I’ve read quite a bit lately about ‘ Lifestyle Design’, a term perhaps made famous following the success of Tim Ferriss’s book The 4-hour Work Week.
Is it something we regular guys can achieve or is it reserved for the rich, successful and entrepreneurial?
Last week I noticed there were quite a few bloggers out there with a chip on their shoulder, complaining that they were excluded from this idea of lifestyle design owing to their unique set of circumstances. They felt it was beyond them, that it was just for the privileged.
I don’t want to go into a pedantic definition of what lifestyle design is, I just think a lot of people have missed the point.
Simply, lifestyle design – or whatever other term you want to use – is about creating a better life for yourself so that you are happier and leading the kind of life you truly want to lead.
Maybe your own situation prevents you from doing some of the things Tim Ferriss does, like taking salsa classes in Argentina or learning kickboxing in Thailand. Besides, maybe this is not what you want to do anyhow! And if you’re working loads, and your next holiday is miles away and you have kids or just had a messy divorce, this exotic life which is marketed to you may seem like a pipe dream (or just a sick joke).
But I do believe that wherever you are, and whatever you do, you can find a way to improve your life.
That’s the point. Creating a better lifestyle for yourself.
It doesn’t have to be this idea of getting into internet marketing and becoming a smiley peroxide-white-toothed self-development coach.
It just means taking a little time for yourself each day to build a better life. This is one of the main messages of bouncing back from a break up: you’ve been in the ditch and now’s the time to get moving again on your own terms.
Which brings us full circle to common advice after your split: getting into a new hobby, travelling, calling old friends, going out, trying new things, meeting new women.
So in a sense, ‘lifestyle design’ is a fancy term for what we’ve always been talking about: ideas on how to move forward with your work, social life and relationships.
As I hinted in a previous post, I am creating a new blog which is a new brother to this one. It’s only just started but I hope there’ll be something there for you in the coming months. Have a peep now here: Men’s Lifestyle Design
david(at) bouncebackfromabreakup.com
