About Karol Gajda and RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com
6 Year Old Bad Ass
In 17 words: The ultimate goal with RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com and my life is to help 100 people achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom.
Hey there! I’m Karol.
(That’s pronounced like Karl, not Carol. And while I’m at it, the last name is Guy-Duh. Ninja Gajda(n) if you’re nasty.)
I was born in Poland and my family escaped communism shortly before Martial Law was instituted in 1981. Close call. Thanks Mama i Tata!
My earliest memory is eating a Starburst (with wrapper intact) my late Grandma Stefania gave me outside of our Mt Pleasant, MI apartment at the age of 2.
I believe in radical honesty even if maybe it’s not in my best interest.
I’m a fan of touring, canoeing/camping trips, downhill Big Wheels races, paratrooper tossing, karaoke, shuttle launches, and seeing crazy things like flaming big rigs in the middle of Arizona.
I don’t eat animals or animal products of any kind. Before you ask, yes, fish are animals too. :)
I play guitar (Gibson SG baby!) like a madman and am releasing a quadruple live double album of Eastern European polka music next week.
I’ve never had the pleasure of working in cubicle hell, but I hear it’s…hell.
I have Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom.
Do what we like and we like what we do. – Andrew W.K.
As you can tell by the picture above I’ve been free since childhood. :)
Again, my goal in life and with this project is to:
Help One Hundred (100) People Achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom
Specifically, I want to help you achieve your idea of freedom, whatever that may be.
Why 100? It’s not that I think changing the lives of 1,000 or 10,000 (or more) is unattainable. But I’d like to get to know all 100 people on some level. And even that is pushing it. Genuinely getting to know 1,000 people is impossible.
Once the goal is reached this Web site will self destruct and I will vanish into the ether. More accurately, I’ll just go hang out somewhere cool, but that doesn’t sound as intense, does it?
Blog Update Schedule: Every Tuesday and Friday.
Regular Tuesday posts run the gamut from funny/silly/insane stories to interesting things I’ve learned about health, travel, and life.
Friday posts are about life/happenings/goings-on and all that jazz.
Speaking: Contact me (KarolGajda AT Gmail.com) if you’d like me to speak about Ridiculously Extraordinary Living to your organization.
Interviews: Blogs, podcasts, radio, TV, newspapers, living room sofas. I’m there. Just get in touch.
Travel schedule: Updated on the sidebar of every page. —>
Let’s do this!
At The Crossroads in Clarksdale, MS where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil.
Big Wheels Racing!
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{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
LOVE IT!!!
Great website! I’m going to continue to read your blogs :)
Thanks Lydia!
If you’d have asked me if I would watch a video about how to clean a blender I might have smacked ya. But…..I just did! Wonders.
Just how close are you to a hundred? I’ve been on a list of yours in one form or another for several years. Does that count? :)
Let’s see….getting to know……my blood type is A+. more :)’s
Dude- Fellow Michigander here from mid-Michigan. Been on one of your lists for who knows how long. Even bought a cd years ago. Envy your freedom. I’d join ya but got a dog and an old lady. I’d dump the old lady but my 90 lb dog hates the heat so we’d have to hang in the cooler mountain regions if I was to tag along. Oh, right…gotta make a buck to stay alive. Can’t play guitar for coins so guess it’ll have to be selling something on eBay. Glad to see your livin’ the dream and no strings attached since I last read about you. Would love to get the hell outa Michigan right now if I had the bucks to do so. :-( Happy trails Karol…peace!
Hey Glenn!
Thanks for posting! And thanks for sticking around over the years. Yeah, I know what it’s like with a pet. Taking my cat Jessie to live with a friend in Austin, TX a couple weeks ago was one of the toughest decisions of my life. But a pet sitter who comes once/day wouldn’t be fair to her. She needed a good home. I’ll be back in MI for a couple weeks in December/early January. Not looking forward to the cold but it’s always awesome hanging with friends/family. :)
Hello, Karol,
In a moment of complete and utter desperation in my windowless airless office where my job has just been outsourced, wondering if there is any hope, I typed the words “freedom writing travel life” into the search engine and came across your intriguing site.
First question: Is is possible for me to have any freedom and still have a house to live in? Having lived the first 18 years of my life without indoor plumbing, I am reluctant to give it up.
Thank you for your help,
Deb
Hi Deb,
Thanks for commenting. The beauty of Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom is that it can be whatever you want it to be. :) I don’t want to force my version of Freedom upon you, but help you realize your own Freedom.
There is always hope. Keep reading, but more importantly, take action on this next fascinating and scary part of your life!
Karol
Hey Ninja Gaiden!
Found your blog from Zen Habit’s blog. Awesome site! And I like that idea of helping 100 people to achieve ridiculously extraordinary freedom. That’s a fresh one.
Please do not self destruct this blog – going to show to my future grandson haha. I love your writing style. RSS’ed and Twittered!
Daniel
Brisbane
Hey Daniel!
Thanks for commenting and thanks for your kind words. :)
Karol
Hey Karol,
I just stumbled onto your site and just had to leave a comment. Your writing (unlike some other blogs) is not clandestine and you don’t circumvent any information. Personally, I have been looking at people who are up and traveling as I am getting ready to move to Australia from California for veterinary school. Keep the updates coming, I’m subscribing now!
Rebecca
Thanks for subscribing Rebecca!
Where in Australia are you moving?
Karol
Olah :)
I am reading some articles of yours and it seems that you don’t have no big expectations in general. It’s a point on the journey of being free, isn’t it?
Really intresting, awesome and amazing (!) what you express! I notice you experiment new fresh ways of doing and seeing things to discover with all assurance that it’ll be a great result, and then you sharing your success and we all release that’s because of the freedoom of being who you are or the freedom of choosing the best. You are helping me even when I am writing this right now,
I also have to say you have a pretty cool eyes. It’s said that eyes are the mirror of soul.
Hi Tania,
Thanks for your kind words!
Karol
i just found your site from zen habits and i was shocked to read “our Mt Pleasant, MI apartment” because i’m living in mt pleasant right now. (going to CMU)
i appreciate what you’re doing here. best of luck achieving yr goals w/ this. you’ll probably be hearing/seeing more from me!
warmly,
steve
Hey Steve,
Awesome! I know a bunch of people who went to CMU. :)
Thanks for commenting!
Karol
Just found this through Zen Habits. Enjoyed your travel post on ZH!
Who are these 100 people you are helping, and how are you helping them? I want to know more about this project.
Hi Ashni,
Thanks for asking! A little more info about that is here: http://www.ridiculouslyextraordinary.com/accountability-statement-1/
Karol
Hi Karol, intrigued to read your post (via zenhabits) and find you are visiting NZ soon. I live in Auckland and would love to hear more ridiculourly extraordinary stuff in person… are you doing any “public appearances” in Auckland. Or I would be delighted to show you some Kiwi hospitality.
Regards, Carol-Ann
Hi Carol-Ann,
Thank you. Please get in touch with me (e-mail is on my About page).
Thanks!
Karol
Czesc Karol,
Great blog, great vision, and a great plan to share it. My goal is to get to the Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom point and see what happens.
Vegan… Love it. I’m working towards it with an eventual goal of raw vegan. No point in getting Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom if you don’t have the health and energy to enjoy it, is there?
It would be great to catch up with you some day. Enjoy your travels, and may this blog inspire a lot more than 100 people do something extra-ordinary.
Best regards,
Tom
Czesc Tom,
Dziekuje! ;)
I’ve been to some great raw vegan restaurants, but it’s an incredibly difficult step to take while traveling. I don’t expect I’ll ever do it. The added stress would outweigh any possible benefits.
Karol
Love your site! Just stumbled here from Zenhabits. This was exactly what my Monday needed – you are wonderfully inspiring, thank you! Looking forward to checking back here often. And cheers to you!
Hi Erika,
Awesome, thank you!
Karol
Hi Karol!
I found your website/blog via your guest post at zenhabits.
How cool! Your website is awesome. I’m really enjoying catching up on what I’ve missed since July.
Thanks so much!
–Ilene
Hi Ilene,
Thanks for reading ZH, clicking through, and liking the site! :) That means a lot.
Karol
Wow…Hi Karol!!
I remember you from back in the old IM days – has to be back in 2002-2003. If I remember right, you did a one dollar experiment – among a bunch of other really cool stuff.
Then you disappeared into thin air, and I always wondered what happened to you.
Glad to have found you out there again, and what a great platform to run from!
I’ve found life as an online entrepreneur to be full of ups and downs, and would love to chat with you about it sometime if you’re interested.
In either event, I look forward to reading what you have here. :)
Take care!
~Mike
Mike! What’s up?! It wasn’t that long ago…2004 when we lived in the same apartment complex. Only 5 years. :)
Would love to catch up.
Talk to you soon,
Karol
I want to be number 100….
Thank you for this site… it motivates us people stuck in cubicle hell to figure our stuff out and get moving.
Hi Amanda, thank you! Don’t wait for me, take action now. :)
Karol, you rock!
As I said in my other posts I found your site quite by accident. But it has been an inspiration. A whole bunch of similar messages and encounters have been coming at me recently and given me pause for thought.
Your blog, and others that it has led me to helped me get the most out of my annual stocktake-of-my-life that I tend to so at this time of year.
As a result I have stopped planning and started doing. Stopped making excuses and procrastinating and started doing. I have ordered the Yurt i have been promising myself for the last 2 years. I have switched from a junk-food-take-out-lovin-omnivore to being an organic-veggie-lovin-tree-huggin-vegan-in-the-raw. And for the first time in a long time have some clarity.
My creativity and desire has returned and my whole life has become a “watch-this-space” environment that is evolving and changing all the time.
Namaste
Whoa…yurt! One of my “goals” is to spend a night in a Yurt. There are some on the northern California coast (I believe) that I was looking at a while ago.
Awesome that my blog and others have inspired you to action. Really good to know that Andy. Thank you. :)
Hey again Karol
Been checking out the rest of your site. Really enjoying it! How do I sign on to be one of the 100 people? And what exactly do you plan on doing to help people begin living extraordinary lives? I’m keen to know more!!!
Cheers
Angela :-)
Hi Angela,
Thank you. Right now there is no sign up and what I plan on doing is under wraps. Meaning, I haven’t worked it out yet. :)
Thanks again!
Karol
Karol…
I totally remember the Girls, Girls, Girls tape. In fact, I was 10th row at the Girls, Girls, Girls concert when I came through K.C. Oh the party after…
Anyway, I really dig your mission and I look forward to following you.
hehe…you’re lucky. I saw Motley Crue last year. I didn’t really want to because I knew it would ruin my image of them, but I won free tix (as well as their whole catalog on vinyl, an autographed guitar pickguard, and 2 books). So I went. And they were pretty bad. :( Still good memories from my childhood though. :)
Great blog! I’ve been slowly trying to shift my blog over to a combination of lifestyle design and travel advice, and I’m really glad I found your blog because you touch on a ton of points that I very much agree with. I’ll be adding you to the “Lifestyle Design” section of my blogroll soon.
Hi Karol! My good friend, the amazingly wonderful and creative Mark Powers just introduced me to you and your site through his blog post about couchsurfing. Come to think of it, he introduced me to couchsurfing as well. But the point is, ridiculously extraordinary is just that. Thanks so much, look forward to reading your book and following your site. Maybe being ONE of the ONE HUNDRED! I guess Mark and I are going to just miss you during our trip to Thailand in March? So I’ll say thanks here, for passing on some inspiration.
Hi Lucinda,
Thank you! Awesome to hear you’re a CSer. And yes, it’s unfortunate that I’ll miss you and Mark in Thailand, but I’m hanging here in India until at least April, maybe May.
Let me know how you like the book. :)
Thanks again!
Karol
Hello Karol,
I think we have pretty similair story. Funny that. I came over to the states just after martial law broke out tho, twas a great escape. Anyway looks like you are doing something really interesting. I’m a bit mistified, so I will be following your travels.
I gave up my fancy job in the states, most of my stuff and moved to the UK a few years ago. I’m living in a community where I live with people with learning difficulties. I have started to making short films here, engaging people as directors, screenplay writers and actors. It’s such cool work. Yeah so long story short, I want this to become my work. I want to travel around to other communities such as this one (there are 23 in the U.K) and make short films. But, how I do it is the question. I need a business plan….and maybe a big dose of this ridiculously extraordinary freedom you speak of!
Hi Gosia!
That’s so cool!
If you have any of your short films online please send me a link (or post it here).
Thank you for posting. Always nice to hear about others with similar stories. :)
Karol