50 Things Your Life Doesn't Need , livre ebook

Turner Publishing Company - Sam Davidson

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73 pages

English

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Description

Life as a series of distractions is seldom passionate and may even feel purposeless. But eliminating all the background noise, in search of that one intelligent passion that imparts to life a meaningful goal, can be difficult. For those in search of their calling, 50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need offers simple ways to fine-tune the frequency so that finding your passion becomes feasible. What are some things that you could eliminate to make your passionate contribution to the world a realizable goal? How about

long commutes to and from the workplace
storage units for all that extra stuff
small dreams and bucket lists
a tyranny of T-shirts
unbatched errands and bad wine
this book

That’s right, this book. But you will have to read it to find out why!

Sujets

Santé et bien-être

Bien-être émotionnel

Bien-être

Happiness

Self-help

Personal Growth

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	24 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781618581167
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Praise for 50 Things
“In a consumption-driven economy like ours, where every man, woman, and child is constantly being told to—be more, buy more, get more—it is more than refreshing to read Sam Davidson’s 50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need. This book could well become a manifesto of sorts—a liberating tract to open the door to a vital and compelling review of what is really important in life.”

—Robert L. E. Egger, President, DC Central Kitchen/ Campus Kitchens Project/V3 Campaign, and author of Begging for Change
“50 Things is the coup d’etat of conventional life; a re- sounding snap-of-the-fingers that wakes us from our daze and enables us to start living a life bubbling over with richness. You’ll want to slam the book closed and run out the door to conquer the world.”

—Adrian Reif, Lifetime Wanderer, Founder of Yumbutter, a local & gourmet nut butter company in Madison, Wisconsin

“A ‘field manual’ for doing life more abundantly. [Sam Davidson’s] passion leads us to discover our passions and to live well, with meaning.”

—Bo Prosser, Author, Speaker, and Coordinator of Con- gregational Life, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

“You don’t need this book, but you need to face the questions it raises.”

—Thomas Kleinert, Senior Minister, Vine Street Christian Church

Turner Publishing Company

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www.turnerpublishing.com

50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need

Copyright © 2010 Sam Davidson

All rights reserved.
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Davidson, Sam, 1980- 50 things your life doesn’t need / Sam Davidson. p. cm.
9781618581167
1. Conduct of life. 2. Self-realization. I. Title. II. Title: Fifty things your life doesn’t need.

BF637.C5D37 2010 158.1--dc22

Printed in the United States of America

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Nothing much happens without a dream. For something really great to happen, it takes a great dream.

~Robert Greenleaf
Table of Contents
Praise for 50 Things Title Page Copyright Page Epigraph Acknowledgments Dedication Introduction 1 - No Self-examination: Asking yourself the hard questions 2 - Small dreams: It’s called dreaming for a reason 3 - Untaken risks: Parachutes are meant to be opened 4 - Drama: Why most crises are needless 5 - An expensive car: You paid a lot for an hour of enjoyment 6 - Five thousand Facebook friends: The weak ties rarely bind 7 - Stuff from SkyMall: What happened to your judgment at 30,000 feet? 8 - Dishonesty : There is no such thing as a little lie 9 - Things you wear once: It’s okay to find yourself in someone else’s pants 10 - Textbooks : Outdated the moment you bought it 11 - Bad wine: It’s time to find a drink you love 12 - Pictures that don’t mean anything: Defining sentiment for yourself 13 - Unpassionate activism: Find your cause and dive in 14 - More than one junk drawer: One is enough 15 - Unused suitcases: The world really is your oyster 16 - Fraternity pins: College is over. Move on 17 - Empty journals: Get it write 18 - The latest digital toy: Why first is rarely best 19 - Bottled water: Why pay $3 for something that costs 16 cents? 20 - Boring hobbies: If it doesn’t excite you, don’t do it 21 - T-shirts that serve as proof of something: No one cares where you were last night 22 - Analog versions of digital stuff: Let technology work for you 23 - Instruction manuals : Learn something intimately 24 - Tax returns older than seven years: Knowing when the window has closed 25 - Anything belonging to an ex: Love in the now 26 - Unbatched errands: Planning ahead pays 27 - Seasonal dishes: Those Santa cups are ugly 28 - Gadgets that only do one thing: It’s okay to multitask 29 - Regret : Carpe diem 30 - Unknown relatives: Find out where you came from 31 - Unvoiced love: Say what you feel 32 - Anything from an infomercial: I know it’s late, but you can learn how to chop onions yourself 33 - More TVs than people in your house: Don’t be afraid of turn-offs 34 - Shiny tennis shoes: Go away, far away 35 - Bucket lists: Stop making lists and just do everything you’ve always wanted to do 36 - Noise : Find what’s informative and get more of it 37 - Poor finances: How not to worry about money ever again 38 - Someone else’s expectations: These are your dreams, not theirs 39 - A storage unit: If you’re not using it, lose it 40 - Fast food: The beauty and agony of getting dinner for $2 41 - Worry : Spend time correcting problems, not creating more 42 - Seven Deadly Sins: Put balance in your life 43 - A long commute: Distance makes the heart grow angrier 44 - Complaints without action: Do something 45 - Lines : Don’t wait around 46 - Extra cheese: Only indulge when it’s worth it 47 - A job you hate: Turn your passion into your profession 48 - Perfection: Why good enough can be pretty awesome 49 - Unvisited or former friends: Put the “Face” in Facebook 50 - This book: My publisher may hate me, but I’ve got to be honest Conclusion: - Now that life is simpler, it’s time to find your passion About Cool People Care
Acknowledgments
No book is ever written alone. Even though the author’s name graces the cover and the accolades for the book are his, he could not have written it without the generous help of others. This book is proof that no writer goes about his craft in a vacuum.
Thanks to my parents, I have been able to pursue my passion of telling stories that need telling in order to motivate others to change the things that need changing. Their love and support of my craft began before I said my first sentence (“Tie shoes.”) and will undoubtedly continue until I stop talking.
Thanks to my wife and daughter, I have felt more love and support than one man deserves. That feeling has been a rock in my personal storms of uncertainty while writing this book. I do nothing in my life without the two of them in mind, whether it’s changing jobs, writing a book, or indulging a new passion. Being a husband and father are my foremost identities and to be great at both of them is my life’s highest ambition.
Thanks to Ben Grier, this book has a title, became properly organized, and was written with a clear purpose in mind. He read it more than he should have, not because he felt obligated, but because he is an enduring friend.
Thanks to Angie Gore, my ideas became a book. Her support throughout the project has allowed me to focus on developing the core ideas, which I hope will inspire people to begin to live life with passion, unencumbered by everything they don’t need.
Thanks to the team at Turner Publishing, this resource will be a reality. From editing to marketing to production, the team is a professional organization that aims to publish books that enable people to live better lives.
Thanks to countless others for their love and support throughout this process, I was able to get where I am today. From founding a company intent on saving the world, to producing apparel and merchandise that makes a difference for communities across the U.S., I have been honored to be a teammate with some of the most passionate people on the planet. You are my inspiration, and proof that anyone can find their passion and live a life full of it.
To Lynnette and Lindley. If it all comes down to one thing, you two are it.
Introduction
This isn’t a book about stuff. It’s a book about passion. It’s a book about priorities. It’s a book about you and the kind of life you want to live and the kind of person you want to be.
Very few of us have dared to think about the kinds of lives we really want to live. We claim we can’t find time for quiet reflection or deep introspection. Daily responsibilities and routines demand our attention, leaving no time for self-discovery. Modern technology, countless forms of entertainment, and many other distractions also combine to keep us from figuring out what the point of all of it is.
As a result, we fill our houses with things, buying whatever it is that’s new on the shelves or carries a promise of self-improvement or a glimmer of hope that we can be a better, happier person. Before too long, however, our homes are filled with things and our hearts are empty of meaning. In a brief moment of inspiration, we find empty boxes to fill with the things we no longer want or use, thinking the extra space will give us room to breathe and that in this way maybe tomorrow will be different.
But it isn’t. The inspiration is temporary and before long, new things replace the old things and we clean out again and then press repeat. The solution isn’t less stuff. The answer is more passion.
As for books about passion themselves, there are far too many already, promising easy plans for finding ways to land dream jobs, live a life of leisure, and be famous, all for one low price. Those books may work for lots of people, but I’ve found that they don’t work for someone like me. Their ambitious words seem to fall short in a real world full of real commitments.
Whether you’re a full-time dad trying to teach your children to be honest, loving, and caring people, or whether you’re trying your hardest to climb the ladder as fast and as far as you can, I think this book can offer you something those other books may not. That’s because if each of us were willing to pause for just a moment and ask ourselves what we’d really like to do with our one life, the answer would probably be the same. We want to do something, but not just anything. We want to do something remarkable. We want to do something meaningful, something lasting and with im