See that baby face up there?  That’s my friend Karol–pronounced like Carl–who is a writer, traveler, & all around adventure-seeking bad ass over at Ridiculously Extraordinary.  Right now he’s living in Poland, but before that he was downing noodles in Thailand, dodging kangaroos in Australia, and doing the zen thing in India, to name a few.  Today is a big day for him–it’s the launch of his latest book, How to Live Anywhere, where he details exactly the various methods he uses to earn money online in order to fund his travels and, essentially, gain the freedom that we all crave.

In order to help him spread the word, I begged and I pleaded and did everything short of propose marriage if he would be so kind as to grace us with a guest post.  Fortunately, Karol was more than happy to, and even more fortunately, I didn’t actually have to propose marriage because, after all, what if he had said yes?  Though, I suppose on the bright side, since money bags over here is doing so well with his online projects, he could have taken us on a wicked honeymoon–with a butler, even, I bet.

My two favorite quotes from his book:

1.  “The balance between recklessness and frightened paralysis too often strays

to the side of paralysis. Do your homework, but don’t let fear

keep you from realizing your dream.”

2.   “You need to start thinking about what you’re going to do

before you get the money or else your life will only revolve

around the money.”

Score.

So, if you’re in the market for a layout of action steps that you can take in order to start making money online & be able to go on wild and crazy adventures around the world, I’d strongly encourage you to check out his book here:

And now without further ado, I bring you the one and only, Karol Gadja.  I can’t pronounce his last name, either, so don’t worry.

How to Start a Revolution (Or 3 Ways to Change the World)

I read Ash’s work because she’s starting a revolution and it’s fun to watch.  Maybe you’d like to start a revolution and change the world as well.  I hope so.  We need more revolutionaries.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty revolutionary world-changing bad-assery we’ve got to figure out how to change the world.

To change the world, you first have to define your world.  Once you’ve defined your world, you rule your world and anything goes.

I have regular conversations with people who have seemingly big dreams and big goals. World changing goals like ending poverty and AIDS.

Here’s the problem:  Those goals are admirable, but unapproachable.  They’re so far out of grasp that they’re almost not real.  Like a beauty pageant contestant who says she wants to end world hunger.  Be honest with yourself.  Choose big goals that you can take action towards accomplishing right now.

Make your world smaller and then you can instigate real change.

For example, instead of eliminating world poverty, how about helping just one family in need?

Back when I lived in Orlando, FL I belonged to an entrepreneurial organization for a short while. Every holiday season they would somehow, some way, find a family that was struggling and proceed to rock there world. How? Food, gifts for the kids, cash, clothes. Each member of the club would bring something to the table. When all 50 of us came together with something small we managed to change the world.

Yes, it was a small world, but it was a powerful change none-the-less.

I’m not saying you should do exactly that, but once you’ve defined your world you give yourself an immense amount of power to

revolutionize.

Now, 3 ways to start a revolution and change the world (your world):

1) Start A Blog: Write The Revolution

Simple. Get a Web host that has 1-click install of WordPress (most Web hosts do nowadays) and write your revolution. If you’ve already got revolutionary ideas to write about, great! If you think you’re just normal and can’t change the world, you’re wrong.

Seriously, you are unique. There is something fantastic inside you that the world needs to know about. Tell us. Share. Revolutionize!

Like I mentioned earlier we need more awesome people to spread their awesome ideas.  The Middle Finger Project is about rebelling against mediocrity. Go! Kick ass! Inspire others to kick ass!

2) Engage In Long Term Travel: Encounter The Revolution

This isn’t about getting holier-than-thou or pretentious.  It’s like this: Travel teaches you to respect people. Travel forces you to make bold actions.  Travel allows you to face your fears and come out on top.  OK, sometimes you’ll fall flat on your ass, but you’ll learn how to deal with that as well.

And I don’t mean travel as in going to Paris for a week or taking a 3 day holiday to the beach.  That’s fun too!  But I mean traveling by getting down and dirty.  Extending yourself.  Getting out of your comfort zone.  Leave for a month, 2 months, 6 months, 3 years!

I get e-mails every day from people who wish they could live in a new countries and experience new cultures.

My response is always:  You can!

Not only do we need more bad asses spreading their ideas via written form, but we also need you spreading your ideas live, face-to-face with people in every city and country on this big blue ball.

(Editor’s Note: Have a big announcement coming to the site in the next couple of weeks related to this topic.  For those of you who have been aching to find your appetite for life once again, & are interested in exploring travel as a medium for doing so, you might just have your chance.)

3) Start A Business: Enable The Revolution

It’s more difficult to start a revolution while you’re living life at a day job. It’s not necessarily easy to get rid of a day job and

change the world, but since when was being a revolutionary supposed to be easy?

What I can tell you is that freeing up your heart, mind, and time from a day job is worth it.  I’ve worked for myself for 10 years, and every day that I wake up I’m more inspired to initiate change in my world than the day before.  The passion grows consistently.  In another 10 years I might just explode. (Thankfully, science is on my side, and that is unlikely.)

Starting a business that allows you the freedom to do what you want enables you the freedom to change the world.

1. You fantasize about ripping that freaking fish right off of the back of your neighbor’s Prius, and replacing it with a bumper sticker that reads Satan is my homeboy. And then videotaping their reaction from your bedroom window, and posting it on one of your several blogs. Evil laugh optional.

2. It baffles you that there is no World Cultures for Dummies book, yet the following titles are somehow in print: Canadian Wine for Dummies, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) for Dummies, Rabbits for Dummies, MySpace for Dummies & Raising Smart Kids for Dummies (Step one: If you’re currently pregnant, put down the Scotch.)  Obama, where you at, bro?

3. You secretly always wanted to see Tony Micelli throw down his oven mitt & realize his potential as more than a glorified bitch. But not before he took Angela on the kitchen table.  Just once. Hopefully Mrs. Rossini doesn’t happen to be nosing around.

4. You have a love/hate relationship with suits; on one hand, James Bond wears one, and you like this. On the other, well…James Bond doesn’t really exist, and you despise everything that a suit represents. Unless, of course, Angelina Jolie is wearing a blazer with no pants on.  Then all bets are off.

5. You’ve engaged in sexual intercourse simply on the grounds that you couldn’t resist the accent. This may or may not have evolved into a long-term personal challenge to see how many “countries” you can add as a notch on your belt.

6. You’ve been known to bust into spontaneous dance parties while driving with your left knee, and bobbing your head from side to side while simultaneously doing the wave and making faces at the person next to you at the stoplight. Mostly because this makes them extremely uncomfortable. This is funny to you.

7. People fall wildly in love with you because of your sarcasm. Then, 6 months into the relationship, that same person complains that you never take anything seriously and you’re “insensitive.”

8. You’ve been voted most likely to fake your own death and escape everyone and everything.

9. You always thought you were smarter than your teacher, professor and/or boss. The day you called them out to correct their misuse of “immigrate” instead of “emigrate,” they silently admitted defeat and began covertly plotting your demise.

10. At one point in your life, you contemplated becoming an airline pilot so you could see the world while working.

11. You think a lot of things are stupid.

12. You refuse to do stupid things.

13. You’re routinely referred to as stubborn, pig-headed and/or an ungrateful for refusing to do aforementioned stupid things. Meanwhile, you can’t help but think the same about those people, but for opposite reasons.

14. The idea of not having a cell phone is appealing.

15. For you, I, Robot isn’t just a movie.

16. You know what I meant by that.

17. You don’t mind sitting in traffic, because you don’t really give a damn if you’re there “on time” or not. The concept of keeping time is a social construct in the first place.

18. Speaking of time, you disagree with the statement “Time is money.” Silly buffoons, those mind renters.

19. You laugh every time at Achmed.  (This really has nothing to do with lifestyle design, but whether or not you have a sense of humor.)

20. You know who Achmed is.

21. You’d have to seriously consider whether having The Donald’s fortune would be worth sacrificing your time and mobility. And hair.

22. You’ve pondered how, exactly, a turban is wrapped. Bath towels don’t count, cheater.

23. You look up to homeless people, in a way, because they are completely, utterly free to do whatever they want.

24. You also look up to Indiana Jones, because, let’s face it: That hat was BAD–ASS.

25. You’ve questioned religious teachings on more than one occasion; especially after they tried to convince you that a stale, moldy little crouton was actually the body of christ.

26. Even though you shudder at the thought of wearing a fanny pack, you tolerate their existence because you have friends in four countries that still wear them.

27. You drink alcohol in excess.  Mostly because you’re always in new social & cultural settings where everyone is inviting you out for a drink.

28. You romanticize the idea of meeting the most intriguing guy/girl in a hip little coffee shop, where you have instant chemistry; within an hour the two of you are on your way to the nearest international airport, where you scan the departures for the next flight out to wherever, and you board on a whim. You have no luggage, and you could care less. Could life be any more exciting?

29. You would actually do number 28.

30.  No Fear is still your favorite brand.  For obvious reasons.

31. You’re more intimate with your laptop than your partner.

32. You laughed at most of these, and can identify.

33. You just read this post to the end and are immediately going to tweet/facebook/stumble it!

You know you wanna add to the list.  Rally!