I am not sure why this quote from Tim Ferriss has had such an effect on me over the years, but it has:

“There have been several points in my life… at which I saw my future as another fat man in a midlife-crisis BMW.  I simply looked at those who were 15-20 years ahead of me on the same (professional) track… and it scared the hell out of me.”

This passage from “The 4-Hour Workweek” is one of the most motivating I have come across in current lifestyle lit.

Whenever I feel like my priorities are off or I am making bad long-term decisions I try to project out 20 years or so and think about what will happen if I continue life like this:

Boring Job – Will I be stuck in a mind-numbing job?  A close friend of mine just graduated from law school last weekend.  We had some downtime after the commencement ceremony and were talking about what motivated our generation relative to what motivated that of our parents.

We decided (perhaps unfairly) that whereas our parents’ generation had money as their main motivator when it came to professional life, our motivators were more lifestyle driven.

For example, if you wanted to recruit our parents’ generation when they were young professionals you could lock them in by promising to double their income.  That, while still attractive, would not go as far with our generation which would likely prefer a 50% increase in income, two weeks of additional paid vacation and the option to work from home.

More importantly, Gen Y professionals crave meaning in their work lives.  THAT is why the bald, fat man in the red BMW scares the crap out of us.  We don’t want to be corporate automatons.

Ridiculous Mortgage – As the options of mobile living and worldwide travel/work become more and more of a reality today, home ownership (with the recent memory of home values plummeting insanely) is less and less of a draw.  Why tie yourself down to one location?  Why sign yourself up for the golden handcuffs of an awful (yet well-paid) job just to pay the mortgage for a house that you have long-since come to resent despite its square footage?

Estranged Spouse and Kids – If there were ever a thing that the boomers proved conclusively, it is the fact that their obsession with work and materialism ruined families.  Time away from home skewed priorities and the Western epidemic of workaholism has added up to a lifestyle where relationships that should matter, don’t.  The result is the most dysfunctional set of family dynamics on record.

Overworked – Allow me to continue on the subject of workaholism. An entrepreneur friend of mine with a lot of physician friends says that he hears the same thing over and over:  “How do I get out of the rat race?  I want out!”  These doctors, while well paid, fully realize that if they stop working their 12 hour days, shuttling patients in and out of their offices, the game is over, no moolah.  So they are trapped.  And they hate it.

Obese – When you take on boomer work values you also take on their tendency to be obese.  Part of what’s so scary about the guy in the red BMW is that, despite his status symbol, he is a chunkster.  Nobody is impressed.  And worse yet, the rat race is only going to make it worse.  The downward spiral of horrible lifestyle decisions, fueled by comfort food, late hours, terrible relationship and anti-depressants is a heart attack waiting to happen.  We need something new.

Savvy, global do-gooding

We each have an opportunity to define this “new” lifestyle.  My goals behind CultureMutt are to help contribute to this conversation about a healthier, more compassionate, more exciting, more globally-minded lifestyle.  We need to get intentional about savvy, global do-gooding.  What is the cost of a little experimentation when the “norm” is the rat race and nobody healthy enjoys it?

Another Tim Ferriss quote:

“Gold is getting old.  The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility.  This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD).”

Stay tuned, the next couple posts will be about Lifestyle Design.

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Bjorn Karlman

They are a special breed.  You meet them in hostels and and tourist hot spots and volunteer hubs the world over.  They play hard but rarely work hard.  This is often their first time abroad. They are rebelling from very structured backgrounds.  They party a lot.  Too much.  And its often on their parents’ dime.  They are on a quest to find themselves.  Being away from home has them feeling insecure. So they over-compensate by big talk.  Often political talk.  And its typically deeply nationalistic.  It’s harmless patriotism gone harmful.  In every conversation they need their country to come out the victor.  It is nauseating.

Before you think I am singling out a certain country as the source of these patriotic party people I want to emphasize that I have seen all kinds of them.  From pretty much everywhere.  After all, it only takes a crude surplus of time, cheap beers and inexperience to have the perfect conditions for an (often young) traveler to start sounding off about how their country is the best and so clearly superior to the host culture for a litany of reasons.  What typically sets them off is a bad experience.  Someone was rude to them.  Their girlfriend / boyfriend back home broke up with them.  They embarrassed themselves in some way.

Their rhetoric is often deeply critical of the local situation.  I have often met them in volunteer contexts such as English language schools or humanitarian construction projects.  They are there as volunteers and visitors but they quickly let everyone know how much they wish they were home and how everything is better at home.  They disagree with how things are run locally.  If you have visited their home countries and dare to challenge their overly rosy picture of life there they quickly learn to despise you.

How do you help them?  I have found that very little works.  The answer is certainly not to try to fight them.  If you contradict them or try to humiliate them with superior knowledge of politics or (if you have it) a stronger understanding of their country and its place in the world, you will only put them on the defensive and intensify their vitriol.  One option is to ignore them.  But this may not be an option if you are working on a small team together in a volunteer context or if you both are staying in the same small hostel.

What sometimes works is befriending them and gradually showing them the benefits of toning down the rhetoric, letting up on the combative spirit and actually enjoying the host culture.   They are behaving the way they are because they come from a place of insecurity.  So if you can provide them with the security of friendship and a local connection, chances are they will appreciate it.  Surprise them the next time they start ranting about how bad the food / TV / service / transportation is locally and invite them to a local sporting event.  Bring your most mature local friend (briefing him or her on the patriotic partyhead’s tendency to be crudely nationalistic) and show the young irate one the time of his or her life.  Treat them extraordinarily well.  Hit the best local eatery after the game.  Introduce the young nationalist to some of the coolest locals you know.  Show him or her the  benefits of savvy, global do-gooding: Amazing local friends.  Ease of travel.  Adventure minus the agitation of stupid fights.  The buzz of experiencing the beauty of a culture that is not your own.  Get creative.  This may be your only chance to make an impression.

You may fail.  But chances are that regardless of the outcome they will remember the experience.  This, their first trip abroad may be a lost cause but the next time they set food overseas they may have a different perspective.

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Bjorn Karlman

Here’s a breakdown of the typical lunch in a few of the places I have lived:

Rural France:  Two leisurely hours of eating, talking and drinking.

A Filipino Fishing Village:   An hour of eating and socializing followed by another hour of a siesta nap, stretched out on bamboo platforms.

Buenos Aires, Argentina: A civilized break of an hour or so (enough to get to a decent restaurant)… rural areas and smaller towns shut down for lunch and take longer.

England and the United States:  A stale sandwich at your desk.

Sweden:  A buddy of mine Facebooked me with a link to the latest trend in Swedish urban culture:  Clubbing for lunch.   Here’s how it works (I’m not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed):

1)  People literally leave work for an hour and dance.

2)  The location looks like a club, complete with appropriate lighting (or lack thereof) and DJs spinning.

3)  No alcohol or drugs

4) There is food and drink (which most people grab on the way out)

5)  Clubbing for lunch has gotten so popular as a de-stressor that employers are starting to buy tickets and offer them to employees as perks.

Hierarchy?

As much as it is very tempting to be a cultural fundamentalist and insist that one system is better than the other, I am personally convinced that doing so is stupid.  First of all, you close yourself off to different ways of being human that could actually improve your life.  Second, you look like a bigot.  If I could have a dollar or euro for every time I have heard some Americans criticize Europeans for being lazy and unproductive and some Europeans criticize Americans for being workaholic fatties, I would be a modestly rich person taking multi-hour lunch breaks.  You never look like a good person when you blow off steam like this, just irate and inflexible.

Cultural Buffet

One of the fundamental ideas behind savvy, global do-gooding is to treat global cultures as a huge buffet… you as the cultural savant get to pick and choose of the best out there.  Do this with your lunch breaks.  Sure, it often makes sense to prioritize productivity and a strong work ethic.  But all work and no play makes you a very pathetic person.  So mix it up.  With more than just your lunch habits.

There is so much variety out there and the beauty of travel and the internet is that you have access to different views and cultural practices on a level that has previously been impossible.  Be a culturemutt.  Enjoy and practice the best of what you come across.

Life is beautiful and exposure to world cultures will make you a better, fuller person.  Get out there, explore and experiment.

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Bjorn Karlman

Have any FOBS in your life?  “FOB” stands for Fresh Off The Boat and basically refers to a very recent immigrant.  Today’s post, comes at the end of a week dealing with friendships so what more fitting a way to finish up than to tackle the topic of FOB friends?  Here’s how you pick one out in a crowd:

1)  They are making a peace sign at the camera in every photo – OK so this definitely holds for Asian FOBS… don’t hate me for pointing it out.  My wife did it as a joke sometimes when we first started dating.  Then she went to work in Korea for 6 months and it is now her permanent pic pose.

2)  They will gladly tell you that you are fat. – Especially FOB parents your parents age have no problem hitting you straight.  For more on FOB parents, click here.

3)  They can be super polite and then super blunt – Typical lines from FOBS:  “Excuse me, Bjorn, but do you mind if I tell you something?  You are such a nice boy and this makes me “embarrass”.  But your hair looks no good.”  WOW.

4)  They seriously think Vicks can fix EVERYTHING – When I lived in the Philippines they had something like Vicks that was believed to have all kinds of powers.  You could use it for any ailment, just rub it on where it hurts… I used it for a stomach ache once when I was 11.  It worked.

5)  They are SUPER cheap in everyday life and then they throw the BIGGEST BIRTHDAY PARTIES you have EVER SEEN – FOBS can be NEXT LEVEL cheap.  Check out the Happy Slip video above of the mom sawing the paper towel roll in half.  This is TYPICAL.  But then you go to a bday bash and they have rented out a hot venue, there is a band, tons of food and the place is packed. HUH??!!

6)  They’ve got plastic on the furniture they bought years ago. – How this is supposed to help their living rooms I DO NOT KNOW but I have seen this quite a bit.  And the plastic is getting ratty…

7)  They are VERY superstitious – My grandma, an otherwise intelligent, grounded woman would swear up and down that there were “little people” that lived in the forest in Sweden.  She would defend this belief to anyone.  I have FOB friends that you would never want to take camping because they could tell you ghost stories that would make you wet yourself.

I know you’ve got your own FOB spotting tips.  Hit me with them in the comments.

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Bjorn Karlman

It all started when I was a freshman in college.  A couple buddies and I had flown from Geneva down to the French Riviera and, after an action-packed weekend we were on the way back to Geneva.  Only we didn’t want to pay for the last night at the hostel, especially since we had a super early flight and it hardly seemed worth paying for a night of very little sleep.  So we took the train out to the airport in Nice and stumbled in a little before midnight.  We set up camp next to the check-in desk, laid our sleeping bags out on the floor and slept fairly well until it was time to catch the flight.  I was so happy with the experience that I have become a huge fan and evangelist for airport overnighting.  Here are the advantages, as I see them, to skipping on hotels and sleeping at airports instead:

Saving Money

As mentioned, this is what got me started sleeping in airports.  It is hard to find even motel accommodation in most world cities for less than $50 so if you are traveling on a budget and would rather spend your $50 (or much more) on something else, airports are a good option, at least for  a night or two.

Security

With a few commonsense steps, you can safeguard passports and wallets (I sleep with them in my pocket).  After that, airports are often fairly safe places to sleep.  They are patrolled constantly and there are security cameras everywhere.  I have spent many a night in airports and never once been robbed or given any trouble whatsoever.  You are more likely to be troubled in an open-plan dorm-style hostel (large rooms filled with beds) than you are at an airport because airports invest so heavily in security.

Facilities

One of my pet peeves about being on the road is the condition of restrooms.  I hate dirty restrooms and will often bluff my way into upscale hotels to use nice facilities.  The great thing about airports is that the restrooms are typically in respectable shape.  They are fairly clean, have toilet paper (in certain parts of the world this is far from a given in public facilities) and many airports have showers.  Check out this awesome site for ALL you would ever want to know about the best airports to overnight in and the amenities that each have.

It’s Stylish

OK, so not always.  But more and more stylish sleep pods like these in Atlanta and Philadelphia, these snooze cubes in Dubai and these super cool sleep boxes in Moscow make it not only easier to sleep in airports, but they allow you to do so in style.  A word of caution on these though… the pricing adds up to that of a hotel if you sleep for several hours so these sleep pods are more for shorter naps.  My preference is the trend in more and more airports to get rid of those ridiculous arm rests and simply create couches like the one below that I slept on for hours in Sacramento last Sunday.

Alright, those are my initial thoughts on sleeping in airports but I’d be interested in hearing your ideas.  Hit me with some in the comments.

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Bjorn Karlman

There’s nothing more miserable than feeling lonely and friendless while traveling or working abroad.  The tragic thing is that we often lose friends when abroad because we break some fundamental rules, often without meaning to.  Complete alienation is a sad, sad state and is to be avoided if at all possible.  To do so it helps to remember just how people lose friends.  Here’s a handy Top 10 List:

1)  Keep talking about how amazing it is back home – This one drives locals bonkers.  “Why did you come here if you were just going to talk about your amazing country all the time?”  It’s a valid question.  Blabbering on about your home country is insecure and discourteous.  Enjoy your host country for what it brings.  Wisconsin can be fully enjoyed in all its cheesy glory upon your return.

2)  Take it upon yourself to compare things to home – Here’s a related one that nevertheless needs to be emphasized.  NOBODY wants to know how big, small, cute, dirty or cramped the local transportation, monuments, stores or hotel rooms are compared to what you have at home.  Often these comparisons come across as patronizing and they are rarely appreciated.  Even if you are asked to compare something local to what you have at home, AVOID it, especially if there is any chance you will be perceived as looking down at the local scene.

3)  Be too eager – Don’t worry, if you have just arrived somewhere new you will eventually meet people and make friends.  Don’t be a desperate loser.  Over-eager types are avoided like the plague because they get exhausting on the trail.  Don’t be that person who pounces on locals or fellow travelers with a torrent of questions and over-enthusiastic talk about everything.

4)  Be a clingy life sap – Similarly, don’t be a leech.  Give your new friends some space.  You do not need to hang out with them 24/7.  Show some independence.  Go exploring on your own.  You don’t want to lose friends because you tire them out and never give them a break.

5)  Refuse to learn the language  - Nobody is saying you have to be fluent.  But don’t be so scared off by the local tongue that you don’t try to learn and use some of it.  By trying to speak the language you automatically endear yourself to locals.  You may think that you are going to embarrass yourself learning the new language.  You will.  But the damage of this is far less than if you refuse to learn and run the risk of looking elitist. 

6)  Only hang out with your kind – Abandon your comfort zone.  Do not hang out with only people from your country or only people that speak English.  This may be comfortable but by playing it safe you are shooting yourself in the foot.  You will ignore a ton of opportunities to interact with the amazing locals.

7)  Be a lifeless, unadventurous bore – This speaks for itself.  Take some risks, be adventurous.  Enjoy the unknown and try new things.  People will love you for it.

8)  Think you are a celebrity  - You may be lucky enough to get a lot of attention as the new arrival.  Don’t get a big head about it.  Be gracious.  Don’t take the attention for granted.  Use it to reach out to as many people as possible but don’t gloat about being the exotic new foreigner.  This gets old QUICK.  Make the best first impression possible.

9)  Don’t eat the local food – This happens with tourists all the time… they crowd around American fast food chains, pizza joints and Subway restaurants.  This is lame and is an apparent rejection of local cuisine.

10)  Get offended really easily – If you are an American or if you come from another major world power, get used to the fact that people are going to have a problem with some of your politicians and their policies.  Don’t let this get to you.  Expect it and learn to move on.  No point getting all bent out of shape.

How about you?  Lost any friends on the trail?  Let me know how in the comment section.

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Bjorn Karlman

enlightened slacker?

Travel to any global vagabonder magnet – Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Paris – you name it, and you are bound to come across a bunch of seriously confused, unemployed 20 somethings traveling on their parents’ dime and clueless as to what they are doing in life.  Start a conversation with them in hostels or streetside cafes and the picture quickly emerges:  They just finished college or are taking a break from school.  The job market sucks so they are stalling on finding a job and are instead traveling while they are still young and can do it.  They just got laid off and are drifting on severance pay.  They’ve rejected the 9-5 rat race and are now out to live on as little as possible and really enjoy life far from the distractions of the corporate grind.  Travel is a way to put off the nasty realities of life.  It’s the grand escape.

The Enlightened Traveler

Then there is the enlightened traveler.  To this type, travel is not an escape.  It is a deliberate life growth decision. For this kind of purposeful vagabonder, travel is a way to grow.  It is often well planned out – if not in terms of specific itinerary, more so in the sense that it was premeditated.  It was planned for financially.  It was a lifestyle decision.  A rejection of the suffocating norm.  An embrace of diversity.  A look into how much more life and the world has to offer.

The Grand Decision

The fact that both kinds of travelers are out there and the fact that we as travelers or internationally-minded lifestyle designers have a choice of how to live speaks to the richness of options out there.  Travel can be incredibly enriching or it can be a complete drain of resources.  You can emerge refreshed or financially and emotionally broke.  The grand decision lies with us.

Head in the Sand

The answer should not be to ignore the question.  I’ve talked to friends and colleagues that can see very little point in traveling or investing in an international broadening of horizons.  Why spend your money on travel when you could use it to enhance the day-to-day?  What’s so great about being somewhere else.? Why give up control, risk your own security and step out of your comfort role unless you need to?

Try It

Part of me says that if you have to ask these kinds of questions you are better off staying at home.  But the more hopeful side of me says that the response should be “just try it.”  Try traveling.  See if you can resist getting hooked on the thrill of adventure – the surge of adrenaline that comes with discovery – of the world and of yourself.  See if you can ever look at life and home the same way after you have experienced the chaotic beauty of the exotic urban capitol that is Bangkok.  See if a trip to the Vatican doesn’t inspire an awestruck appreciation for unmatched scale, class and architecture.  Go volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico and see if you don’t come back with a fresh perspective on life.  In short, see if you are ever the same again after giving yourself up to a genuine experience of travel, of “otherness” – even just once.

Grow Intentionally

No, the question of whether to gain or to lose from travel does not come from staying put.  It comes partly from trial and error but more so from a much deeper place.   Do you want to experience the best that the world has to offer?   Do you want to drink deeply of the richness in life?  Do you want to be transformed into someone that is more self-aware, compassionate, open-minded, tolerant and understanding?  Then choose to travel with these transformational qualities at you core.  Decide that whether it be a long weekend or a multi-year global trek, you will make travel the greatest growth experience of your life.

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Bjorn Karlman

Let me just preface my remarks by saying, “I am not good at this.”  I am not writing as an expert but rather as a fellow sufferer.  I wish I were better than I am at this and I feel like I should be after spending much of my life in some kind of international relocation or other.  What I am talking about is dealing with food I don’t like while traveling.  I suck at it.

Perhaps it is the Asian influence of my childhood years which taught me to run through walls to avoid offending someone or perhaps it is just my personality but if a host or local offers me food while I’m visiting, chances are I’ll have some of it, even if it makes me want to chuck.  And when they offer me more, no matter how bad the first serving was, I’ll likely ignore my gag reflex and endure another round.  It’s horrible, embarrassing and very much reality.

Drowning the offending food item in sauce/rice/water – One way I’ve found to compensate for my inability to say no at mealtimes is drowning the unsavory item in other food or washing it down with plenty of liquid.  When I was 16 and working in a little town in the northern part of the Philippines I remember eating huge amounts of rice with every bite of the fish that I did not like.  I don’t think anyone noticed and somehow the rice helped the fish to bypass my taste buds.

Take it, then disappear and don’t eat it – Alright, I hate to admit to this one but I’ve done it quite a few times in large group settings.  I distinctly remember pushing avocado ice cream and some goat stew off my plate (both times I was able to step outside and pull this off).  This may not work at the dinner table but it is great in potluck settings.  It seems that if you stack your plate first and eat almost all the food you can eat and then get up as though you are going for another serving, you can often subtly find a garbage can or bush that will allow for a quick offload.

Think of another food – This one may not work for everyone but it’s a trick my grandma taught me.  If you absolutely loath the food you are eating but you happen to be stuck with it, think of food you do like.  The gross food actually tasted better when I tried this.  As we mature into adults we forget the great power of the imagination.  If you are thinking about your favorite food maybe you’ll be able to stomach that one local dish that you can’t stand but people keep offering to you.

Suffer – If none of the above works there is always the option to grit your teeth (figuratively) and just suffer through.  This is obviously the least appealing option but if you aim to make friends and be adventurous in your culinary experiences oversees, you sometimes just have to munch through a few dishes that are horrible.  Think of it as your travel tax.  You are lucky to be traveling, an occasional unsavory bite may just have to be endured.

Hopefully an idea or two above will work for you on your next trip, service vacation or international food stop.  I know some of you are thinking “Why don’t you just say no?!!”  It’s obviously an option – just like saying “no” to time commitments or potential purchases.  It can be done tastefully if you place emphasis on the fact that you are so full or if you offer to take more of food that you actually do like.

Here’s the flip side though – your willingness to experiment when it comes to local food is often taken quite seriously by local hosts.  I’ve seen expats and travelers abruptly turn food down and locals often take offense or, at the very least, are unimpressed by the inflexibility of the visitor.  On the other hand, an open-minded attitude towards food shows that you don’t think you are “above” local culture and that you are genuinely open to experiencing the country.

So go forth, exercise good judgment and bon appétit!

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Bjorn Karlman

You've climbed to the top of Notre Dame in Paris. Your buddies could care less...

It’s rough coming back from a trip.  You are brimming with exciting stories, pictures and funny videos that you want to share with the world.  You want to take home all the excitement and adrenaline of the road.  You want your friends and families to get it, to share your excitement.  You want to regale them with tales of the trail – close encounters, exotic cuisine, crazy fellow travelers, beautiful sights and unpredictable adventures.

You are giddy with excitement as you grab your bags, rush through customs and head for passenger pick-up.  You strain and stand on tip-toe in arrivals, looking for the family member or friend’s car and the moment they arrive there is that flurry of excitement as hugs are exchanged, bags are thrown in the back, ugly glances are exchanged with traffic cops and you all jump in and pull out.

The loved one then asks the obligatory question:  “How was the trip?”  They may even muster “I want to know everything.”  Trust me, they don’t.  And here’s why:

1)  Travel stories are like situational humor – you had to be there.  Let’s be honest, there are few things easier to tune out than stories of amazing adventures that you did not get to go on.  If you were not there to experience it, it is hard to feel anything more than a very passing interest in what happened.  Do you care that cousin X had such a fantastic time bird watching in Costa Rica?  Not really. 

2)  Your goofy giddiness is actually kind of annoying.  I’m definitely guilty of this one.  I am more intense than most of my friends and when I tell you a story that I am really into, I really live into what I am telling you.  I get so engrossed in my storytelling that while some may enjoy it, others find it a little excessive and occasionally tell me as much:)

3)  Your stories are too far from their reality.  This is a reason not to be offended when people don’t really take an interest in the amazing time you have just had.  Their day-to-day reality is just too far removed from your stories of leisurely traipsing all over the French Riviera.  It’s not personal.  It’s just that it is hard to know where to file your accounts of spotting celebrities in Cannes, polishing off delectable baked creations from quaint little pâtisseries and lazing on fine sand beaches when reality is high gas prices and bad baby sitters at home.

4)  They’re jealous.  OK, maybe not everyone.  There are those that are genuinely happy for you.  Those that are able to live vicariously through you in a positive way.  But that’s the minority.  The most common internal response to your enthusiastic babble about safaris and Trans-Siberian rail trips?  “Shut up.”

5) You suck at telling stories.  Well, I can’t say this for sure.  You may be an excellent storyteller.  But keep your travel chronicles concise just in case.

6) They want to talk about them.  And here we arrive at the real reason nobody cares about your travel stories.  They want to tell you THEIR stories.  So settle down, stop uploading your thousands of pics and videos to Facebook and do some listening.  Hear them out and you might have some friends wiling to sit through your reminiscing.

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Bjorn Karlman

You cannot BELIEVE how excited I am.  I am going to break from the norm here on CultureMutt and ask you to PLEASE vote for me  (scroll down on the linked page and you’ll see my name listed). Why?

Jammie and I are giddy wth excitement!

Because Tim Ferriss, the TOP 1000 Blogger / New York Times Bestselling Author whom I look up to HUGELY, just shortlisted me from a group of about 300 fundraisers and I am now in the final group of 5 to be considered for a Round-the-World-Trip.

I could not believe that I had been shortlisted, it took a friend from Atlanta giving me the heads-up on Facebook for me to go and check the results.

It gets even better.  Even if I don’t win the RTW ticket, I still have a 3 out of 5 chance to be listed as one of 10 fundraisers that helped bring in $20,000 for one of three schools (with Tim’s matching gift the total raised will be $60,000 and his combined efforts will therefore build three schools) that are being built through the organization Room to Read.

Just over two weeks ago, on July 31st, I wrote What Really Matters to You, a post that helped to start get the ball rolling in terms of my own fundraising for the cause.  I explained that, in line with CultureMutt’s pursuit of “savvy, global do-gooding” I was supporting Tim Ferriss who

is absolutely one of the “architects of positive change” that I aim to emulate and write about.  He’s turning 34 and instead of b-day presents he’s asking people to donate to Room to Read – World Change Starts with Educated Children that, among other things, builds libraries in Asia and Africa.  His post invites readers to give to the cause and includes the hook that if you give and spread the word… he’ll include you in a drawing for a free round-the-world air ticket:

I ended up doing a ton of online promotion which you can read about on the voting page.  The result was that I made the cut and was listed as one of Tim’s top 5 promoters.  Tim’s readers are now voting on the best commenter/promoter out of the five shortlisted contestants.

I am trying to keep this post short and to the point but, once again, I would REALLY appreciate your vote.  My wife Jammie and I have already committed to visiting at least one of the schools/libraries that will be built as a result of this fundraising, regardless of whether I win or not.  But how much fun would it be to win!

The voting link  (look for the voting section at the bottom of Tim’s post)

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Bjorn Karlman