About

Your life, your pace, your rules: The Friendly Anarchist is a blog about interestingness, (un)productivity and personal sovereignty.

Paradoxical Reality - Artwork by Mandy Steward, http://mandysteward.com/ Hi there, I’m Fabian and I’m a writer, thinker and photographer with a background in political sciences. Welcome!

The Friendly Anarchist is all about taking work beyond the 9 to 5 grind, living a full and fulfilling life, and doing things (un)productively. By embracing the liberal arts, deliberate dilettantism and my signature combination of idleness and activity, I hope to provoke thoughts and discussions about our workaholic and consumerist lifestyle – and explore the alternatives to it.

David Foster Wallace said that “the really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.” The Friendly Anarchist is about the rewards and the wonders (and the paradoxical beauty!) of these petty, unsexy ways.

Your Life: Interestingness

In order to be interesting, you need to be interested. As I believe that you can learn something from everyone, lessons and thoughts shared around here will be quite eclectic. Following this belief, The Friendly Anarchist doesn’t just aim to be interesting (in the sense of entertaining), but also to get you interested.

Just as the meaning of life itself only can be understood by staying flexible and open-minded, interestingness is a topic that’s best explored by looking at it from several different angles. This means that this blog won’t ever be reduced to one single topic. Instead, I’m operating happily in the in-between of several styles, niches, and themes – which seems like a good fit considering the human condition.

Your Pace: (Un)Productivity

A Yiddish proverb has it that “the hardest work is to go idle”. But as far as I can tell, idlers may be underrepresentated in the public sphere, but certainly not in the populace. The reason for this underrepresentaton is that idlers generally don’t care too much about fame and money. For most of them, seeking any of these two would simply mean too much work for too little reward. Idlers strive for their own definitions of success.

The Friendly Anarchist is about the advantages of doing nothing, but it is also about the rewards and inner workings of mindful productivity.

Your Rules: Personal Sovereignty

In a cheerful manner, I have been calling myself a “friendly anarchist” ever since starting this blog in 2009, rejecting the unfriendly coercion many of us are experiencing in our jobs and daily life.

While my personal style of anarchism doesn’t have anything to do with bombs and inducing chaos (other than ice cream bombs and the chaos on my desk, of course), I believe it’s time to remember we’re sovereign people and stop giving away all our power to governments and our employers.

In this sense, The Friendly Anarchist aims to help you understand the concept of personal sovereignty and learn how to create a sovereign life – while being well aware of the necessity and the beauty of cooperating with others.

A Little More About Me

Fabian Kruse My full name is Fabian Till Kruse and I have been writing and publishing under different pseudonyms on the web since 1996; until 2009 mostly in German. (That background occasionally still facilitates funny grammatical structures in my texts.)

After graduating from Latin American Studies in Cologne, Bonn and Bogotá, I refused enter the rat race and instead set forth to pursue a life beyond the office. I have been living semi-nomadically in Latin America and Europe ever since and currently find myself exploring different parts of Germany. In recent months, I have had my homebase on a tiny island in the North Sea.

Since 2009, I have been exploring topics of beautiful paradoxicality on this blog: I looked at everything from how to live an interesting life and the inner workings of change (that often turn out to function quite slowly) to the life lessons learned from Colombian street vendors.

I‘m the author of two books so far:

Beyond Rules – A Dilettante’s Guide to Personal Sovereignty, Space Travel, and Lots of Ice Cream
Productive Anywhere – The e-guide that teaches you how to get things done while traveling the world

Since late 2012, I’ve been producing and hosting the (un)productivity podcast Mountain Shores together with my friend and partner in cake, Milo McLaughlin. Most recently, we have organized our first online course, the C.A.K.E. Method.

I thoroughly enjoy having artisanal ice-cream in the sun and great rum in the shades, a beverage that’s still undervalued by many.

A Little More About You?

If you’ve read so far, we’re probably interested in similar topics. That’s great, welcome aboard! I’m working with and writing for a specific type of person – maybe you share some of their traits?

You prefer to think and experience for yourself instead of merely accepting what others tell you
You have a knack for personal development and change, but not at the cost of living a fun life
You’re a creative type of person that loves to write, draw, paint, photograph, dance, cook, work in the garden and/or sing under the shower… and would probably love to do more of that
You like to question the the status quo, the economy, office jobs, stress, and the philosophical undercurrents that accompany our lives these days
You enjoy reading blogs, but sometimes feel a bit put-off my excessive marketing, shrill voices, hype and what we call a “high-five mentality”
You strive to create (or already have) a “friendly business” that gives you a certain autonomy, the ability to be your own boss, and pays the bills – even when it may not make you rich
You enjoy ice-cream, cake, and/or a good glass of rum

What Next?

Here’s a short selection of some of my most popular posts. If you’d like to receive updates in the future, please subscribe to The Friendly Anarchist for free:

Get in touch

If you’re interested in the friendly anarchistic lifestyle, need a writer, or just want to share a good glass of rum, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to hear from you!

Real Life: On the road in Europe.
Mail: fabian [at] friendlyanarchist [.] com
Twitter: @fabiankruse
The (Un)Productivity Podcast: Mountain Shores
My photography project: Bokehlist

And here you can find the legal notes: Privacy Policy and Earnings Disclaimer. A big thank you to Mandy Steward for creating the artwork Paradoxical Reality that you can see on top of this page.