With the project coming to a close and a little bit of media covering the 30 Ways story, I have been asked frequently by friends, followers, and curious minds what ignited the desire to design and accomplish such a feat. I normally tell the story about the account management application sparking the idea, in which one question asked me what I would do with 30 days if I could do anything.
That is what initially got the ball rolling, but there was a little more to it than that before I officially launched the blog and started to spread the word. There were only about 24 hours from the idea to initiation, so I didn't do any research at all on this. The idea was original (as far as I knew), and I didn't go Googling whether or not anyone had done anything similar. I was so determined to take this adventure on that I knew I'd compare and get discouraged if I did so. I was going to take the bull by the horns alone, whether anyone came along for the ride or not, and let it evolve into whatever shape it happened to mold itself into. I would not fail. It just wasn't an option.
This is what happened with my head. I even took a picture because it illustrated in a small sense what I was feeling:
This is what happened with my head. I even took a picture because it illustrated in a small sense what I was feeling:
After this happened, I felt immensely stressed. Somehow the brain-to-paper purge only partially alleviated the need to squeeze out all of the clutter in my head. I wanted to watch something simple, light-hearted, and "good". I turned on Netflix and flipped past Friends, Gilmore Girls, Idiot Abroad... then stumbled upon "We Cause Scenes", the documentary behind the hilarious group called "Improv Everywhere" that started in NYC years ago. If you haven't heard of this group, it started with two friends creating simple pranks that caused a small disruption, albeit a positive one, and got people talking.
The describe themselves as "a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents."
One of the most famous projects was the "No Pants Subway Ride" in which they recruited a handful of people to step onto the subway wearing only boxers, no pants, one by one, on consecutive subway stops. None of these pants-lacking individuals acted like they knew each other and carried on normally. They would try to carefully film the reactions of people with skillfully placed cell phones, but remember, this was before the days of iPhones and sufficient cameras. Even in the absence of quality videography to load to their webpage, they began to gain a following for these public pranks. This was before the days of blogging, though what they had started was inevitably what we would now call a blog.
The describe themselves as "a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents."
One of the most famous projects was the "No Pants Subway Ride" in which they recruited a handful of people to step onto the subway wearing only boxers, no pants, one by one, on consecutive subway stops. None of these pants-lacking individuals acted like they knew each other and carried on normally. They would try to carefully film the reactions of people with skillfully placed cell phones, but remember, this was before the days of iPhones and sufficient cameras. Even in the absence of quality videography to load to their webpage, they began to gain a following for these public pranks. This was before the days of blogging, though what they had started was inevitably what we would now call a blog.
People started emailing the two out of nowhere and wanted to be a part of this group, which began to grow exponentially. Though they avoided using the word "flash mob", these were the types of explosive projects that they would assemble all over the city. It was simply a movement to cause laughter and happiness.
That's when it hit me: yes! A happiness movement! Why not create some kind of project that would create happiness, do something good, and possibly snowball into other people wanting to join and come along for the ride? What if I could get a following and not only challenge myself, but challenge others as well to come with me? What if I could go from "Katie doing 30 Ways" to "the 30 Ways team"?
It was then that I decided with the blog--something simple and catchy that would be very straight-forward and be user-friendly to read. I would make it clear what the goal was and created a public calendar for anyone to see what events were coming up in case they wanted to attend one. At each event I then attended, I invited the nonprofit employees or volunteers to come to another event.
At the same time, they were also creating a ripple effect. For example, I met Jordan Parker of National Bank at a benefit for The Nest, who invited me to come to a Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky 5K that I wasn't aware of. I went to that, and met a PCAK employee named Casey Yohe. Casey then came with me to about 10 other events and truly became a part of my 30 Ways team.
This kind of crazy effect kept happening! This is what I had hoped for, but knew in my heart that whether or not it actually developed into such a movement, I would still be successful. Once I started to get a following and "repeat" individuals, I realized that small businesses were also interested in getting involved. I was able to also start putting business names, business owners, and sponsorships for the "day" assignments.
In the end, I had both discovered and created a crazy network of nonprofits, small businesses, new and old individual do-gooders that became intertwined in ways that they hadn't known they could be before. Since the completion of the 30 Ways, I have been emailed many times by people wanting to meet with me just to discuss the project. Others have emailed me letting me know that I have inspired them, and wanted to know how they could expand or do this in their own city. I've heard stories about personal projects that were similar to the magnitude of this one, and have been excited to collaborate with them throughout the 30 Ways and after. A few people simply said that they weren't aware of many of the nonprofits that I highlighted in the community, and thanked me for bringing them to their attention so that they can now get involved.
My hope is that I will continue to inspire and get to meet these people, then see what they can create with their own abilities and time availability. I can't emphasize enough how big I want to make this idea, how much I want it to spread.
Whether it's 30 Days or 200 days, 30 hours or 30 minutes, helping 1 person or 1 animal, I encourage you to truly Pay it Forward to get involved in your own community. Learn about the people, the resources, the issues you didn't know existed. Learn how you can help to alleviate or even solve the problem. Learn about the other "do-gooders" in your area. Get inspired. Collaborate. To put it simply, I challenge you:
Do Good.
That's when it hit me: yes! A happiness movement! Why not create some kind of project that would create happiness, do something good, and possibly snowball into other people wanting to join and come along for the ride? What if I could get a following and not only challenge myself, but challenge others as well to come with me? What if I could go from "Katie doing 30 Ways" to "the 30 Ways team"?
It was then that I decided with the blog--something simple and catchy that would be very straight-forward and be user-friendly to read. I would make it clear what the goal was and created a public calendar for anyone to see what events were coming up in case they wanted to attend one. At each event I then attended, I invited the nonprofit employees or volunteers to come to another event.
At the same time, they were also creating a ripple effect. For example, I met Jordan Parker of National Bank at a benefit for The Nest, who invited me to come to a Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky 5K that I wasn't aware of. I went to that, and met a PCAK employee named Casey Yohe. Casey then came with me to about 10 other events and truly became a part of my 30 Ways team.
This kind of crazy effect kept happening! This is what I had hoped for, but knew in my heart that whether or not it actually developed into such a movement, I would still be successful. Once I started to get a following and "repeat" individuals, I realized that small businesses were also interested in getting involved. I was able to also start putting business names, business owners, and sponsorships for the "day" assignments.
In the end, I had both discovered and created a crazy network of nonprofits, small businesses, new and old individual do-gooders that became intertwined in ways that they hadn't known they could be before. Since the completion of the 30 Ways, I have been emailed many times by people wanting to meet with me just to discuss the project. Others have emailed me letting me know that I have inspired them, and wanted to know how they could expand or do this in their own city. I've heard stories about personal projects that were similar to the magnitude of this one, and have been excited to collaborate with them throughout the 30 Ways and after. A few people simply said that they weren't aware of many of the nonprofits that I highlighted in the community, and thanked me for bringing them to their attention so that they can now get involved.
My hope is that I will continue to inspire and get to meet these people, then see what they can create with their own abilities and time availability. I can't emphasize enough how big I want to make this idea, how much I want it to spread.
Whether it's 30 Days or 200 days, 30 hours or 30 minutes, helping 1 person or 1 animal, I encourage you to truly Pay it Forward to get involved in your own community. Learn about the people, the resources, the issues you didn't know existed. Learn how you can help to alleviate or even solve the problem. Learn about the other "do-gooders" in your area. Get inspired. Collaborate. To put it simply, I challenge you:
Do Good.