What changes could you make to the world... at the end of Fifty Coffees?
A simple but profound piece of “social innovation”, as our blog earlier this week explored, from a Guernsey-based activist and consultant called Marc Winn - called 50 Coffees.
What if having a coffee with someone became an intentional and experimental act? Imagine, asks Marc, that you committed to meeting 50 different people for coffee over a year. And then out of that emerged a new community, a new project, a better set of skills for connecting and conversing with people. Marc invites you to 50 Coffees below:
Do you yearn for something different, but find it hard to shake off the old routine?
Do you sense there’s something more, but don’t know how to access it - yet?
Want to break existing patterns?
Are you up for a random, playful, breathtakingly simple adventure?
This adventure involves having informal conversations with people in informal locations. Invite people out for a coffee. That’s it. You don’t even need to drink coffee, if you don’t like it, or you don’t want to get wired. Take it easy. That’s what it’s all about.
Such a simple and seemingly pointless venture is bound to raise the eyebrows of some people around you.
The magic is that it defies logic. Logic says you have to work hard and deliver results: make things happen. This adventure is all about poking logic in the eye and challenging assumptions.
It’s an adventure. Don’t worry - there’s no need to take out extra life insurance. But to be honest, there is a level of danger. Who knows what an adventure like this will do to the course of your life? What new direction will you follow, as a result of a few chats? If you’re not careful, you could be selling your house, quitting your job, or even getting a divorce. So, take it easy; don’t make too many rash decisions and enjoy what this adventure has to teach you about life.
You might not be whitewater rafting down the rapids or climbing Everest without oxygen, but this will still be a life-changing adventure - not just for you, but for everyone you meet. It even has the potential to benefit wider society. Change the world over coffee.
With something so easy, that delivers surprising, even world-changing, results - what’s not to love?
Why take on the 50 Coffee Adventure?
It’s not about the coffee. Although, I’ll admit - coffee is wonderful. It’s about so much more - as you’ll find out. It’s about making connections and sharing your ideas - potentially to make the world a better place. Who knows what seeds you will sow, or beans you will grow, from a conversation over coffee?
1. It’s breathtakingly simple and ridiculously fun
This is really a challenge to create momentum in your life, and to dismantle any unhelpful belief systems you have. You might even end up becoming a better person for it.
Break the patterns of day-to-day life with a challenge that’s really simple to do - while potentially creating very unlikely outcomes.
Be playful. This challenge should feel mischievous and fun to do. Whether you want to break down your own barriers, enjoy yourself, meet interesting people, receive enlightenment, achieve your goals or give ‘the system’ a poke in the eye - this is for you. It’s so simple, it’s ridiculous.
2. You’ll become a master of forming authentic human connections that create impact
This fun project helps you to develop a life skill that really matters. The ability to form and develop human relationships is something few of us are formally taught - yet, it’s the foundation for all that’s positive in the world. It’s the basis of good health, great relationships and a fulfilling life.
This challenge not only teaches you how to develop authentic human connections, but to use those connections to help you to lead a meaningful life and make a difference.
3. You’ll achieve more than you ever thought possible
Commonly, achievement is linked with productiveness and hard work. Most people focus on day-to-day effort, rather than understanding that year-to-year effectiveness is what really counts towards huge achievements. This challenge teaches you the value of cultivating connections, being brave enough to speak out loud, and giving yourself the time and space to reflect on the experiences you’ll have.
It takes a lot less effort than you realise - to go places and make things happen.
Hopefully, by the end of this challenge, you’ll understand - and believe - that you really can change the world, if you want to.
Simply one Coffee at a time.
Marc’s methodology seems ripe to meet the burgeoning “cafe society” across the world. There are interesting anxieties coming from business about the amount of meetings being done in cafes - does this require that management has to “lose control” of employees for hours in a day?
Yet there are parts of the world where “coffee culture” is actually preserved as part of UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage - Vienna for example (where we’ll report from in our editorial at the end of the week). This article lists five new Vienna coffee houses - enough to have you drooling and searching for cheap flights.
And just to put a Singularity touch on it: there’s now an algorithm than can tell you exactly when and how much coffee to have, so it can have the requisite brain-boosting effect.