Lifestyle Design is a phrase you’ve probably seen thrown around on many freelancing, blogging, location independence and productivity websites (including here on WSR). It was coined by Tim Ferriss for his book, The 4 Hour Work Week, and his blog, Experiments in Lifestyle Design. Simply put, Lifestyle Design is what happens when a person takes inventory of their interests, hobbies, passions and goals and formulates a plan to which they can adhere that will lead to the actualization of their ideal lifestyle. This usually means leaving a job, selling a bunch of stuff, and freelancing or blogging or starting your own business.
The Lifestyle Design movement is rapidly growing and winning more and more followers every day. In this post, you’ll be able to get more acquainted with the movement and its leaders through a collection of videos, posts, and resources created by various talented and respected authors in the community.
The Basics
What is Lifestyle Design? – A great introduction to what Lifestyle Design is and what it means to you.
The Art of Lifestyle Design – The building blocks necessary to create the life you want.
Planning
This is How I’d Design my Ideal Lifestyle; Now How About Yours? – An example of what your Lifestyle Design goals might look like.
Lifestyle Design: A Framework and Guide to the Blogosphere That will Help You Do It – An awesome post on how to examine your life, define your ideal lifestyle and make moves toward reaching your goals.
The No B.S. Guide to Designing Your Own Life – Important advice for getting started.
Idea Lifestyle Costing – How much would your ideal lifestyle cost? A lot less than you think.
Motivation
Abolishing the Someday Mindset – How to start changing your life today.
Five Blogs to Keep You Motivated on Your Journey To Freedom – A list of sites that will get you through the hard times.
A Brief Guide to World Domination – Probably the single most effective thing you can read if you are unmotivated and unproductive.
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
10 Lessons Learned on a Six Month Sabbatical – Taking a sabbatical is an amazing, rejuvenating and life-changing experience.
How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Living the Life You Want – you need to learn to minimize procrastination so you can work toward things that matter, things that directly relate to your goals.
Quitting Your Job
5 Signs You’re Not Ready to Take the Plunge – Make sure everything on this list has been taken care of before you quit.
6 Things You Must Do Before You Leave The Rat Race – Doing these things will make everything a lot easier. Believe me.
Freelancing
30 Days to Become a Freelancer – Skellie’s day-by-day guide to getting up and running in 30 days. [Suggested by Lea Woodward]
Why This Recession Is A Great Time For New Freelancers – Now is your chance to start a career as a freelancer and never look back on that corporate job.
A Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Freelance Career – The most detailed explanation you’ll probably ever see on a blog.
Freelancing 101: The Basics – Things to consider before you get started.
Nine Factors To Consider When Determining Your Price – One of the toughest things for beginning freelancers and how to figure it out.
5 Tricks That Make You More Attractive To Clients – Tips on how to impress your clients and gain new ones.
Blogging
279 Days to Overnight Success – I read this before starting WSR. Great advice.
21 Tips for Getting 500 Subscribers in 90 Days with No Blogging Experience – Awesome advice from one of the top Lifestyle Design bloggers.
Create a Word of Mouth Rush with Street Teams – How to leverage your biggest fans into passionate marketing.
Location Independence
Introduction to Location Independence – Cody McKibben explains the location independent movement.
Building Your Location Independent Online Business – Part one of an eight part series.
10 Digital Nomads to Learn From – Use the stories these pioneers tell to inspire you and help you plan your exit strategy.
64 Ways Location Independent People Earn Money – Inspiration for business ideas.
One Destination or Ten? When is it Wise to Stay in One Place – This post explores the advantages and disadvantages of staying in one location for an extended period and why, for some people it might be the ideal kind of LIP lifestyle.
How to Live Free and Become Location Independent – An interview with Cody McKibben.
Digital Nomad Families
How to Travel the World as a Digital Nomad Family – Yes… It’s possible!
How to do Extended Travel and Mini-Retirements – 70% of families would like to do extended travel together. A family can travel the world and live large for much less than living at home
People You Need To Know
Tim Ferriss – Entrepreneur and author of The 4-Hour Work Week. Coined the phrase “Lifestyle Design.” Twitter: @tferriss
Jonathan and Lea Woodward – Founded LocationIndependent.com, the site that pretty much kicked off the location independent movement. Twitter: @jonwoodward and @leawoodward
Cody McKibben – Digital Nomad and fellow WordPress Guru. Cody currently lives in Thailand and runs Thrilling Heroics Consulting. Twitter: @codymckibb
Leo Babauta – Creator of ZenHabits, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) productivity/lifestyle design blogs on the web. Twitter: @zen_habits
Corbett Barr – Corbett is the founder of FreePursuits, one of my all-time favorite blogs. He recently returned from a 6-month sabbatical in Mexico. Twitter: @FreePursuits
Sean Ogle – Sean created Location 180, a blog that aims to help others achieve their goals in travel, lifestyle design and entrepreneurship. Twitter: @SeanOgle
Chris Guillebeau – Chris runs The Art of Non-Conformity and is the author of the most badass manifesto on the internet (A Brief Guide To World Domination). He has visited 117 out of 197 countries and is planning to have visited every country in the world by his (I think) 35th birthday. Twitter: @chrisguillebeau
Conclusion
I hope to keep expanding this post in the future with more people and videos and posts to help those interested in designing their lifestyles.
Anyone I left out? Any post you think belongs? Let me know in the comments!
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Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/windcatcher/ / CC BY 2.0
Related posts
- Lifestyle Design is Dead
- Lifestyle Design is Still Alive
- Lifestyle Design for Normal People: Four Baby Steps Toward Absolute Freedom
- Five Things Lifestyle Designers Should Be Thankful For Today
- Five Blogs To Keep You Motivated On Your Journey To Freedom
Hey, I'm JD. Last year, I started Wage Slave Rebel as a resource for those who are dying to escape from conformity and design the lifestyles they dream of! I write about online entrepreneurship, productivity, and lifestyle design.
Great comprehensive directory J.D. Well done!
Thanks, John! I hope to keep it growing. I'd like for it to one day be "The Definitive Guide to Lifestyle Design".
A lot of good posts to read in this one. Thanks for putting it together.
Glad to see you still hanging around here, James! These are just a few of my favorite posts. I'll add more as I find them. Hopefully there will be lots more good reading to come.
Of course I'm still hanging around. You have good content here. You'll be seeing more of me as I get set up, myself.
Nice one! A few articles I had seen and a bunch I hadn't. It's always good to get a refresher once and a while. I actually sat down and wrote where I wanted to be in a couple years after rereading one of the articles this time.
It's always good to go back every once in a while and reexamine your life and your goals. I'm glad this list could inspire that. Thanks, Ross!
Great Job, JD!
Thanks for putting it together. I have seen a few of these and I'll catch up with the rest.
Rasheed
Rasheed! I'm always glad to see you hear. You were pretty much the first WSR regular! Glad you liked the post. I don't think I've said it, but I love http://presentdaynomads.com/
Great posts there… Thanks, Rasheed!
Great List JD! I haven't seen some of those resources so I will definitely be checking them out!
Thanks, Sean. I think I have one or two of your posts up there. Abolishing the Someday Mindset was a huge hit here.
If you ever want to write again, let me know!
Well done! Great list.
Sadly though, like so many, you completely ignore families. It is not just singles and couples who can break free. It is also one of the best ways to raise a family and educate your child as a global citizen for the 21st century.
We have been living large on little and traveling the world as a family since 2006. My greatest passion is to let others know that it is easier, cheaper, and more rewarding than most realize. I have written extensively on this topic on our soultravelers3 blog and featured frequently in international media and websites.
I believe Tim Ferriss started the "Lifestyle Design" label and we are thrilled to be featured as a case study in the latest edition of The Four Hour Work Week due out in December. Not only can one work anywhere, but one can also school anywhere today ( while getting a far superior education and having more family time).
It also does not always need to be done in 3rd world locations. We have been to 4 continents, 29 countries so far and find it MUCH cheaper to travel the world than to live at home. We have focused so far primarily on "expensive" Europe, yet live large and luxuriously on a total of 25K a year.
You might want to check out these posts-
How To Do Extended Travel & Mini-retirements
http://soultravelers3.com/2008/06/how-to-do-exten...
How To Travel The World as a Digital Nomad Family!
http://www.soultravelers3.com/2009/04/how-to-trav...
Don't forget families when you post about Lifestyle Design! Through our experience since 2006, we have gathered and shared information that has helped and inspired many.
I am SO glad you posted. I'll be adding this category right away. I definitely didn't mean to exclude families, it's just that as an unmarried 20-something with no children I didn't even think to include it. I'm terribly sorry.
It's so awesome to hear your story and I think it needs to be heard. I'm sure there are plenty of people who use having a family as yet another excuse to maintain their comfortable numbness.
Thanks for taking the time to read and to contribute! I'm happy to make your suggestions the first update to the list.
Thanks so much! I fully understand why someone single in their 20's would over look the family aspect to lifestyle design, but it is always good to look ahead and indeed we have information that can be useful to anyone.
We are pleased that we have inspired many to hit the road and go for more freedom. We are living proof that an ordinary family can do this and thrive while doing it! I think it is more intimidating for a family to consider doing this, but it is actually so much easier, enjoyable and enriching than most realize.
We did not mean to be trend setters when we set out in 2006, but now that we know the joys of this life, we want others to be aware. Sometimes just knowing it is possible, that someone is doing it, opens up unlimited opportunity.
We can all learn from each other! Thanks for including information for families and future families! Everyone deserves an ideal lifestyle, eh? Even families.
I love what you said. "Sometimes just knowing it is possible, that someone is doing it, opens up unlimited opportunity."
That is so true. That's how I got started. I found people doing what I thought was impossible.
I love what you said. "Sometimes just knowing it is possible, that someone is doing it, opens up unlimited opportunity."
That is so true. That's how I got started. I found people doing what I thought was impossible.
What an awesome round up of great like minded folks! Thanks for pointing us to more stuff to add to our ever growing reading list.
– Cherie / @Technomadia
Valuable resource you're building with this post, J.D. – look forward to seeing it grow.
One post you might like to include in the Freelancing section is Skellie's "30 Days To Become A Freelancer" – it's a fantastic article (http://www.skelliewag.org/30-days-to-become-a-fre...
Thanks, Lea! I had read it myself but totally forgotten about it. Adding now.
Awesome list! (And I'm so honored to be included!) I've felt privillaged ever since I stumbled upon Chris Guillebeau a few short months ago, and since then it's been like a snowball of awesomeness in finding the 4 hour work Week, Lea Woodward, and so many others (and you!). It's awesome to find such a wonderful group of such revolutionary thinkers. Thanks for including my little article in the list! I have to go now. I have lots of reading to do.
Thanks for the post JD. You really hit a sweet spot for me with your freelancing section. Time to get some reading done!
Glad you enjoy it, zzadell!
I'll be adding more resources as I come to them.
Found the location independent and wage slave rebel 'movements' a couple of weeks ago I think. You've got no idea how comforting it is to see there are others out there thinking and doing the same. All my life I have been a location independent wage slave rebel, without defining it or labeling it, just cause it was my urge.
It has been tough. Coming from an even more traditional country in this sense (Spain) than the US or the UK, etc, it has been quite a struggle having to cope with the constant criticism of my lifestyle..
So finding others out there and even a movement for it feels great. Looking forward to reading the links on this page. I've already read a few posts and I'm loving it.
Thanks for being here guys..
great list of resources! thanks a lot