy.

Uncommon: On New Years Day I chose a theme for 2011: Adventure over comfort and convenience.  This involved setting some rather challenging goals considering the limited time I have available. To my surprise, however, pursuing these additional goals boosted my productivity.  Now at the end of the first quarter of 2011, I’ll share some of the things I have learned that will hopefully help you do more of what you want as well.

To add some context, below are some highlights of things I have done in the past 60 days:

• Traveled to: San Francisco, Dominican Republic, Boston, New York, Beijing, and Singapore (working and sightseeing at each)
• Finalized a 10,000 word ebook (available soon)
• Processed over 3,000 emails
• Read 3 books
• Personally rebranded and designed TheUncommonLife.com
• Personally designed my next (3^rd) upcoming blog: 25tolifeblog.com
• Managed and given guest speeches for Cool Stuff Media Inc., my publishing company
• Managed The Lost Boys Project, LLC, my real estate company
• Posted several new articles to TheUncommonLife.com and MaximsForMavericks.com
• Written several guest articles for YoungEntrepreneurCouncil.com
• Exercised 4 days a week (on average)
• Taken 3 weekend trips to San Clemente to visit friends and family
• Taken a full load at USC (essays, speeches, and midterms) and maintained my position on the Dean’s List

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I don’t believe anyone sets out in life to be mediocre, ordinary, or “common.” Deep down, we desire more than that, but all too often we give in to the weight of social obligations, others’ expectations, personal fears, and the allure of low hanging fruit.

It goes without saying that “settling” is the choice of least resistance and therefore, the path of the common folk. But despite the odds, there are always some who stand boldly in the face of life’s challenges and temptations.  Not surprisingly, they achieve the extraordinary and become exceptional.

It’s not difficult, nor worthwhile, to list the ingredients of the common life. But it’s always beneficial to explore the anatomy of life’s inspirational anomalies.  In a few short minutes, I came up with 53 different, but complimentary, factors of a remarkable person.

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Common: Subscribing to traditional beliefs about a universal reality with predetermined parameters about what is practical and possible.

Uncommon: From a young age we’re told tales of this daunting place called the “real world.”  It’s a place where practicality always trumps imagination and undaunted ambition.  “Better dream now and enjoy it,” we’re implicitly told, “because when you grow up you’ll realize that things don’t work that way in the real world.”

Advice about the “real world” may come with good intentions, but that doesn’t make it accurate.  What someone else finds true need not become your dogma.

With boundless aspirations emerging as a teen, I encountered many people who tired to rein me into their “real world” with the following cautionary counsel:

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Common: Unintended negative consequences due to assuming there is a space outside of the “real world.”

Uncommon: “You better think about your future,” we are told at a young age, “so when the time comes, you can succeed in the real world.”

This advice bothers me because it creates a false reality.  Although the intention might be positive, it’s not fully accurate and therefore, misleading.

To fuel the delusion, this counsel doesn’t cease upon graduating from middle school—in fact, it doesn’t even stop at college graduation with the dreaded “welcome to the real world” speech. It often still repeats throughout our lifetime, almost suggesting we exist in a parallel universe, but not the “real” one. Read More →

Common: Spending time, money, and energy on education without converting it to sustainable value. Note: this is the 2nd part of this series. View part 1.

Uncommon: Learning is important. Very important. I would never deny that. However, as I explained in part 1, learning can quickly and easily become a self-indulgent addiction in the information age that deters us from the action required for any level of success. As I have more subtly pointed out before:

Too often we confuse engagement with productivity.

Yes, there are a lot of smart, wealthy individuals in this world – we hear of these stories most often. But the side of the story seldom discussed is the fact that there are even more poor and struggling geniuses in this world. Read More →

Common: A mundane life of sheltered by comfort and convenience.

Uncommon: My last post got me thinking. With some reflection and assessment I recognized a very surprising personal trend of mine in 2010 that I wish not to repeat.

I refer to this discovery as “surprising” because I see myself as an adventure seeker. I enjoy a change of scenery, a new challenge, and the thrill of experiencing the unknown. But, I’ve realized in 2010 I compromised this intrinsic drive on more occasions than I’d like to admit. And now, I want to put a stop to it.

My decade long quest of researching behavior has taught me that humans are master justifiers (yes, that includes me). Regardless of consequence, we are fully capable of labeling any personal decision or behavior as justifiable. And this rationale can easily detain us a in a pattern of comfort and convenience, slowly and clandestinely keeping us away from our goals and our ideal life. Let me share an example. Read More →

Common: Finding yourself stuck in an unfulfilling annual process cordially called “life.”

Uncommon: Going through life without assessing performance, results, and direction only encourages monotony and mediocrity. Machines were created for mindless, rote tasks, not humans. In fact, what makes us unique compared to even the most sophisticated robots is our ability to reflect and ruminate.

Life should not be a mundane process – and nor does it need to be. With some thought, reflection, and planning life can become a journey of purpose and passion.  But I assure you, this doesn’t happen without being proactive and very honest with yourself. Keep in mind:

If you do not confront your past, you are destined to repeat it.

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Common: Spending time, money, and energy on education without converting it to sustainable value.

Uncommon: Alcohol and many other drugs are addicting. You already knew that. But what I denied for a long time is how a seemingly positive longing for education can also become an addiction.

If you told me 5 years ago that too much learning could be detrimental, I would have sought the nearest soapbox to beam my message of opposition. But during these last two years, as I’ve spent an increasing amount of time online, I’ve realized how a deep desire to learn can actually become a liability at times.  Allow me to explain (with a rather surprising confession).

Years ago, a term was introduced by those in the tight circles of the self-help industry that was used to refer to clients and avid supporters who became addicted to self-help material and the positive environment that many such conventions provided.  These people were appropriately called “self-help junkies.”  Now, of course, the term has become mainstream.  These individuals get their “high” by attending personal develop seminars, bobbing around the nearest guru with ogle-eyes, and chain book-reading, among other things. These behaviors are fine… in moderation, and if balanced with application. Read More →

Common: Missed opportunities and repeated lackluster results as a result of habitual thinking.

Uncommon: Too easily and too often we assume our perspectives are the best, most logical, and perhaps only way to interpret the world. But this train of thought is not only fallacious, but perilous. We shut doors of opportunity and growth that we didn’t even know existed.

These consequences apply to our personal lives, our relationships, our businesses, and beyond.

The challenge we face is identifying our own stubborn or ignorant tendencies (acting as the uninformed and misinformed) when they occur. Easier said than done, but possible – and a worthy goal.

Our most common traps, perhaps, are assuming: Read More →

Common: When assuming the negative becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Uncommon: Before you started reading this article you had to assume at least one thing: That reading this would be worth your time.  Before you brushed your teeth this morning you may have assumed that not doing so would lead to a cavity. Before getting in your car and driving to work you had to assume that you would arrive safely.

Do you see the pattern?  Assumptions are a very, very big part of our lives.  They are literally the gatekeepers of behavior — and for the most part, the majority of us are not even consciously aware of the assumptions we make day in and day out.

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Common: When a lack of information and/or inaccurate information perpetuates fear, doubt, and stupid behavior.

Uncommon: After spending one decade researching the topic of human behavior I’ve noticed some important trends that have led to a surprisingly simple theory of mine:

The sources of our greatest problems are two fold: One, a lack of information and two, perhaps most importantly, a plethora of wrong information.

Accordingly, we can divide the majority of the population into two camps:

1. The uninformed
2. The misinformed

Yet, here we are, supposedly the wittiest species on Earth making fundamental erroneous assumptions that undermine our ability to triumph over our more inherent human flaws. But ignorance need not be one of those flaws. Even in our super-connected, fast-paced, informational and technological age, we paradoxically still suffer from many harsh consequences of this needless ignorance.

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