Clean Living.

Just in the last week, I started following Harvard Business Review at work. Since then I’ve been receiving one to three emails per day on different topics. Good stuff—all of it—yet there’s something about this relationship that makes me feel like a filthy sellout.

I also follow Fast Company, specifically Co.EXIST, which, somewhat conversely, consistently leaves me with the inspiration to be a cleaner (or at least more free-thinking) person.

What’s going on here? HBR is a respected and reputable publication, so why the distaste?

I think the problem (that is: MY problem) with HBR is that even though it is teaching me new ideas and new ways to play the game, its concepts still exist within the confines of the standard business archetype. It doesn’t ask me to dash my perceptions about what work can be, it tells me how I can manage inside the walls of what it is. This is probably a good thing, considering I am required to at least pretend I’m in touch with reality.

But what if I weren’t?

I think about this quite a bit, actually. I very often feel like I am on the verge of greatly expanding the possibilities of my life. I have incredible freedom because of the choices I’ve made, and so there is little holding me back. Except, quite honestly, the fear of being extraordinary. Or maybe, more realistically, the fear of discovering that I am not actually extraordinary, even after giving it considerable effort.

Hmmm...what do you think about that? Or, I mean, what do I think about it...?

Anyone else see what I see?