The feeling I feel on a Saturday. Just enough work to be creative and motive. But slept in first and didn’t have to do any of it. Solid exercise without a deadline. Next to no email, no phone calls. Relaxed, productive, at peace, happy, quiet, unburdened. This is how I want life to be. Every day a Saturday.

But what’s more: this is possible. At least most of the time in my case it is. I choose for it not to be.

What would one pay for a life like that? Am I willing to put up the money for it? That is, to say “No” to things, to lucrative opportunities or potential business. I hope so.

Because now is the juncture.

Its already past mid-way through 2014, so I thought I’d put together a post containing all the articles I’ve published so far this year. I’ve written a lot this year and joined some new publications, which I’m very excited about. If you’d like to keep up to date with everything, join my reading list and follow me via Twitter. Enjoy!

The Obstacle Is The Way Launch

Betabeat.com: Behind the Book Campaign: How To Sell 30,000 Copies in 6 Weeks Huffington Post: How Dr. Drew Pinsky Changed My Life Cracked: 7 People Who Overcame Huge Obstacles To Become Famous Copyblogger: How I Wrote Three Books In Three Years FastCompany: 7 Ways To Turn Your Opponents Into Opportunities Art of Manliness: Finding the Opportunity Inside the Obstacle 800-CEO-READ: The 3 Stoic Disciplines: How to Turn Your Obstacles Into Triumphs Upstart Business Journal: Why Amelia Earhart’s 1925 Gamble Should Inspire Entrepreneurs Thought Catalog: How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything Thought Catalog: Should I Drop Out of College? Medium: Hey Millennials, It’s A Good Thing Things Are Bad Psychology Today: The Importance of Negative Thinking RyanHoliday.net: A Lesson From The World’s Worst Week RyanHoliday.net: A Practical Philosophy Reading List Beliefnet.com: Nine Ways To Turn Your Obstacles Into An Advantage Entrepreneur.com: A Leadership Lesson From Eisenhower’s Stoic Reversal at D-Day

New York Observer

A Burglar Stole My Engagement Ring — And It Made My Proposal – Feb. 18 Certified: Why It Feels Good When Your City Hits the Big Screen – April 4 Trading Up The Chain: Mainstream Media Takes Cues from Blogosphere – April 23 Dear Graduates: Lessons From a College Dropout – May 26

Betabeat

Fake Traffic Means Real Paydays – Jan. 16 I Own a Goat: Some Animals And a Mini-Farm Give a Tech Guy Some Peace – Jan. 21 Ryan’s Hope: Why I Took A Job At Betabeat – Feb. 3 Phoning It In: 3 Years of Lessons From Running A Remote Business – Feb. 6 Whats Wrong With Media? This Tech Investor’s Twitter Rant Nails It – Feb. 10 What to Measure? The Question Journalism Has to Answer – Feb. 12 Outrage Porn: How the Need For ‘Perpetual Indignation’ Manufactures Phony Offense – Feb. 26 Sourceless: Online Reporting Becomes a Race to the Bottom – March 5 Get Out Of Town: Why SXSW Isn’t Worth It – March 14 Airbnb Etiquette: A Wake-Up Call to Unprofessional Hosts – March 19 Let Me Come Out and Say It: The Ford Commercial Is Super Lame – April 1 I Was Plagiarized By Arbitrage Magazine, But I’m The One Who Feels Terrible About It – April 8 Personal Science Seth Roberts Passes Away – April 28 Tim Ferriss Publishes Betabeat Editor Under New Audiobook Venture – May 9 The Joke’s On Us: ‘Sharing’ Becomes An Excuse Not To Care – May 21 Skimming Off The Top: Social Giving Sites Take a Huge Cut Of The Check – May 27 Is Google’s Product Strategy Dumb, Brave or both? – June 4 For Giants Like the New York Times, Problems Are Hidden in Plain Sight – June 23 How 3D Printing Is Bringing An Ancient Art Form Back to the Future – June 3 Chasing Ghosts: ‘Attention Minutes’ Are Voodoo, CPM is Still What Counts – July 7

Thought Catalog

The Guilty, Crazy Secret That Helps Me Write – Jan. 2

The most important step in becoming a growth hacker is real life experience. I ended my ebook on the subject with some suggestions of what to do next if you wanted to become one. I was disappointed that I couldn’t offer more. But with the launch of the revised and expanded paperback edition of Growth Hacker Marketing coming up on September 30, I had an idea. Since I’ve written so much about the importance of mentors and practical application, what if I could create a way for at least one person to get real experience, marketing a real product?

Here’s what I’m doing: Instead of spending the paperback’s marketing budget myself, I am going to turn it over–all $10,000 of it–to the person with the best growth hacking idea for the book’s launch. With my help, we’ll execute that idea, track, and record the results. At the end I will write the whole experiment up as a case study that features you as its star (like I did here with The Obstacle is The Way). For those of you looking to make your splash in this space, this is that opportunity—a chance to lead a high profile campaign, prove your ideas, and establish your credentials. In a way, the ebook was the MVP and now that it’s been proven (sold thousands of copies, gotten 200 reviews on Amazon, been translated in multiple languages), growth hacking can take it to the next level.

No experience is required. The best, most interesting idea/person will get the gig. But I do want BIG ideas, things that I wouldn’t have thought of myself. Ideas that will actually move books in a trackable, scalable way. As I’ve said many times, the best marketing campaigns prove the ideas in the book and I want this to do that.

Qualifications/Requirements/Process: I get a lot of emails from ambitious young people looking to intern for me or work for me. This is the kind of chance I would have jumped on when I was that age. To apply just email: ryholiday@gmail.com with a ONE paragraph pitch for your idea, no longer than 300 words and then at the bottom, include one link about yourself that you think I should see. Use the subject line: GHM Gig. (I will actually be checking these requirements so if you can’t follow them, you’ve already failed). Tell me what you would do with the $10,000 budget, why you think it would work, and a little bit about yourself. The deadline will be August 11th. 

Let’s go!

Ryan

**Winner has been selected. Info to come! Thanks to everyone who applied**