A Selfish Plan to Change the World: Finding Big Purpose in Big Problems

This book was a book I was very drawn to review for some reason, and I wasn't sure why exactly.

Now I know why.

I feel very inspired by this book.

When I picked this book up, it could have been the literal fever I was having, but this book felt very slow and dense. Like super dense. It starts off talking about dreams and his rock star dream concerts and U2. Normally, that would make it an automatic awesome read for me, but this was just hard for me for some reason. He talks about how U2 changed the world and brought awareness through taking a risk as an Irish band who in the 80s leaped out of line and sung about the tragedies around the world. Brought awareness where it had not before been done.

He goes on to pick up the pace when it talks about listening to President Obama and President Clinton talk about slavery-- but do it a way that shows that it very much still exists. Just in different ways. How incredibly disheartening is this? What is encouraging is him saying that money, power, and all that can't work on it's own to change things. It has to come from the people as well. Everyone in that room wanted to go to this "prom" and "dance with someone" to be able to make a difference. That analogy was absolutely beautifully done.

How do big and small people come together to help others? By realising they are all human and the same and realise that they are responsible for the same destiny of helping others.

Justin is a beautiful writer when it comes to sucking you into his journey of where is has been and is going. It is clear that he is a whole person-- that he allows spiritually, sense of self, world sense, responsibility, his vocation, to all become one. That is a powerful thing right there.

By reading this, I am once again, drawn to tell my story to help others and change the (foster care) system for the better. What a beautiful way to get an affirmation-- even fever and all!

One day, I would to even work with Justin because it's not far off from what is close to my heart as well. Thank you for all the world you Justin in helping others.

While it is an incredibly dense book you will be moved by it. I only wish it had reflection pages because the one element, as we call in theatre and him as a recording artist would understand, is breaking the 4th wall. And he wants to in this book and bring you into it to show you that where you  are is absolutely enough to change the world. But where he fails is in the ability to give actual thinking questions at the end of each chapter, a way forward for the reader to pursue themselves in change, or a writing space.

For that reason, I will dock this book a star. But I still HIGHLY recommend this book.

I give this book ☀☀☀☀ out of 5.

Book Description:

"You are exactly what the world needs

What if your search for meaning could solve the world’s problems? What if everything you are passionate about could save a life or change history? Justin Dillon argues it can, and A Selfish Plan to Change the World shows how. 

In this paradigm-shifting new book, Dillon--the founder of Slavery Footprint and Made in a Free World--reveals the secret to a life of deep and lasting significance: the discovery that our need for meaning is inextricably linked to the needs of the world. A Selfish Plan to Change the World delivers a revolutionary method for meeting both needs.


Drawing upon his own unlikely transformation from touring musician to founder of a global movement and telling the stories of other surprising world-changers, Dillon shows how to create a life of deep purpose by stepping into the problems of the world. Taking readers on a journey from sweatshops in India to punk rock concerts in Ireland, Dillon exposes the limitations of the "giving back" approach involving donations and volunteerism to reveal the unexpected power of "giving in" to pursue self-interest in a way that alters the very dynamics of the world’s most challenging problems.

A Selfish Plan to Change the World is your "self-help-others" guide to a life that matters, demonstrating how you can re purpose your existing talents, back story, and networks to improve the lives of others. Changing the world no longer belongs only to martyrs and professional do-gooders. You can live an extraordinary life. You can change the world. All you ever needed was a plan."