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leaving microsoft to change the world

Why you’ve already won the lottery (plus $100 for 10 comments)

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If you’re reading this post, you’ve already won the lottery.

It’s called the lottery of life.

If you have been born into a country like Canada, the United States, or any other developed country, you’ve won the birth lottery. You’ve won the lottery of being able to grow up in a country of freedom, education, and considerable wealth.

It’s sad that the birth lottery exists. Not everyone is so lucky.

If you lost the lottery, you won’t get the fortune of freedom and education. You won’t have the same opportunity to read or write and you won’t have access to clean water. You’ll probably be guaranteed a life of poverty because you don’t have the basic needs available to you or the education needed. You definitely won’t be able to participate in world discussions since you won’t have a computer or an Internet connection. You’ll be lucky to have a roof over your head and enough food to stay alive.

However, if you win the lottery, you will have the opportunity to read and write. You will have access to clean water and the opportunity of wealth. You will be able to learn about the planet and participate in discussions made possible because of a wide array of products such as computers, the Internet, iPads, iPhones, and many other electronic gadgets. You will have access to health care, healthy food, and sanitary waste disposal. You will also have access to all the basic needs as well as the opportunity to travel and think about deeper things in life.

It’s amazing what the simple chance of birth can do to how your life turns out. I think about how amazing the difference can be when born into one family compared to another.

For example, [Read more…] about Why you’ve already won the lottery (plus $100 for 10 comments)

A Very Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope your all having a wonderful day with family and friends and if your at work (like my brother), know that your family is thinking of you and can’t wait to see you when your off. I hope you have been to some wonderful Christmas markets. Originally I was going to write about reflection on the year past and goal setting for the year ahead but I’ll leave that until next week. Since it’s Christmas I’d like to reflect on some of the great organizations and cool people I came across in 2010 and would like to say thanks to for all the inspiration you have given me throughout the year.

Earlier this year I bought 100 copies of the “Four Hour Work Week” so that I would have the opportunity to go down to San Francisco and meet Tim Ferriss and other cool people in the online world. It was a cool experience to have dinner next to Tim and 20 other participants from around the world followed by a party on a warship at the San Francisco harbor. Aside from quick introductions with Ramit Sethi, Kevin Rose, and Paula Abdul, I managed to briefly meet Noah Kagen of AppSumo who I asked to be my “voice” that yells at me to keep me motivated towards my dreams of location independence and online entrepreneurship. Noah was surprised I would come all that way just to network with people doing what I want to do and agreed. Thanks Noah!

Me and Tim Ferriss

I then read a book called “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” which I wrote about in an earlier post. This is the story of John Wood; a former high-level executive for Microsoft who chose to quit and start a non-profit organization called Room to Read. Room to Read helps build schools and libraries for children in less fortunate countries as well as supply them with books (in both English and their language) and grant scholarships to girls so that they can become educated and pass that on to their family. The organization is one of the best and the book brought tears to my eyes. [Read more…] about A Very Merry Christmas!