About two weeks ago, I had an epiphany while showering. This inspirational thought was the product of months of me trying to figure out what I love to do most in life. It boiled down to three things: traveling, technology, and helping others or volunteering. While I was dwelling on those three areas and shampooing my hair, my mind shouted, “why not travel throughout the United States, volunteering as you go, to promote a lifestyle of service to others while using technology to tell the story?” Insanely simple, right? Well, not really.

Even though I was in a euphoric state of mind about the idea, I decided I better take a personal day to start breaking this down. Is it realistic? Is it needed? Will it even matter? Is it too simplistic? Can I live off of donations and goodwill for a year? Etc.... I also contemplated the impact it would have on my current business, wondering if it would completely destroy the confidence others had in me to create and maintain their websites. These were heavy questions, but they needed to be answered.

The more I thought and planned, the more eager I got to go out and do this. But instead of just doing it, I made a deal with myself to actually work through this with others. I wanted them to share their insight with me and for me to use the time beforehand to give structure and stability to this idea. The hope was to make this a lasting, sustainable movement that would be successful in its goals, not just a hasty action that would be later interpreted as a silly intention.

Since it will be people like you (those who are reading this) that hopefully will be supporting, sponsoring, encouraging, and following along with me on this journey, and even participating in it, I want to lay out the “what” part of this dream. This is not a one-way avenue where I only tell you what I would like to do and accomplish without allowing any input. I STRONGLY WELCOME feedback, questions, helpful criticism, and encouragement. Tell me what you like about this or what you don't like about this. Let me know some of the bumps you foresee, some of the troubles that could lead me to crash and burn, or even if you think this is the dumbest thing since the “Snuggy”. (Encouragement would be nice too.)

What is 48by48? 48By48 is the name of my plan to travel to the forty-eight contiguous United States in forty-eight weeks doing a variety of volunteer/service work in each state.

What's the Mission Statement of 48by48? To lend a hand to people and organizations of all ages, backgrounds, and affiliations around the United States while promoting a “Service to Others” lifestyle.

What are the Primary Goals of 48by48?

1. Travel to all 48 contiguous states in 48 weeks.

2. Serve / Volunteer in each state for a minimum of 5 days or 25 hours.

3. Lead by example in the “Service to Others” (STO) lifestyle.

4. Connect people to local organizations and connect organizations to local people (needs).

5. Promote the STO lifestyle.

6. Create a variety of resources to help others accomplish the STO lifestyle.

(How these goals will be accomplished is a separate article in itself and will be expounded on next week.)

What does the “Service to Others” lifestyle look like? The identifying marks of a person who exemplifies the STO lifestyle is one who:

1. Cares deeply about the needs of others.

2. Actively looks for ways to serve others.

3. Has a good balance of realism and creativity when helping to meet the needs of others.

4. Spends ones thoughts thinking about how to see others succeed.

5. Using their influence to bring about positive outcomes in the people and organizations they serve.

What comes next? Tomorrow I will be doing my best to describe the “why” of the matter. This will consist of the story behind the idea along with the “why this matters to me”, “why this matters to you”, “why now”, and other “why” questions. Then on Monday, I will post the “how” article. This will consist of all the gritty details (ya!). After that, I will start to layout a more detailed plan of action, including tentative dates and a list of needs. Along with all that, I will continuously be gathering data and feedback to update the founding articles for final presentation.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts with me. All are welcomed and I even encourage you to share this with strangers to see what they think. Believe me, I know I have blind spots and I deeply believe you can help me see where I cannot. Also, remember that each one of these articles are in beta form and will be reformed when all is ready to go.

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