Introducing...
Jordan Ayres
Age: 21
Education: King’s College London, History
Twitter: itsjordanayres
Blog:jordanayres.com
What’s your blog all about?
I can tell you what it’s not about, it’s not about what I had for dinner last night or what I’m watching on television (Breaking Bad, if you’re interested) or how special and unique I am (because I’m not.) Instead, my blog is about living deliberately. When Thoreau went to the woods, he went with the intention to “live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Everybody has their own definition of what it means to live deliberately; and this is why my blog is an exploration of what it means for *me* to live deliberately. And—hopefully—along the way, my exploration will help others, on their own terms, live their life deliberately.
Describe your blog in three words
Not for everyone.
Why did you start your blog?
On the surface, I was unhappy with my life. I had just finished a year of university, and I felt I had very little to show for it. There’s only so many times someone can go out and get drunk, make mistakes, and pretend they’re living. When I looked around, so many of my friends were, again to quote Thoreau, living lifes of “quiet desperation”—myself included.
Unfortunately, none of my friends cared, or at the very least wanted to talk, about the things I wanted to talk about. As a result, I decided to write about it and, instead, share my message with those willing to listen.
How long have you been running it?
Around 3-4 months
What makes it different from the rest?
There are thousands and thousands of blogs, but very few are writing about the things I was thinking. I like to think I talk about the things that people my age—should— want to think and talk about: our purpose, happiness, self-improvement, contribution, making a difference. And I like to think I talk about those things in a thoughtful and authentic way.
Who would be your dream guest blogger?
That’s a great question. I would have to say author, angel investor, and entrepreneur (amongst other things) Tim Ferriss. I love the way he can take any topic, and with the power of his words, make you want to learn more.
What was your last blog post about?
My last blog post, in a nutshell, was about not giving up. When things fall apart in life, there is a tendency to assume that all is lost and give up. Instead, I think it’s important to understand that success in life is never linear. It normally takes people more than one attempt to give up smoking—this holds true for every important change that people make in their lifes.
What’s been your “blog highlight”?
What’s been your “blog highlight”? (ie, a post which you’re particularly proud of, one which got good traffic/someone famous tweeted etc..)
My “blog highlight” was coincidentally both my favourite blog post to write and the one to date that has received the most traffic/retweets. It was titled The Negativity Bias, What it is and How to Overcome it—the research and science behind our brain’s negativity.
I love reading about human psychology, especially happiness, so it was really fulfilling to write about something that I really care about.
