The World Domination ( #wds2013 ) wrap up – for those of us who weren’t there!

OK, so I have to get this off my chest first. I really would have loved to be in Portland last weekend for the marvelous Chris Guillebeau‘s third annual World Domination Summit. I’ve wanted to go since the first one, but since it coincides with my family’s yearly mecca to the Big Island of Hawaii I’ve been forced (meaning pausing occasionally between Mai-Tais) to follow along vicariously via twitter.

My reasons for wanting to attend are

• A whole host of bloggers I enjoy and respect participate.
• I resonate with the three main themes of the event: Community, Adventure and Service
• I am a complete social butterfly and the idea of partying with 2800+ like minded folks totally jazzes me up.

All this being said, I was in Hawaii. Fabulous, breezy, umbrella drink filled, sandy, cares blowing away Hawaii! Hardly a consolation prize but I still found myself obsessed with following the #WDS twitter stream. SO I asked myself why? Was this a simple case of envy?

It seems WDS speaker Gretchen Rubin, of Happiness Project fame, hit upon the very questions I needed to ask:

Yes, I pretty much envy everyone who was there! The interesting part comes with the “Why?” I am envious because I feel like I’m missing out. I hate missing out.

When I was in middle school my family went to Bermuda and I was unable to attend my 8th grade prom. My friend Michael asked me to go with him and I had to say no! Bermuda was great but I spent the rest of my eighth grade year believing my potential popularity was ruined by not attending that dance.

Rationally I know that every choice requires saying no all the other options. We can never be everywhere and do everything. I know this yet I still want it all. I still want to be one of the cool kids at the dance!

Thankfully, the twitter stream had more for me:

Yes, sadness. There is sadness in knowing I can’t have it all. You see, I always thought that somehow, someday I would be able to construct my life in a way so that I could do it all. (Landmark and Mission Control friends need not remind me of how often I’ve had this epiphany before!)

As Gretchen said, coming to grips with the truth of who we are allows an opening to enjoy what is available to us! Of course she was speaking more about our inherent personal traits but it works well in this situation too. I didn’t get to be there, and likely won’t have the opportunity in the future BUT I can still glean all sorts of goodness from the event. For goodness sake, in this way I’m in exactly the same position as the attendees. The event is over so now it is time to utilize the inspiration in our lives.

I have to believe that Chris and all the presenters want the event to be more than a “really great time” and in the end the difference will be made by those of us who use what was said to produce something actionable and amazing.

In pursuit of this goal, here are a few takeaways I’m committed to embracing:

• Via Darren Rowse, Problogger, who apparently conducted his presentation in a superman costume!

Become hyper obsessed with providing value and do something everyday to move closer to your dreams.

I have to admit to kind of drifting along in terms of “providing value.” I have a nice blog but what I really want to do is inspire people to find incredible joy and bliss EVERYDAY. Not occasionally, not even regularly. EVERY freakin’ day!! The blog is Bliss HABITS and I’ve done very little, as of late, to help folks cultivate delight in a way that becomes a habit. It is time to focus on being useful!

 

• From Jia Jiang who conducted a 100 day “rejection therapy” project.

Get comfortable with rejection!

I was thoroughly enthralled with the idea of making outrageous requests and seeing what happens. How have you let the fear of rejection keep you from your dreams? Perhaps your own rejection therapy is needed!

I so see my own project in the making… stay tuned!

 

• Via Chase Jarvis Photography and Creativity guru.

The solution to our problems is creativity.

I have long felt creativity is the source of everything but the tweets about Chase’s presentation made me realize I haven’t really developed a regular creativity practice, more than the occasional “Creativity week” on Bliss Habits. Once again, I see a theme developing here, I have no regular HABIT of creativity and it is time to develop one.

One of my “bucket list” items is to invent something useful so I am particularly moved by the advice  “Create a plan to solve an interesting problem.” What area of your life could be improved by applying some creativity? Trick question since obviously anything would, but I think it can make a big difference if we apply some intention to the process!

 

• Via Nancy Duarte, bestselling author of Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences.

A Call to Action

What an ah ha moment! “Give the audience their bliss!” We’ve already discussed the HABIT part of the equation but not giving folks a call to action is depriving folks of the very thing I am promising to deliver: BLISS!

There was also some really poignant info about good story telling and using stories to make a difference too. Which brings me to:

 

• The final tidbit I’d like to share 

Jump right in!

Our stories are waiting to be told! No I wasn’t able to attend but because of the sharing from all the generous twitter-ers I was able to participate! Follow #wds2013 and you can too. Reading the recaps and stories from the event are certain to inspire but even more importantly if you take even one of the ideas and have it make a difference in your and other people’s lives, you will be on your way to creating something amazing.

Today is your day for world domination!

 

Many thanks to all the fabulous attendee twitter-ers, the marvelous presenters and to Chris Guillebeau for creating such a terrific event. Yes, I’d love to have been there, but just knowing that all of you marvelous folks are out in the world with me is a powerful gift! To World Domination of the most extraordinary kind!! XOXO Kathy

 

Attendees and fellow un-attendees, let me know in a comment  or in the Linky below about your powerful and actionable takeaways! Let’s keep the party going!