If you've been on the Internet and you're involved with marketing, you probably know who Hugh MacLeod is. Hugh's the type of guy who defies easy categorization. Is he a marketer? Yes. Author? Yes. Cartoonist? Yes. Philosopher? Yes. In fact, that's his Evil Plan. What's an Evil Plan? First, it's not that evil. It's really your plan to make sure you are leading a fulfilling, meaningful life.
The best part about Hugh? He's absolutely a zero bullshit guy. Here's what the book Evil Plans isn't: One of those "follow these 21 steps to happiness"-guides that pretends to know exactly what's going to work for you. The book, which is filled with Hugh's cartoons (check out his work at GapingVoid) clocks in at a mere 180 pages. But that's not because Hugh doesn't have much to say, it's because he just says it, rather than trying to pretend he's got some sort of fool proof, complicated process.
But here's the thing - it's not about the book. You can crank through this thing in one evening. If you do that, tick the box and move on to something else, you've missed the point. Evil Plans isn't about the reading, it's about the doing after the reading. Creating your own Evil Plan is a tough challenge. If it weren't, everyone who have one. Hugh's book deals with issues much, much bigger than 'how can I increase my Klout score or generating better SEO. It's about understanding the fundamental nature of humans and what you can contribute to humanity that will make others happy and in turn make you feel like what you're doing is worth a damn.
Not many people are ready to have that conversation with themselves. The excuses are too easy. But the alternative, going through life not truly happy, not feeling like your life has purpose sounds much worse to me than putting in the effort it takes to create your Evil Plan.
Do yourself a favor - at least pick up the book. Give it a read. Can't make your own Evil Plan? Then at least pass the book along to someone else who can.