How to Retire in 12 Months

When I first heard the term Lifestyle Design a new set of synapses spontaneously appeared in my brain that sent a shiver down my spine… I would like some of that!

Lifestyle Design is the art of creating a lifestyle to suit your wants and needs. It is all about choices; it is all about YOU choosing how YOU want to live. This may revolve around your preferences – I want to live in a warm climate, around your needs – I need to spend time with my small children or around your interests – I want to spend my time feeding the hungry.

If you are interested in really living your life in a way that you designed it, there are some essential things you need…

A vision

You need a big picture vision. Often we get lost in the minutiae of details and challenges, but to design your lifestyle you need absolute commitment that your life is going to change for the better.

How do you get that commitment? You create a vision that is so important to you, that you will not rest until you succeed in having it.

As humans we do not take these visions lightly and many people will never actually create one. To have a great vision means you put yourself at risk to possible failure and for some that is territory where they dare not tread.

Create a vision for life change that simultaneously thrills and challenges you.

A way to create value

Your ability to design your lifestyle generally comes down to your ability to create value and then package and market it appropriately. There are millions of ways to create value and just as many ways to create income from it.

Think…

• What or who do you have access to?
• What are you passionate about?
• What experiences or skills do you have that you could use to help others?
• Where can you see a need?

If you are stuck go through this exercise with a coach or mentor. It really helps to see your value through other people’s eyes, especially if they have experience that can help guide your business.

Many people have told me that they got so excited after realising how they can create value that they struggled to sleep afterwards!

A plan

This is where the practical bit starts, and you need to ask plenty of questions:

• How do you make your lifestyle vision a reality?
• How quickly do you think you can achieve it?
• What resources do you have at your disposal?
• What skills do you need to develop?

When you start to act on making a lifestyle vision a reality, you will find that you can’t plan everything because you will not know how it will all work (you don’t get that until the end!). Also a multitude of opportunities will show up along the way that you never expected that you can work into the plan as you go.

A working plan will help you keep up the momentum, keep focused and help you measure your progress. Be creative with your plan and do not be afraid to include people and resources you may not yet have access to.

Support/Network

Connect with other lifestyle designers and business owners and research their methods. Be inspired by what they have created and see if you can use their success to inspire your own journey.

Find a coach, some mentors and friends who will hold you to account and inspire you to keep going when things are not going the way you expected.

With any big goal there will be tough challenges and having supportive people around you can make all the difference to your ability to push through them.

Developing your mindset and an environment for change

To fulfil a big vision you need to create an environment for change. This involves managing your current lifestyle until you can transition to your new designed lifestyle.

Write a list of activities that you can delegate or outsource to free you up for life changing activities.

Fulfilling your vision will take time and commitment and for most people, time is one thing that is very precious. Hire a cleaner or find someone to pick up the kids from school, order your groceries online and have them delivered. By streamlining your must do activities, you can start clear your head a little so that you have more space to focus.

If you are lacking in confidence, book a course that will give you a new skill and a new network.

Sometimes all you need is a depth of knowledge in one area to give you the confidence to work the rest out as you go. Choose a course or group that you can participate in that will get you started with great momentum and support you on your journey.

Luckily for you, here is the perfect way to kick start the design of your life…

A chance to win a place + extra coaching for
The Website Launchpad Course

This course will show you how people make money online and step you through setting up your own website, creating great content and effective ways to market it.

This competition is now closed – congratulations to Rochelle Stewart-Allen for winning a place in the course!

To enter go to the Facebook wall and tell me “who you are nominating and why!”

The winner will be announced on Thursday 15^th September.

If you want a place in the Website Launchpad; book today!