Lifestyle Design- What Is It? [Create Your Ideal Life]

For most people, life takes on a similar pattern. If things go as planned, they will graduate from college. Work 45 years while hoping to accumulate a large enough saves to retire comfortably. For many of those same people, the idea of starting a business or becoming wealthy is just a pipe dream.  Especially in the early part of their lives, it seems unattainable. The concept driving lifestyle design veers away from the conventional career path. Instead, it focuses on achieving those life goals, while you are still in your prime.

Tim Ferriss, who is a visionary behind lifestyle design, has laid out a blueprint through which he educates people about things such as time management and setting goals. In his book "The Four Hour Work Week," he explains some of the unproductive habits in which the typical person engages. Examples of those are reading or watching the news and sitting in front of the television, two pastimes that many people have adopted as life necessities. His overall message is all about eliminated these habits and eventually achieving more results within a shorter period of time.

In order to escape the monotony of the daily 9 to 5 grind, you have to embrace principles that stretch your thinking pattern beyond those popularized by mainstream society. By taking on this radical method of thought, you learn to change the rules in order to yield extraordinary results. During the early stages of the lifestyle design journey, you are answering questions, such as "what is my purpose?" and "what matters most?" as a way of discovering what type of life you want to build for yourself.

In a way, you are branding yourself by projecting your values and allowing others to see who you are, what you represent, and your purpose in life. This way, you break from the learned belief that you are meant to labor, nonstop, and only retire when your body can no longer handle the strain. By that time, you are feeling the accumulation of over four decades in the workforce, and if your are like many retirees, lacking the stamina to enjoy your life as you would have in your twenties, thirties, and forties.

In his book, Ferriss explains the overwhelming pressure of working 80-hour weeks that yield fewer than six figures or working tirelessly to keep your business afloat. Bottom line: if your business is detracting from the things that matter most, you are inefficiently managing your time. The same goals and practices are advocated by STARTplanner which promotes fitness and relieving stress as a way of working toward a more desirable lifestyle. Our company's ultimate goal is to help you organize your life using strategies that not only make sense, but also won't leave you feeling over-exerted by the time you've accomplished your objective.

It's all about simplifying your life. In one of his podcasts, Ferriss talks with CD Baby founder, Derick Sivers, about setting the pace in which you move your life forward rather than moving according to those predetermined tempos. In other words, you should achieve your goals in a manner that feels personally gratifying rather than having to work at a pace designed to fit a mixture of personality types. Simply put, lifestyle design teaches you to shape your future according to what works best for you.