Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

It Is About Lifestyle Design (Part Two)

June 18, 2009 | Advice, Feature

Yesterday, I talked about this idea of lifestyle design. I walked you (and myself, quite frankly) through an exercise of determining what one would need to produce online in order to live the tropical island life.

This exercise hopefully made it clear that creating the ideal life (whatever that may be for you) isn’t really a matter of dreams. It is a simple matter of working it backward to determine what kind of sales you’d need to make to earn enough to make it happen.

The flip side of this lifestyle design, however, is not to commit yourself to things which would bar you from living the life you want.

For example, in yesterday’s exercise, I estimated an approximate cost of $12,000 per month to live this island life. The actual cost might be much less. Now, there are certainly jobs out there where you can earn enough money to live in the islands. A solid, corporate job can pull down a solid income. But, the problem is that it holds you prisoner. You might have money, but you don’t have freedom of movement. So, in terms of your lifestyle design, it isn’t a good move to get a corporate job like that.

As another example, let us say you already have an online business going and it is going fine. However, somebody approaches you with a deal that could bring in a lot of money, but it would require a fairly substantial commitment on your part. So, would jumping into this opportunity fit into your lifestyle design? Perhaps not.

It isn’t about avoiding commitments. You can’t go through life without making commitments. But, it IS about making commitments which are in agreement with your overall lifestyle design goals.

Internet business is very flexible and this is one of the many perks. You can design a business to accommodate your overall lifestyle design. You can use outside labor and/or technology to help remove you from the equation and provide personal flexibility.

Some people don’t like to get into doing coaching online because it commits them to a schedule. Some might turn down a cushy job because it would require them to live in a place they don’t want to be. And you know what? Fine! Life isn’t all about money.

Stop And Design Your Own Lifestyle

Alright, so I have talked about this hypothetical example of the island life. I used this example because it happens to be attractive to me. :)

But, what about you? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want to be doing during the day? What goals would you like to be pursuing? Are there any causes you would like to further? What does your ideal day look like?

I would actually spend the time to stop, form this scene in your head, and write it down.

With that in mind (and on paper), begin to work it backwards. What kind of money would you need to bring in to live that life? And what things would you need to do or not do to make it happen?

If you go through this, I think you will have some huge realizations about yourself and how you’re going to get there. Trust me, this is time well spent.

And, please share your experiences, thoughts, and anything else in the comments.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. It Is About Lifestyle Design (Part One)
  2. Becoming a Better Problogger By Becoming a Better You
  3. Behold – New Blog Design
  4. 25 [More] Random Things About Dave
  5. Getting a Great Blog Design For a Brand New Blog [#22]

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  • Love the idea of setting tangible goals that work with your ultimate plan. Too many people have dreams of living a flexible life but don't take the right actions to get there. If you work backwards, it may take longer, but you can set yourself up for success.
  • David I think that your method of working backwards is brilliant. It's certainly a good way to break things down into real, usable ideas and goals.
  • David as always great solid advice for folks to sink their teeth into to get results.

    Your post of course spawned a whole thought process for me day before yesterday of why people aren't moving towards the lifestyle and dreams they say they want. What's keeping them from doing it and how slowing up to hurrying up is crucial.

    I actually dug into it even deeper today by asking the question: what competing commitments do we have that even keep us from taking the steps you're outlining here for us today?

    There are people who will read today's post and STILL not do what you're outlining.

    To answer Marvin's question about personal growth here is the real question to ask:

    If you picked up your journal and you're not living the lifestyle outlined in what you wrote years ago, or never did. Why? I'm glad you're growing and changing all the time, I am too. However what is it that keeps us from still reaching those "ideal" lifestyles even if we spent hours outlining them.

    I dug into these questions on my post today David but didn't do a track back because I didn't want to hijack your thought process. I DO want to thank you though because it really got me to think about why people aren't living their full dreams or potential and what they can start doing about it! My self included! (Even if it makes me look like the bad guy lol)
  • $12,000 per month! Wow! That is some serious living. I know many of us can live on a fraction of that amount in countries around the world.

    I think we all have the ability to create a great lifestyle, but many people over-estimate the costs and difficulty of relocating to another country.

    It is always much easier than you imagine and likely much cheaper as well. You can live quite comfortably on $1000 per month in countries like Thailand, Bali, Hungary, Guatemala, etc.

    It is much easier to achieve your life goals if you don't consume so much.
  • David,

    I'm finding that my "ideal life" changes as I grow, learn, and mature. The other day I found an old journal entry describing my future lifestyle. It's something I spent hours imagining and writing. Problem is that I've changed over time and now living that life would totally turn me off.

    I won't stop dreaming but just wondering how to factor in the personal growth factor?

    Marv
  • Good answer Charles ;)

    And who says anything about having to sell "crap". There is plenty of valuable things to sell so who needs crap?

    Mikael
  • Fair question, Jake, but I wasn't equating subscriber count to income. I merely meant that I'm taking positive, proactive actions towards fulfilling the lifestyle design David speaks of, and an increased subscriber count is a milestone for me.

    I'm not really worried about how I'm going to make money. As long as I can attract the right traffic and attention, the rest will fall into place.

    It really helps to have a positive attitude, you know...
  • Jake
    Charles,

    So how does increasing your subscribers increase your money? Are you going to start pitching crap all the time to them like these guys do (john chow, darren rowse, david risely)?

    Hmm.

    I would start looking into getting targeted traffic on a daily basis without having to work everyday at it like social networking. People on twitter, facebook, etc are NOT targeted at all and are very less likely to buy something or click an adsense ad.

    Think Ranking is Search engines for keywords and you'll make more money faster and you don't have to work at it all the time like social networking.
  • Hi David -- I appreciate the relevance and timeliness of this post.

    I live and am self-employed in Hawaii, which is truly a paradise. I have a gorgeous wife and four beautiful children. My baby girl just turned 1 today and I couldn't be any happier.

    There a big but to this: I'm really struggling with work and am just barely making ends meet. Every month is so stressful and scary to pay the mortgage, bills, put food on the table, keep the kids happy and healthy, etc.

    In the past couple of weeks I've had a real awakening about lifestyle design. I've worked hard on my blog and am putting myself out there with networking, social media, tweetups, etc. Just today I woke up to an overnight quadrupling of my blog subscribers!

    I know I have the power to change my life and I'm not going to stop until it happens, even after it happens! I just want to thank you for your support and insight here. You're an everyday guy like most of us who happens to think differently about life. Much appreciated, david.

    Aloha!
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