I've tossed this idea around with a few friends, it's time to get it written down so it's better refined (and I get more pokes towards making it real).

Basically, I like dreaming big. I like seeing how I'd like a different kind of reality to be, and then running as hard as I can towards it, bringing as many people as I can take with me along the way, for as long as it takes to make that reality actually happen. Sometimes it takes a very, very long time. This is occasionally rather tiring, but talking with friends running towards their own dreams counteracts exhaustion remarkably well - a sort of mutual ass-kickery.

So here's a strawman with a lousy name ("The Long Haul Club?" Come on.) to get things going. Rules for participation:

  1. You must have something that you're aiming for in 12 years. (Why 12? Long term enough to be audacious, short term enough that we can see the major life changes that we may have to blend in, like marriage/kids/a house.) That goal can change over time, but you've always got to have some big dream that you're shooting for with all your heart. This gets publicly posted.
  2. Call circle, every day. Everyone has someone that they call and someone who calls them. You come up with a list of 6 questions you'd like to be asked each day - stuff ranging from "how many hours did you sleep?" to "did you say thank you to someone today?" to "did you do something music-related?" "did you say no to something you wanted to do but didn't need to?" and... well, the list goes on. Any questions you want. You can change those questions at any time. These get publicly posted too.
  3. Ass-kicking meetings once a month. Everyone piles into somebody's apartment's living room (this obviously only works for local buddies... I'm not sure if a phone call or a chat would work as well, but we could see) and commiserates. This works best, I think, if the folks in the group are already good friends, and if each circle isn't too big (say, cap at a dozen). One other thing you do for sure each month is pay yourself - see the next section...
  4. Pay yourself to work on what you're dreaming of. We'd agree on a hourly wage for ourselves - say, $40. Then each month, everyone would have to put aside 40 hours worth of salary - in this case, $1,600.00 - for working on their dream. If you spend at least 40 hours that month working towards that goal, you pay yourself the $1,600.00 - get paid to do what you love. (Think of the rest of the group as a Board of Directors for your dream that decides whether you made good headway or not for that month.) If you spend less than 40 hours, you pay yourself however many hours you did work, and put the rest into the Jar O' Givingness.
  5. Give effectively. The third thing that the group does each month is take what's in the Jar O' Givingness - plus whatever else they want to find/put in - and collectively Does Something Awesome For The World with it. Donate it to charity. Use it to fund an event for something that they care about (buy pizza for an after-school tutoring program and then show up on that day and help ourselves).

Obviously less corny names must be found for these things. Suggestions welcome. The design rationale behind is that, as I grow up, I want to always:

  1. Get paid to do what I love and dream about
  2. Learn how to give - and give well and effectively, where it will have the highest-leverage impact
  3. Have friends who do the same

That's all. Thoughts?