My Peace Corps Story
Travis Hellstrom’s Mongolia Peace Corps Experience and Journey Featured Interview with My Peace Corps Story
Travis Hellstrom's Blog
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The Daily Confusion of Losing a Job
I think one of the hardest things about being out of a job is the daily confusion that comes with it. Some days I feel positive and upbeat. Maybe I had a good conversation with someone, or I found an opportunity that feels like a good fit and I applied. Or I reconnected with someone and there might be a consulting or freelance project I can take on. But other days I just feel scared and hopeless.…
A Brief Guide for Getting Off Caffeine
Discover how I stepped away from caffeine — from overcoming withdrawal headaches to improving my blood pressure. A practical guide to quitting caffeine for good.
My (Fake) Best Man Speech
Years ago, my brother asked me to be the best man in his wedding. He told me a year in advance, which gave me too much time to think about it. To ease the immense pressure, I wrote a 45-minute speech and sent it to him ahead of time. For some reason he thought I was serious and shared it with his fiancee (a lawyer) to review. She was rightly concerned. She politely said to him, “Tell him it might…
A Roadmap For Helping Your Community
Right now, we all want to do what we can for one another. However, there are so many ways to help the community that it can be overwhelming just trying to figure out where to start. Everyone’s time and energy is limited so it’s hard to know what’s the best fit for you as an individual. That's why Travis Hellstrom is proud to present a few ideas to help you figure out your path forward when it…
Businesses Powered by Apps and Optimism
As you run your business each day, you may find that you have very little time or energy to do much else. But there are many ways to improve your professional position so that you can enjoy both your home and work lives. Technology is the answer here, and the following apps can free up your time so that you can use your hours and minutes on your terms. Today’s blog is just one of many positive…
5 Reasons to Become a Benefit Corporation
Writen by Karim Abouelnaga for Conscious Company Magazine TED Fellow and Founder of Practice Makes Perfect In 2016, my team had the unique opportunity to shift our company’s legal status from a 501(c)3 non-profit to a for-profit company. In short, the advantages of being a for-profit trying to achieve our mission of creating high-quality academic summer programs outweighed the advantages of being…
Signs That It May Be Time to Switch Careers
Finding yourself dissatisfied with your work is not abnormal. Millions complain about their day jobs and constantly wish they had chosen a different career. However, it often happens that after obtaining some form of higher education, people go into the first career that makes itself available to them. Unfortunately, this leads to many not ever working in a career that strikes a deep interest in…
The Post It Note Activity
In the past 10 years I’ve facilitated quite a few workshops and trainings. This is consistently a group favorite and it’s one of my favorites too. You make the room colorful, exciting and full of wisdom. You can start a retreat this way or end a workshop with it. You really can’t go wrong. The beauty is that it can be done in 5 minutes. I call it the Post It Note Activity. Requirements : A package…
The Home
I had my castle dream again. The last time I had it was three years ago. It feels so good every time I have it. It's my favorite reoccurring dream, like a piece of birthday cake you only get to have once a year. But better than that. I get to revisit the dream in my mind over and over. This time, it was an even bigger place, but it wasn't a castle. This time it was Rudyard Kipling's home, but…
The Coworking Space
A Short Story “It’s too bad it didn’t work out. I feel like a coworking space is just what this community needs.” “Yeah well, we gave it a shot for couple years and we learned a lot along the way.” “Well you never know, maybe the community will… Hey Joe,Happy Alumni Day!” It was the day of the community alumni parade so naturally everybody was out on Main Street. It just so happened to be my last…
Writing Retreat
I had a chance to lead a mindfulness retreat at Rudyard Kipling’s home in Vermont called Naulakha together with a good friend named Sarah-Marie, founder of Thriving in a Noisy World . It was a beautiful experience that I am still grateful for today. I have included some photos of the retreat here. Our time at the retreat was filled with renewal, quiet reflection, workshops and conversations,…
Peace Corps
I served with the Peace Corps in Mongolia from 2008 until 2011. You can read more about my service here at advancehumanity.com/peacecorps . At the end of my first two years I finished writing the first edition of the Unofficial Peace Corps Volunteer Handbook . It was designed to bring together Volunteers serving around the world to help one another through their Peace Corps service by sharing…
About
Advance Humanity is a social movement dedicated to helping people change themselves and change world, and I believe the best way to change the world is by first changing ourselves. Like Gandhi said, " Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves ." When we live out our dreams and achieve inner peace within ourselves, it is much easier to help…
Officially Launching AdvanceHumanity.com
I've been dreaming of this day for a long time, when I would finally be able to launch Advance Humanity . Our new website has been up for a few weeks while we have been tweaking the design and getting things together, but now it's finally September 21st - the day I was waiting for - World Peace Day. I chose this day to launch because I want it to be a reminder that each of us can do something, no…
Thank You, Peace Corps
It's been an honor serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Peace Corps Volunteer Leader here in Mongolia over the past three years. I feel very grateful and to the many people who have made it an incredible experience, I really can't thank you all enough. Our amazing Peace Corps Mongolia staff and my fellow Volunteers in Mongolia and around the world have always supported me and humbled me. The…
The End of My Time in Peace Corps
After 3 years and 3 months of service, this week signals the end of my time in the Peace Corps. Today Tunga and I finished the lengthy visa process of registering me as a resident in Mongolia and tomorrow night we will be celebrating with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Leader Kyle and the rest of our Peace Corps staff during our Farewell Dinner. To say that Peace Corps has changed my life forever…
Quick Wrap-Up of TEDxUlaanbaatar
This past weekend I was able to enjoy TEDxUlaanbaatar with hundreds of other people from Mongolia and around the world. I am completely humbled by the wonderful things I heard at the event, in the personal e-mails I've received, and the conversations that have been taking place on Facebook . What started out as a simple idea between two friends quickly grew into a talented team of people and an…
Join Us Live for TEDxUlaanbaatar
TEDxUlaanbaatar will be streaming live! While we are limited to 100 seats at the live event, there is unlimited seating for our friends who want to watch TEDxUlaanbaatar live on August 20th! Thanks to the incredible technology available to us you can watch TEDxUlaanbaatar live all day on Saturday, August 20, starting at 9am and running until 6pm in Mongolia. In America, Eastern Standard Time, this…
Our Letter from The Dalai Lama
It's hard for me to express how much I respect the Dalai Lama . For more than ten years, since I was in high school, I have read dozens of his books, collected hundreds of his quotes, and even had the opportunity to share them with tens of thousands of people. He is an inspiration to millions, including my friends and family here in Mongolia, and he has been a big part of my life. Yesterday was…