zombiecover2jpg.jpegLast year, we held The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge – a groovy contest in which we asked readers to submit a seventh essential lesson for satisfying, productive careers (As you know, the book provides six such lessons. Please take a moment to recite them. I’ll wait.)

The winner was Becky Blanton, whose entry — “Stay hungry” — garnered the most votes. Becky won a trip to TED Global, which begins next week in Oxford, England.

If that weren’t nifty enough, it turns out that Becky her has a remarkable story – that involves, among other things, being homeless and living out of a van — so remarkable, in fact, that she’ll now be speaking at TED on Tuesday July 21.

The lesson: Stay hungry – because there is no plan.

7 Responses to “The Adventures of Becky Bunko”

  1. Jimmy Vu Nguyen says:
    July 15, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Congratulations Becky! I wish both of you good luck at TED. I hope that your talks will be posted on TED.com soon.

  2. hope torrents says:
    July 16, 2009 at 8:24 am

    What a fantastic story! I can’t wait to see Becky on a TED video. Good luck.

  3. Ed says:
    July 16, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    Great idea, Becky. Enjoy TED.

    And, on the topic of “Stay Hungry” I thought you may enjoy this:

    http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004966.html

  4. Lotro powerleveling says:
    July 16, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    I tried to think so, but I found it was not as the same in the actual process. As you mentioned, I still have doubts, but really thank you for sharing!

  5. Aaron Heideman says:
    August 13, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Sweet! I love stories about people going from homelessness to success. I’m kind of in the same boat as Becky. I live in a van, and I decided to turn it into art.

    Now I’m traveling the country with no money, collecting stories from people that have been affected by the recession. I’m letting people write their recession stories on my van, and I also have a 50-yard Tyvek banner that I’m letting people write on. In mid-September, the whole thing is being displayed at a huge art contest in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s called The Man in a Van Project, and it will be displayed at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation from September 23 – October 10, 2009.

    I can definitely relate to the need for Staying Hungry. I’ve put myself in a predicament that if I don’t keep my motivation, I will literally starve.

    Check out the project if you get a chance. You can Google it. Peace y’all.