#TotallyTrendyTuesday Winning Tactics for Designing the Life of Your Dreams!
I remember not that long ago sitting down with a pen and paper and putting effort into writing down my values, my mission and my goals. I remember googling “how to know what you value”. I tell you that to let you know I have been there. I have had no idea what I wanted or how to get there, I understand not knowing where to start. I believe the point is to start in a direction, take that beginning step, and the next actions will follow once your feet are moving.
Over the course of the last thirteen years, I have been designing my current lifestyle and I want to share with you how you can also design the life of your dreams.
I shared a few weeks ago about Tim Ferriss’s book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” Excellent read and if you have not read it, do! I had been designing my days and weeks for a while when this book was introduced to me, and after reading, I had a whole new layer of clarity to work with.
The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD).
When I read this, I was floored! It was as if I needed Tim (or someone) to give me permission to take the leap of faith into redesigning the way I lived. Tim talks a lot in the book about travel and how to create a life overseas, but the same rules apply wherever you are. The principle is this: how do you want to spend your day, what do you value, and what do you love doing that gives you the most energy? Do those things, build your income around those things, and the rest will fall into place.
Now, if sitting on your ass eating pizza and binging on Netflix is your idea of a happy life, this might not be for you. Sometimes that is fun, I get it, but Tim’s idea is a bit of a higher calling and a bit more active. This is how I see it: it’s not so much about WHAT I make, but how I arrange my time and my dollars to fit with what I most want. For instance, If your priority is going for a long run in the morning, not sitting in traffic, and being able to eat lunch at home everyday, freelance writing starts to look like a perfect “job” to align with your lifestyle aims. So often, people decide their career and then fold their life around the job. I am suggesting to go in the opposite direction: determine the life you want, what fills your cup up with ‘feel goods’, and then determine your career based on those first two pieces.
The underlying baseline here is abundance thinking instead of scarcity. When you start to believe that the universe will support your dreams and desires, and that you are worthy of those things, your choices and your design will begin to sync up perfectly with that notion. What you do for work and how you spend your time will be in alignment with your higher purpose. Start to dream, write down your vision, your goals, your mission, and don’t be afraid to borrow someone else's until you find your own.
Lindsey Rainwater is a consultant and coach to the fitness and wellness industry. She specializes in business development and leadership.