A First Contribution – My 100 Thing Challenge Book
For a while now, approximately one and a half years, I have sensed a time of reckoning coming. I’ve not been able to put my finger exactly on it. But, now I can. I can name it and tell you when it will arrive. “The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul” is its name. The 28th of December 2010 is the time. Let’s get right to the point: Should the 100 Thing Challenge guy publish a book and try to get lots and lots of people to buy it?
Please do not think that I do not wrestle with that question. It is not trivial to me. It has upset my stomach more than once. Notice at guynameddave.com and 100ThingChallenge.com that there are no advertisements. There never will be. Notice that you cannot purchase 100 Thing Challenge-branded t-shirts, trinkets, or tea. You never will be able to.
And also, take note, right here and now, that I admit that I don’t mind you and about a million other people buying my soon-to-be-published book. Well, maybe not a million. That’s just craziness. Let’s say, you and lots and lots of other people.
So how do I reconcile preaching a message of simplicity and pursuing the goal of selling a healthy number of books? I could think up several justifications, if that were the primary reason for this post. It’s not.
The main reason for this post and for writing a book and for the 100 Thing Challenge is that I believe we live in a time of opportunity. We live in a time when American-style consumerism as a prevailing economic system has failed.
- It has failed the environment.
- It has failed the oppressed around the world, on whose backs the junk of consumerism is built.
- It has failed to engender genuine economic and political prosperity.
- And, it has failed those of us who have embraced it, filling our houses and garages with stuff while emptying our souls of purpose and our bank accounts of wealth.
Where failure occurs, opportunity abounds. There’s enough opportunity right now for just about everyone. Just about everyone who has lived through the mess of American-style consumerism has the chance to reject it. Reject consuming for fulfillment and security and status and boredom. Reject the emotional and spiritual and financial bankruptcy associated with wasteful consumption.
Opportunities like this don’t come along all the time. Honestly, I’m beside myself with enthusiasm. We get to be a part of a positive change in the history of the world. Seriously, it’s out-o-control!
If the 100 Thing Challenge movement and my book contribute a little bit to this change, I’ll be delighted beyond my wildest dreams. We all have more to contribute to the world than the junk that we buy. I hope you’ll buy my book and, after reading it, deem it unjunky. I hope it will be a real encouragement to you –
To start rejecting consumerism and begin contributing!
Comments
I want to try this challenge so bad….can we tweak it for girls and make it the the 200 thing challenge, and oh yeah can my dog have 100 things too…..did i mention that i was a compulsive hoarder.
Will there be an electronic version of your book available for the iPad? I am very much looking forward to reading your book. Though, I agree with the sentiment that I do not necessarily need another “thing” on my shelves. That said, where would we be without books? If we cannot share our collective thoughts and wisdom in writing as a chronicle of our living history for future generations to learn from, how will we ever evolve as a society? How will we inform our children to not let this happen again? Minimizing the written word would be a tragic casualty of the extreme version of this challenge. As with all things, it is good in realistic moderation.
Christine, there is a Kindle version at Amazon.
There is a Kindle reader for the iPad.
my mother is a hoarder worthy of an episode on a&e’s ‘buried alive’. there has been a growing voice in my spirit that has been crying out, ‘why do i need all of this stuff?” i recently moved, and left a good 1/3 of things that i never used anymore and had released my emotional attachment to with my ex boyfriend for a yardsale. i have tried to maintain an ‘item in, item out’ policy to maintain some sort of balance, but a visit to the dollar tree always blew that out of the water
. lately i have been questioning the sustainablility and fair marketing of the items i puchase. are children in a sweatshop somewere making that $7 shirt from wal-mart? what is REALLY going on? i find this book to be coming out at a perfect time for me and feeding my soul with all the love and affirmation that it deserves. thank you dave, for answering the cry that responsible spiritual adults have sent out to the heavens. what WOULD Jesus do? Mark 10:21
Skye, no your dog may not have 100 things, too
Seriously, pets really do not need lots of stuff and in fact too much stuff makes pets just as emotionally thrashed as humans. That said, go for it! Do a 200 thing challenge and change your life and the world!
Christine, Bruce beat me to it. I’m not sure if iBooks will have my book when it releases. I think so, but don’t know for sure.
And Tammy, thanks so much for sharing. Sounds like you’re changing your family history for the best! Way to go.
I have been lead to your site thru Zen Habits. I am working toward less is more vibe. My last addiction is my Crafty Supplies… I have bookcase full.
I hope your book will be available for Nook, so I can add it to my library & keep it forever.
I’m so looking forward to reading your post in Google Reader on my multi faceted iPhone!
Thanx!
Shanti
I came across your site through a blog I follow – Sailing Simplicity and the Pursuit of Happiness.
I’m currently in the process of moving on to a 30 foot sailboat and getting rid of MOST of my possessions. My husband just left everything in England to move to America and marry me and shortly after we were married we decided to move on to a boat. I lived on a boat for four years as a teenager and knew then that I would have to revisit that life someday. I had to go through the “accumulation cycle” and come out the other side because now I know what you mean in this article…the clutter of the soul.
Thanks for posting this and for this site. It just reaffirms what I already know…that this path of decluttering is exactly where I need to be
PS I can’t wait for this book!!!
I pre-ordered it! Looking forward to your work. Thanks.
A compromise to requesting people buy the book would be to suggest they request their public library purchase it. I’ve been working on my version of your challenge (50 Dozen Thing Challenge; it’s all I can handle for now) for almost a month, and already have 5 dozen books, so I can’t buy it. I’ve submitted a purchase request on your book at the San Antonio library.
Many people will buy the book because they still need time, maybe years, to absorb the concept. It would make a good gift for a new college graduate with their first high paying job.
I find what you did very amazing. I know I could never do it. I am an artist and jewelry designer and avid reader and those three things alone are thousands of items, lol !! My husband is a stain glass artist and photographer (as hobbies ) and added to my things, we have a lot !!! I think your voice needs to be heard and my husband and I are trying to get rid of the stuff we do not really need or love and have challenged ourselves to spend as close to nothing as possible on anything, only buying what is really necessary and no eating out to learn how to eat at home again. We have challenged ourselves to a year of no garage sales or thrift stores and staying out of any stores unless we need something, but no shopping for entertainment anymore.
Thank you for sharing your story and I am sure I will get your book just because I find it so interesting and everyone can learn from how you live !!! We may never get even close to living that simply, but can learn to live with less than we have been .
As a person who holds a yearly re-gifting party, and one who gives gifts that are consumable like food, soap, candles, and gift certificates to restaurants and massages, I totally appreciate your work. Many people come to my house and ask “where’s your stuff?” when they see the empty mantel and table and shelf tops. My answer is, “I’m a space-hoarder. Stuff can only be the stuff it is, but space holds infinite opportunity!” I respond. They usually know me enough to know that I have had quite a number of awesome opportunities come my way without effort (like an unsolicited call from an editor at Simon and Schuster to write a book!)
The proof is in the pudding – simplicity and minimalism works!