Lifestyle design is all about reclaiming your life from what it is today to what you want it to be. We have tons of wishes, desires, and dreams we want to fulfil in our lives. However, due to many reasons, we feel obligated and bounded to do things we don’t want to instead of doing things we love. Often disregarding the very things that make you happy . Lifestyle design is also about minding your mind. This is understanding the pattern of things we invest our time, energy, and effort in. If you’re not doing it right, the chances are you aren’t living the way you want to. Time is of the essence in our lives. And if your lifestyle isn’t in-sync with your vision, your dreams can never transform into reality.
Lifestyle Design: Regain Control of Your Life
If you really change your perspective and the way you think, you’ll see doors to numerous possibilities open up. Want to retire at 45, it is possible. How about working six months a year, it is possible. If you want to spend more time with friends and family, it is possible. Do not restrict yourself to peer or societal pressure, and do what makes you happy. It is important to convert your intentions into action by designing your life in a way that aligns with your purpose. When you design your life in a way that suits your vision for your life, you start living for yourself and regain control of your life. Here are 4 reasons that now is the best time to focus on things that make you happy and design a life you are proud to call yours.
1) End the “Rat” Race
Every human being is different. Whether in terms of habits, things we love, dreams, strengths, etc. So, if our destinations are different, then why are we racing each other? Lifestyle design is about defining your true purpose and goals in life. This makes it easier to detach yourself from the ‘rat’ race. Design your life that aligns with your intentions, nature, passion, purpose, strengths, values, and goals in life. Stop living to impress others, and choose yourself.
2) Build Courage and Strength
Everyone has the potential to design their lives the way they want to, but not everyone does. Why? It is because living your life on your own terms requires courage and discipline. The path you choose for yourself won’t be easy, and it would test your patience and scrub your weaknesses. It can be painful but do know that pain would catalyze the emotional reaction in you that helps design your life the way you want to. But, first, start by making a decision that enough is enough. Make a decision and stick by it.
3) Keeps You Moving Forward
Once you have made the decision and know what you’re looking for or going after, now it’s time to decide, act, and focus. Lifestyle design requires action and an understanding that it won’t be easy. Do know you’ll face challenges, defeat, and disappointments, more than you expected. But, it is no time to dwell, sink, and feel low, drained, or defeated. Every defeat is a lesson, and every challenge is a lesson. Think positive and stick to your path and get back up stronger. When you refuse to give up, the universe gives in and lets you have what you rightfully deserve.
4) Work Hard, Work Smart
The idea of lifestyle design is based on planning and strategizing your life the way you want. So, it is important to make a plan that leads you to the goals you have in life. However, it is important to not only work hard but work smart. Set short-term and long-term goals and regularly monitor them to ensure you are moving ahead in the right direction. Keep analyzing your path to see if it is still the right path. It is important to think outside-the-box, be innovative, and adapt quickly to stay ahead in today’s competitive world. Reinforce your hard work with smart thinking, and you’ll see your dream of lifestyle design sooner than you think.
Lifestyle Design is (mostly) Mindset
Our mind forms one of the most important attributes of our personality. It represents our consciousness and its expression. All of our interactions, decisions, and actions are motivated, devised, and implemented by our minds. Even though the mind is a part of our body, it functions independently of it. The feeling of hunger and the motivation to get food to crave hunger, and the sense of fulfillment after eating all come from the mind. Whether you’re feeling happy or sad or any other way, the source of those feelings are directed from our mind. In simple words, our mind is the primary source of fulfillment.
With so much importance attached to our mind, it only makes sense to be intrigued by its core functionality and gain access to it. If you can mind your mind, it can help you control your thoughts, actions, feelings and ensure you’re able to direct it in the right direction.
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So, Here are 3 focus areas you can start to implement today.
1) Focus on Getting Better
As adults, we should strive to get better than what we were yesterday. If you’re not working towards bettering yourself and your life, what’s the use of being an adult? Don’t let your mind compel you to think differently or get influenced negatively. Our mind can play tricks with us on our journey to get better but have a sharp focus on making your tomorrow better than yesterday. It might not be easy, or it may take more time than you expected, but you cannot deter your ‘want’ to get better.
2) Ignore Negativity
Make it a habit to get attracted by positivity and ignore negativity by all means. None of us is perfect, and neither can we be. However, there is no harm in wanting these noble qualities. When you purposely ignore negativity around you or any negative thoughts that come to your mind, it becomes a habit after a while. Your mind gets addicted to positivity, it manifests positivity in your life, which would not only bring a sense of fulfilment but ensure better mental and physical well-being as well. And when you ignore negativity, it is the same as saving your mind from storing dirt or getting cluttered unnecessarily. Whether it is people, places, thoughts, or anything else, if it smells of negativity, ignore it and keep moving ahead.
3) Live a Disciplined Life
Our mind plays tricks for us to break the rules or avoid things that are meant to better ourselves. Whether it is waking up early, going to the gym, meditating every day, reading that book, taking up that course, starting that recurring bank deposit or just anything positive for your life. Train and condition your mind in a way that you become immune to these tricks. Don’t be afraid of getting out of your comfort zone, or better yet, tell your mind you enjoy these tricks. Give your mind a hard time in giving you a hard time, and soon it will follow your commands without standing in your way.
Don’t let your mind control you because, ideally, it should be the other way around. As humans, we always try to find shortcuts or an easy way to success, and it is primarily because our mind tells us to. Train your mind never to fear or harbor insecurities, and you will, by default, move in the right direction.
Lifestyle Design Centers on Happiness.
In our lifestyle design journey, we often focus more on negativities and challenges rather than trying to do the same with things that make us happy. How often do you pause from your day to day routine and ponder about things that make you happy? It is essential to know what makes you happy so that you can prioritize your life accordingly. We keep on living the way we do until we realize we are too late to do things we wanted to. It is often said to take time before time takes you for a reason.
We have a limited amount of time on this planet. While it is important to work, set goals, and do everything you can to achieve it, one should not compromise happiness or mental well-being in the process under any circumstances. Why? It is because happiness is one of the key secret ingredients to success and fulfilling life, and crafting a lifestyle design we love. When you’re happy, you’re automatically more productive, and when you’re productive, you’re able to identify opportunities in the time of adversities.
What makes you happy varies from person to person. As human beings, there are a few similarities we all share. It is these similarities that make us human, and here are 5 things that make me happy, and I am sure it would do the same for you.
1) Be Grateful
It is a proven fact that when you’re grateful for things you have rather than focusing on things you don’t have, it drastically increases your level of happiness. Wake up each morning with your heart filled with gratitude. And if you don’t feel that way, write down or recall things you should be grateful about. Use your imagination and senses to feel those things you’re grateful for vividly. Notice what this does to your emotional state…
2) Give Back
All our material possessions would stay here when it’s time for us to go. Don’t give material possessions the power to control your mood and happiness. While it is okay to find excitement and happiness in possessing things you like and love, one should also give back to the needy and helpless in whichever way possible. Give back in cash, kind, or just be helpful, and when you look around, you’ll find many such opportunities. When you bring a smile on someone’s face or make someone’s day, it will do the same for you.
3) Laugh Every Day
When you laugh, your body releases ‘happy’ hormones known as endorphins and oxytocin. Find reasons to laugh every day; it would not only brighten your mood and fill your heart with happiness; it will do the same for people around. When you laugh more, the chances of making social connections increase too. Hang out with friends often or crack a joke or two. It does make a difference.
4) Do What You Love
Do what you love or even better, find a job that allows you to do what you love. When you’re paid to do what you love, it positively influences your life and makes it much happier. Every aspect of your life will get better. When you do what you love, and happiness will follow wherever you go and whatever you do.
5) Stay Fit
It is well-known that physical and mental health is interlinked and interdependent. And this a crucial factor in lifestyle design. is the best antidepressants known to man. Exercise regularly and stay fit, and your mind and body will detoxify automatically. It is also because the body releases hormones that make you feel better. And this boosts your happiness levels in ways more than one. Try it, and you’ll know!
The list of things that makes you happy doesn’t end here. There are endless ways you can change and improve your life if you make it a priority to do so.
Lifestyle Design Guide Wrap Up
Lifestyle design is about getting real with yourself and what you want out of this life. And the good news is it doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. Because millions of people of doing this very thing right now. So, it’s your turn to start building a life you want to call yours. A life that makes you want to leap out of bed in the morning. A nd one that centers around the things that make you happy.
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Thank you for reminding me to be grateful. Believe it or not I had forgotten to do this each day. For some time, I used to list a few things I was grateful for each morning and then I just stopped. I think it’s been at least a month since I thought about all the wonderful people that are in my life, about the wonderful things I own that make my life even better.
Hi Vanessa!
That’s wonderful that you are reconnecting with gratefulness. It’s an easy thing to forget with so much going on in the world and our personal lives. Keeping a clear mind on all the people in your life you are grateful for is a huge step!
Best,
Zen Team
This year I hope I can at least begin to end the rat race. I’m sick and tired of having to work in a job that I don’t like that much (I don’t hate it, but it’s not what I want) and have to “take it” when my boss is angry. I started an online business last year but it’s still in its early stages so it will take time. But, I started. And that’s what counts. I made that first step after postponing it for the last few years. I want to build something I am passionate about, that primarily helps others and then, hopefully, it helps pay the bills so I can quit my job.
What I am trying to do is to start living a more disciplined life. I keep feeling overwhelmed by things I keep postponing because of lack of time. I am not well organized and it shows. My weeks are too chaotic because my schedule is all over the place. I need to quiet my mind, sit down and write how I am going to change things. I know how it feels to wake up at 5 or even 6 and get a lot done before lunch. It feels amazing! When I am able to do this, I feel like I’ve lived 3-4 days in one. Right now it is very difficult for me to get up that early regularly because I am a bit of a night owl. But I can do my best and set an 8AM waking time for starters. I also think I can have at 1 day each week when I get up at 5AM.
Sometimes it’s so difficult to escape the “rat” race. Whether it’s a job you hate or doing something someone (your family, society, etc) is forcing you to do or anything else, you do need to do what you feel is best for you. Stop listening to what society would like you to do or be. Be you. Find out who you truly want to be and go be that person. Try to be better than yesterday and don’t compare yourself to anyone else. The only person you should be comparing yourself against is your past self. Be better than that person. Try to grow. Always.