An Interview With Glen Allsopp

If you are looking to get more in tune with the person you are, as opposed to the person you try to present to others, you will want to take a look at what Glen Allsopp provides in article format on his site PluginID.  The site is about plugging into your identity, with a focus on the identity you have, and how you can and should express it.  He exemplifies this by presenting points about his personal experiences all through his articles and site-related components.  When he points out how he actually felt during a past event, or how he got through an experience, with description about the experience, we as readers benefit more than if details and practicality aren’t present.

Another trait of Glen’s that I highly support is that he follows up any information about his own positive results with how the reader can create similar results of their own.  If you read his personal development or site-building material, and don’t improve from it, that is only because you chose not to take the steps he provided.  Even in the comments to his articles and those on other sites he guest posts on, he stays humble, and leads the reader/listener through the path of action.  This is the kind of influence that doesn’t leave out some “secret” step, because, as Glen would and has pointed out, the “secret” step would be to put in consistent effort and follow guidance if desired.  Here is my interview with Glen, followed by some concluding commentary and summary:

Armen: With your recent article titled “Expression Not Impression”, you explained how you have basically switched over to the side of expression, and it is based on being more truthful with the world, and doing more for yourself. What kind of changes would someone want to start making if they wanted be more representative of this quality of expression?

Glen: First of all, you have to be willing to do this. I know it sounds all happiness and roses on my blog, but this is actually quite a difficult decision. It is a shame it’s difficult, as I believe most people would agree it’s the right path to take. We’re so stuck in the mode of living up to the standards of others and keep people happy that it’s hard to change that.

It’s certainly possible though. I would say the first step is just to decide what you want in life. Not what your parents want for you and not what career path your friends expect you to go down. Work out what it is you want to do and follow that path as best as possible. If you find yourself swaying from that path for reasons other than your own, then you’re back in the mode of impressor, not expressor.

Glen: Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. Similar to the last question, I would say that you should make sure you are following your own path. If you do what you feel is right and more specifically, right for you, then you can’t really go wrong.

Regarding careers, people feel like they need to have some perfect goal before they take action. Instead, just open yourself up to whatever you feel interested in now, and see where that takes you. When I was 17 I had this insane passion for Search Engine Optimisation and honestly thought that was the career I would end up doing for the rest of my life.

After a while I started to lose interest in it and instead of clinging to it because I thought it was the right path I just continued down the next route that seemed right to take. Now I run a very popular personal development blog and run a number of successful websites. If I had stuck to my original goal, despite lack of interest, I certainly wouldn’t be in the great position I find myself in.

Look at whatever it is you’re interested in right now, and follow it. Don’t worry if it doesn’t seem like some perfect path. If it feels right, go for it. Then, keep using your gut instinct as a compass. This has worked well for me and I’ll continue to use it. I might be doing something completely different in one or two years time.

Glen: It can be very difficult, especially if you’re working a full-time job like I did for a long time. There are a couple of ways to do this though. The first is to identify time wasters in your life like TV, hanging out with friends, online gaming, browsing the internet and so on. Of course, some of them will not be seen as time wasting my others, but this is abotu what you view as time wasters.

You have to be honest with yourself and not lenient. And, if it seems too difficult to identify and eliminate certain time wasters in your life to fit in a new activity, you obviously don’t want to fit the new task in that badly.

I really wanted to create Cloud Living, I had a massive desire to start and finish it. I didn’t want it to be some dream in my head, I quit Facebook, Instant Messenger and other things to get it done on time.

Another way is to simply map out your current schedule and see where you could save time. Could you get out of bed an hour earlier or even go to sleep an hour later? Could you pack your work gear the night before so you don’t have to fuss in the mornings? Could you not see your friends for one weekend so that you can work on your own projects?

When you really write down what you do each day it makes it easier to see where you can get ‘time back’ to fit in other things that you wish to do.

Glen: I think the biggest thing I learned was to realise all of the social conditioning there is out there and that you don’t have to let it affect you. In the UK, it’s definitely the norm do go to school, get good grades, go to college and then go to University. I’m sure it’s like that in most countries. I honestly thought that this was the route I had to go down.

When I was offered the job in South Africa, I realised I didn’t have to live like that and decided to follow my dreams of working in the Internet marketing industry. I quit college, quit my job and then moved over there within two weeks of being offered the opportunity. Life over there is so different to the UK and far more laid back than what I’m used too.

Never forget, the rules and influences of your current environment are only unique to that place. If you go to a different city or especially a new country, it’s very likely that most of that will change. Don’t get trapped into thinking your current reality includes everything there is to witness or experience.

Moving to a new country is not for everyone although it will massively broaden your perspectives on the world. If you want to try it, be willing to put yourself on the line. I mean be willing to talk to strangers to make friends, try new foods and just generally experience a different lifestyle. If you go to a new place and act in the exact way you do back ‘home’ you really won’t make the most of it.

A good time to leave is just whenever you feel like your current environment has given you all it can and you’re ready to try something new.

Glen: At first, a lot of the feedback took me by surprise. For instance, one of my favourite bloggers is Steve Pavlina and I received comments like “Wow, your writing is way better than Steve’s, I only read your site now” and others along the same lines. Initially I felt really great to read things like this but I made sure I wouldn’t let them get to me. Just like people can easily stop following Steve, they can easily stop following me instead.

This interview has actually helped me realise my philosophy is very much based around doing what is right for you. So, back to the question, I don’t really let my increasing audience size or clear influence affect me in any way. My marker is just to make sure I write content that I want to read and let people filter themselves as to whether they want to continue to read it or not.

I do have some responsibility in terms of not promoting things that are unethical or that discriminate others but, luckily, I wouldn’t do that anyway so it still fits in with doing what is right for me.

Thanks for the interview and the awesome questions!

Concluding Notes

Each of Glen’s articles has a distinct message.  I thought it was interesting that I had not heard or seen the title of his article “Expression Not Impression” anywhere else before.  It was creative and got the point right across.  In this modern period of time, Glen’s method of practical example-based writing is the only way to go, as the old way of keeping secrets from your audience continues to get more outdated as transparency increases in relevancy.  I appreciate that Glen took part in this interview.  As an added note, on Glen’s site is an auto-updating ranked list of personal development sites.  The following is a summary of points from the interview:

• To switch to expressing your true self, first check if you are willing to do so, and then decide what you want from your life
• If you want to be able to bring high energy to what you are doing, make sure it is in the right category, then refrain from setting some perfect goal, and then put in work where your interest is
• To place a new activity or creation into your current schedule, you first need a strong desire, and then have to look to cut time away from other current activities that take up your time, which can be done more easily through writing down what takes up your time
• To make a big personal decision like relocating to a new country, you want to assess whether you are willing to immerse yourself completely, and if so, such as for this moving example, head there ready to gain new perspective that was likely not available at your previous area of residence
• As you gain influence with people you work with in what you do, don’t let your increasing influence affect your efforts, and people will filter themselves out if they have any issues with you

Tagged as: glen allsopp, interview