Title: The Happiness of Pursuit

Author: Chris Guillebeau

First Published: 9 September 2014

“Your comfort zone may be more like a cage you can’t escape from than a safe place you can retreat to.”

Let me quickly get this straight: this book tells us things we already know. Follow your passion. Believe in your dreams. You know, all those stuff. Guillebeau doesn’t offer any new or solid advice, he doesn’t say how we can find the quest that he insists we have. But I think technical guidance is not what this book is for.

At some point in our lives, we wonder what our purpose truly is. Why are we here? Is there more to life than work and this monotonous routine? We see other people with unconventional lifestyles who are happy, we see men walking across the country and women sailing the world. We can admire or dismiss them as ludicrous -either way, those people are completely separate from our lives, just another absurd story to share, but have we ever thought that we can be them too?

Well, The Happiness of Pursuit is what you can say a call-to-action. For me, it’s a reminder that purpose, or a sense of fulfillment, can be found when we stop ignoring our discontent. When we break out of our comfort zone. When we realize our mortality.

“You can have the life you want no matter who you are.”

It’s not a heavy read at all. In fact, it was almost entertaining as much as it was intended to be inspiring. Guillebeau includes interesting anecdotes which exemplify his concept of quests and shows the different sort of quests we can undertake.

Some examples include taking and publishing 1 million photographs, knitting 10,000 handmade hats, walking across the US, training an “untrainable” horse, running 250 marathons in a year, fulfilling a deceased wife’s bucket list, and so on. It’s an exhaustive and diverse list, emphasizing the limitless scope of what our quests can be, from the most simple tasks to the seemingly impossible ones. As Guillebau says, “If you’re not ready to run 250 marathons in a year, you can still pursue a quest.”

“The outside world judges our actions based almost entirely on results–even though the results aren’t always up to us.”

Another important lesson taught in this book is to enjoy the process of our quests. Sometimes, the ultimate treasure doesn’t lie waiting in the finish line, but it’s scattered all throughout the journey we make.

In simpler words, The Happiness of Pursuit tells us how not to lead a boring life. It’s jam-packed with inspiring stories and anecdotes that will make you want to immediately find your quest.

“If you want to make every day an adventure, all you have to do is prioritize adventure. It has to become more important than routine.”