I really like Seth Godin’s new “ChangeThis” website. It’s a compelling idea–basically, people write “manifestos” of ideas that they think are important. The site is getting lots of attention since it’s launch last week. The first manifestos that were featured on the site were solicited by Seth and his team. Most of the writers are known in their fields and the content of the manifestos is diverse and interesting.

The site contains two parts. The first part is all the manifestos that have been written so far. The second part is the manifestos that are proposed. The proposed manifestos are just ideas that people have. The quality of these ideas is measured by how often the ideas are emailed around, and how many votes they get. Ideas are reviewed by an editorial board before being
approved for the website. Then, I guess, the ideas that generate the greatest interest become more fleshed out manifestos by their authors.

So I submitted an idea that I’ve written about before–the “slacker @ work” book idea. I figured that if the idea actually made it to the website, I could get a sense of how interesting the idea is to other people. If it’s of sufficient interest, I’ll write both the manifesto for the site
and, later, the actual book. But writing the manifesto would be a good impetus to writing the book.

Well, I found out today that my proposal was accepted to the site. You can view it (and vote for it and email it!) here. The ChangeThis website doesn’t have a place for comments, but if you have any thoughts regarding the proposed manifesto, I’d love to hear them. Just drop your comments into this post…

I wanna write some books. I’m going to start by writing about what I want to write about. Makes sense, eh? Some of this is pretty vague in my head and it’ll probably sound more vague here, but here we go…

First, something along the lines of “A slacker’s guide to the workplace” or “A slacker’s guide to staying employed.” It’d basically be a tongue-in-cheek guide on how to be a good employee. I entertain ideas of a “slacker’s guide” series…guide to being a manager, etc… I’ve actually written about a chapter and a half on this one. I had two big goals this year: launch finaidpro.com and write this book. The website is up, but at the pace I’m writing, I’m not too optimistic about finishing the book.

Next, a book about “conscious living.” Writing this book would be an education unto itself. I’d want to cover lots of ground with this one–decision making; financial awareness; spiritual awareness; environmental awareness; values awareness; etc. I’ve got an outline mostly finished, but each section would take a l-o-n-g time to research and write about, to say nothing of tying it all together.

The last one might actually be the easiest one to write. I’d like to write a book about being a dad. Particularly about being a dad to a kid like Tru–adopted from Korea. Having lived and worked in Korea, Amy and I have a unique perspective on raising a child of Korean heritage. Beyond that, I’d just like to write about what I’ve learned as a parent, the ways that my love for Truman is manifested (and vice versa, as I observe it) and how I hope to continue learning and growing as a dad.

Ok, now you know. So don’t be surprised when I start begging you to buy my books…