ExploreTruth

You may have already been familiar with the term Lifestyle Design, from Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Work Week.  Although I still feel that the provocative title to his book is over sensational, there is much to gain from what he discusses in the book.  For me, the general concept of intentionally living the life you want to live now, closely relates to exploring the truth for oneself, and maturing as a complete human being.

An unexamined life, Socrates says, is not worth living.

What this has meant for me is developing a critical disposition to everything around me, coming to grips with the reality of death, and ultimately being able to better articulate what I believe.  All of which have now held an important centrality in all that I do.

But this same sort of existential wrestling also plays out in a very practical way.  In the way we work, and construct our everyday lives.

So when I read The 4-Hour Work Week years ago, and encountered this concept of Lifestyle Design, its practical implications really affected me.

Basically Lifestyle Design is living the life you want to now.  Not prolonging it to some wishful date after retirement, but reconstructing your life today, around the things you really value and want.

There is a sense of urgency that attends this re-orientation.  You know you are not promised tomorrow, and there is something burning inside of you that you know you are destined to give before you leave this earth.

You are the artist of your Life.  No two designs need look the same.  However, as Tim Ferris first defines it, Lifestyle design has some general principles that all may find useful, in whatever path you create.

The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD).

To begin this journey of artistry you have to be prepared to reinvent yourself.  Tim came up with an acronym that’s fairly easy to remember:

D.E.A.L

Definition – deals with becoming very clear about the type of life you want.  What you want to do from the minute you wake up, to the moment you go to bed each day, and to consider how much that would cost.

Elimination – here is where you ruthlessly cut anything that stands in the way of you living that life.

Automation – Whatever time-consuming things are left, can be automated, or delegated.

Liberation – Here is where you need to decide, now that you’ve freed up much of your time, and have the mobility to travel, etc, what do you plan on doing with this time?

At Explore Truth, we hope to always push the envelop simply  a step further, to include and promote the deeper core of what lifestyle design is all about.  We suggest, that whatever you really want to do, should include an intentional pursuit of the truth, both articulated for yourself, shared, and lived out in such a way that leaves the world a better place.

Because at its core, Lifestyle Design is all about developing a questioning, and exploratory outlook on life.  You become willing to challenge the status quo, and traditional models of living that society has collectively agreed upon.

For the Christian, Spiritually inclined, or believer in Love, this Truth properly orientates the life towards the service of others.  All of the other.  Both spiritually and practically.  For others it may be to live solely for the self.  And for many of us, we fluctuate between these two ideals on any given day.  But the choice will always be ours.

So where am I on this journey?  I’ll sort that all out and will be happy to share in a few days!  How about you?  Where do you feel you are in designing the life you really want to live?

Cheers to you…the artist of your greatest masterpiece. Paint wisely…