Infinite purpose and intolerable bondage often look the same.

At least from the outside.

A slave might be compelled by his captors (and the threat of death) to toil for hours each day.  And get nothing in return.

And a purpose-filled woman or man may lay down their life, liberty, and "freedom" for their mission . . . in complete devotion, without complaint, and with utter disregard for compensation.

A workaholic might be driven by fear, feelings of insufficiency, or self-hatred to burn the midnight oil night after night, work weekends, and sacrifice their personal life for a corporation.

And a purpose-filled person might do the same (for entirely different reasons) . . . because they’ve been beautifully wrecked by their vision.

Purpose as Complete Invasion

When you live with convicted devotion to your vision, it touches every part of your life.

It invades your dreams.  It infiltrates your friendships and relationships.  It screws with your bank accounts (and any other sacred cows you might have).

No stone is left unturned.

A true purpose will invade your depth, it will seep into every nook and cranny of your life.

It will beautifully fuck you up (but it will fuck you up nonetheless).

And if you’re living with complete conviction, it just might kill you.  And you’ll willingly pay the price.

Infinite Purpose as Total Freedom

If you are waiting for your needs to be met before you let down your guard and fully live your purpose, then you limit your freedom.  And you suffer.

If you are waiting for "enough" money, enough time, or enough strength  . . . before you start building the (better) world you dream of, then you become a slave to condition.

If you are holding back your talents, your vision, and your gifts from the world . . . until you feel safe enough, loved enough, or appreciated enough, then you hold your fullness hostage to circumstance.

True freedom comes when we develop the courage to give what we must . . . without condition, and without exception.

Will you wait until you are "properly" paid, loved, and appreciated before you live fully, love fully, and incarnate your vision (i.e. will you wait forever)?  Or will you choose to open and give fully now?

How does your choice feel?

Each month I fly out and spend a day with a selected Project Mojave member.  I spend time going over their business . . . or just hanging out and drinking beer (I buy dinner).  I really don’t care.

Here’s footage from last Month’s San Francisco visit.

[Note: This is a guest post from Project Mojave faculty member Johnny B. Truant.  He’s known to use a secret jedi NLP pattern interrupt neuro-conversion psycho-control writing formula blueprint system . . . to hijack your mind and help build his cult.  Seriously, DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE right before going to bed or you’ll probably wake up the next morning involuntarily chanting weird shit (that he put in your head as a practical joke)].

So Clay and I were talking on the phone the other day (a tricky business involving hiring two Indian sherpas and a team of dogs to deliver a phone to wherever he is at the time, like in a bat cave or perhaps at a Starbucks) and we got to talking for maybe an hour and he started asking me about my purpose.

He’s like, “Dude, I really want you to stay involved with Project Mojave. But at the same time, I only want people in it who really believe in the idea of seeking freedom.”

And I’m like, “Dude, I’m all about freedom. It’s like, my reason for living. My coach Tim Brownson did this values process on me and Freedom was number two. NUMBER TWO, dude.”

And he’s like, “What was number one?”

And I’m like, “Chicks, dude.”

And then there’s this pause and I figured I should admit it was actually “Family,” not “Chicks.” Chicks were probably like number five or so. So I’m into my family and freedom. Numbers one and two. You give me my family and tell us that we can do whatever we want and you can pretty much walk away because we’ll be set forever.

So I pointed Clay to my new blog and a few of the recent posts I’ve written about the process of becoming free (exhibits A, B, and C) and I guess he felt that it qualified as what he’s coined to be good-stuff “freedom porn.” So at that point we’re both on the same page and we both kind of sigh and say, “Dude.”

See, it’s important to me to work with people who share my values. But it’s far more important to meet as many new people as possible who share my values, and far more important than that to be able to communicate daily with those people who share my values.

But most of all, above everything, it’s important to me that I surround myself with people who are crazy.

Like this Clay Collins guy. He’s great at what he does. He’s an excellent teacher with this really dedicated and devoted heart. But he doesn’t have a real, on-the-street understanding of the way that “normal” people conduct their day, because he’s not one of them and I suspect he never has been. And for that matter, neither have I. I graduated college with a genetics and a philosophy degree, spent a year counting fruit flies at Case Western, quit to eke by an at-home living writing sales copy, became a magazine writer, then a website guy, then started what I’m doing now. In six months, I grew the Johnny B. Truant biz from literally zero to over $6k per month and climbing fast. I’ve never worked in an office. I’ve never led a normal life.

I relate to Clay because the idea of working in an office is foreign to him. Because he’s built this whole freedom machine without instructions. Because he’s teaching people to chew through the confining walls of their own cubicles, showing folks that there is another way that things can be done. Because he takes odd hiking retreats and you can’t reach him except through five other people and maybe a few robots. Because he’s both thinking and talking about at least three separate things at once on most occasions.

Because he’s crazy.

Note: Thanks to EVERYONE for your input.  Here’s how the voting broke down: E (64 votes) ; A (51 votes); C (24 votes); D (18 votes); and (B with 12 votes).  These votes included email replies and tweets.  So we’re happy to announce that E will be our logo for the upcoming launch.

So . . .

. . . Project Mojave is Launching in 11 Days and I had the genius idea to redo our look and feel before everything goes live.

Brilliant.

Anyway, since I have the aesthetic sensibilities of a bat (and that’s being generous), I wanted your opinion on the following 5 logos.

I’d be super grateful for your help by ranking them in the comments. (If were up to me I’d probably chose an ugly font and write “Project Mojave” with it and be done with it . . . oh wait, that’s what I did the first time).

I’m less concerned about “graphic integrity,” “aesthetic consistency” and that nonsense.

Mostly I want to know that you that YOU feel most represents Project Mojave.

So here they are (thanks to Tracy for helping me select these 5 logos from the original batch).

Logo A

Logo B

Logo C

Logo D

Logo E

Oh yeah, I and want to be clear about the fact that I did NOT make these.

Anyway, I seriously need your help.  Or at least the graphically incompetent part of my brain does.

Thanks a ton,

Clay

P.S. Don’t think about it too much.  Just go with your gut.

[Note: It's been over 5 months since I've written a blog post and my blogging chops are rustier than an old junkyard Studebaker.  still, I'm putting this out because it's time.]

All right, I’m going to just cut to the chase and tell you . . .

Where the Hell I’ve Been for the Last 5 Months

I spent 3 months travelling around the world in a balloon while running an online business for 6 hours per week from a laptop (with a satellite internet connection).

I then spent the next two months travelling around China meeting with world leaders, running a consulting company from my iPhone, and writing a book (also on my iPhone) in Norwegian.

I am SO kidding.  I’m not that guy.

The last 5 months have involved very little in the way of lifestyle design stunts.

Although I did go on a solo backpacking trip to the North Shore of lake superior . . .

This is where I camped . . .

But the real story about where I’ve been is that — for the last 5 months — I’ve been busting my ass working on something I care very deeply about.

My Approach to Product Creation

There are a lot of approaches to product creation.  Many of them work well.

Some people throw together a 47-page ebook every month on one topic or another . . .

. . . my approach is to work on ONE main product for years (and hopefully decades) refining it with each evolution and incarnation.

And of course, responding to feedback, obsessing about user experience, and providing as much value as humanly possible.

That’s because . . .

Project Mojave is My Purpose

This is my purpose.

Fuck the Social Revolution

Most revolutions are created to manipulate others.

But true freedom exists inside you right now (with or without a revolution).  It’s always been there. And you don’t need a social movement, or a revolution, or twitter, or the blogosphere or ANYTHING except courage to claim the freedom that’s always existed inside you.

If you’re living your life to escape your work place, rebel, be unconventional, etc. then you’re living your life as a reaction (to your pain?) and totally missing the point.

Fuck the revolution.  You don’t need one.

You Are Your Only Captor

Escape implies a captor.  Militaristic revolution implies an enemy.  But on this front there is usually nothing to escape. No battle to be fought.  No world takeover necessary. No common enemy.

On this front, the best results usually come from looking deep within yourself, coming alive, and fearlessly doing what you’re compelled to do after you’ve seen the deeper reality of who you are.

Real freedom sprouts from an internal “victory” (over your fear).  A quiet victory.

A victory that — in all probability — no one will notice.  Except you.

You’ll notice it.

I’ve Recruited a Baby to Help Lighten Things Up

Below is Maverick, my new nephew.  He’s a precious kid who was born earlier this month, and I got to see him when I flew to California last weekend for my grandparents’ anniversary.

Man I love that guy.

Now that we’ve lightened things up, it’s time to get heavy again . . .