Lifestyle Designers Teach You How to Profit, Have Fun and be More Productive

Image via Wikipedia

I have pretty much read most of the popular self-help development books since the late 80’s and 90’s which include works of Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey,  and many others. But in the past two years I have come across a new breed of self-help gurus that are more apt to be called Lifestyle Designers as popularized by it’s most famous proponent – bestselling author Timothy Ferriss who wrote 4 Hour Workweek.

Aside from Tim Ferriss, at the top of the heap of lifestyle gurus I consider are Leo Babauta, and Rich Schefren who are all successful by any definition and have been helping others as well to at least taste their success.  And they are also quite young.

In many ways this new breed is the same as it’s predecessor. They write extremely well,  they motivate people, tell their stories how they succeeded, and give countless advice how to earn money and be more productive in work and in their personal life. But as for their framework, methods, marketing and tone, they are much different.

Most obvious difference is that all of them have taken actual advantage of the Internet in ways  most web surfers only dream about and were not possible for their predecessors. Through the Internet, they had successfully branded and marketed themselves, had more material for research beyond printed word, connected to other experts in their fields around the world and made huge income through selling products and services online. Most of them are real masters of Internet Marketing, a fairly new industry that is said to have made more millionaires faster than in any other industry.

As for their framework and probably due to a deeper exposure to the Information Age, their methods and mindsets can be quite different from the older self-help gurus.  One thing is they practice more often what is called lateral thinking (as opposed to linear rational thinking), a form of reasoning that intentionally diverts from step-by-step process thinking to avoid  obvious conclusions that are often tainted by cultural or psychological biases.

Take for example, Rich Schefren in one of his free reports “Entrepreneurial Emergency” where he extensively talks about “constraints” that prevent success. He postulates that the in almost all cases especially in business we attribute the wrong cause for a problem. He illustrates this in his story of a Pizza place where the kitchen can only produce 10 Pizzas per hour. The owner tying to solve this, puts a lot of effort to retrain his staff to work more efficiently while the real underlying problem was that the existing oven can psychically just cook 10 Pizzas an hour. 

So compared to older model of productivity and success, they don’t rely as much on long, brute force and systematic ways of solving personal and business problems. Their ways are often also systematic but usually simpler, shorter and more experimental.

In relation, it’s no coincidence that Leo Babauta’s book is entitled “Power of Less”. In his book and very successful blog Zenhabits.net, he talks a great deal about how simplifying his life is the real cause of his very fast growth from an overworked desk jockey and father of six. In brief he eliminated everything in his life that didn’t matter to him.

For Ferriss, “elimination” is the second step in his acronym D.E.A.L for his lifestyle design framework. D for define (your vision), E for eliminate unnecessary stuff and distractions, A for automated systems in work and personal life, and L for liberation from the rat race.  Timothy also lectures on “information diet” and the how multitasking is actually counter-productive in any  situation.

To sum it up, here some of their advice (rephrased) to enjoy life more and be more profitable and productive:

 Simply your life. Concentrate on the fundamentals.

• Learn how to learn and how the mind works.
• Having more focus is more important than having more time.
• Talent and money can only get you so far. What’s important is strategic thinking.
• Separate (not just balance) work from life.
• Take advantage of technology (Internet) but don’t  waste time on them.
• Learn how to write even just to unload your mental trash.
• Stop addiction of being busy for the sake of being busy.
• Take care of your health.
• Learn how to brand yourself and market your products in the Information Age.
• Do single-handling, not multitasking.

You may also want to check out Shafin de Zane, who has been influential to me in the past years. Also check out simplology.com and stevepavlina.com.