(Before judging, please read entire post)
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When you think of lifestyle designers, you may start listing the same ones every other blogger or hopeful lifestyle designer does. You know…
Tim Ferriss. Leo Babauta. Ramit Sethi. Charlie Sheen?
Before you click away, hear me out.
What is a Lifestyle Designer
When we think of lifestyle designers, we often think of people who establish a lifestyle that allows that individual to sustain their lives while doing whatever they want, whenever they want. Now, there are millions of self employed individuals that are lifestyle designers, but people like Tim Ferriss are the ones we talk about because they take it to another level.
What is all comes down to is how extreme (aka different) a person is willing to go to do the things we wish we had the courage and discipline to do.
Sure, the types of lifestyles may differ, but the extreme lifestyle designers mirror each other in their approach and attempt. They are willing to forgo normalcy for an incredible life.
Lifestyle Design Doesn’t Care What YOU Think
Whether you disagree or not about the choices they make in their lives, the lifestyle is founded on the same premise. I don’t personally know if Charlie Sheen sleeps with porn stars, does drugs, drinks like a fish and is a wonderful or horrible parent. It really doesn’t matter. What matters to me and what should matter to you is that Charlie Sheen and the other ultimate lifestyle designers take their life into their own hands and do whatever the hell they want, however the hell they want to.
It doesn’t and shouldn’t matter to you what anyone does with their life. The only reason you care now is because you are jealous that you aren’t as free as them.
With that said, I am not saying you should go out and destroy your life or become some drug dealer. What I am saying is you should look at the ultimate lifestyle designers out there and observe the approach they take to doing whatever they want. What they actually do has little, if any, significance. Let me repeat that in a clearer way; Observing lifestyle designers isn’t about judging what it is they do, but HOW they accomplish the goals, dreams, lifestyle they so choose.
It’s Not the Principles – It’s the Approach
Stop thinking about the principles aspect of Sheen’s life. Think about the approach. What you should start doing is removing the examples from his lifestyle and implement the approach. Acknowledging, learning and applying the approach established by lifestyle designers is far more valuable of a learning tool than any diploma or grant fund.
The approach Tim Ferriss takes to live his life is what matters to me. I don’t want to insert random fat-trackers in my body, but the Ferriss mindset of putting everything I have towards a project is what I should take away from the lifestyle he has designed. What I want to do is look at those who are living life on their terms, apply their outlook on how to accomplish goals and then morph that approach with my desired goal.
No contractor takes the exact blueprint from another and copies it to a T. They take the same approach and implement a few of the same ideas to achieve what their individual desire is. The finished product may differ, but the similar approach led to the happiness of each.
What Can I Learn
In the last few years, when I come across something I disagree with or am unable to comprehend, I ask myself, “What can I learn from this scenario that I can apply to my own life in a positive way?” What I have found is that by moving past my differences with the action, I am able to find positive in all that surrounds me. I am able to learn and apply approaches to life that I once may have missed because of my blindness at the onset.
Learn from Ferriss. Learn from Babauta. Learn from Sethi. Learn from Sheen. Look beyond the exterior and find the happiness in their lives that you can apply to your own. You will find a path to designing your own lifestyle you may have been blinded by before.
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David,
I admire your courage to take a different stand and make the point that is valid. I agree, that it is easier to follow with whom we can relate than to ones with whom we don’t.
I think the one of the problems we have is that when we follow the ones that we agree with (and we don’t 100% agree with anyone) we try to duplicate them, not realizing that their approach may not be in tune with our philosophy, so we end up failing with the excuse of yeah but.
Great post, man
Rasheed
David,
I like what you said…it is about lifestyle design. While many may think Charlie Sheen is nuts…many of those same people I bet are thinking..holy smokes he is defining his life on his terms!
And it goes without saying you cannot do that if you don’t look at what that means to you. I do not nor have I ever been a copycat…but I am a good observer and adapter.
You are so right…it’s the approach not the exact blueprint.
Thanks for the reminder!