Tim Ferriss has been my favorite entrepreneur since I learned what the word truly meant.

His book, The 4-Hour Workweek, changed my life. (Not an affiliate link).

But I’m not special in that case.

That book changed the lives of millions simply because he showed millions of people what was actually possible in this human experience we call life.

One of the key concepts behind the book is the idea of “lifestyle design.”

He introduced the idea that you truly could design the lifestyle of your dreams - for much cheaper than you think.

And the reason why people listened?

Because he actually did it.

He proved it through real, tangible practice instead of just theory.

So, thanks to Tim, let's begin.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to design their life or make any real lifestyle change is…

People don’t really do the work to find out what their actual goal is.

People decide to make changes without a legitimate direction or without knowing why they truly want to change their current lifestyle.

Because of this, they often confuse movement with progress.

This is what causes a lack of momentum when starting and why people don’t often stick with their resolutions.

It’s like hopping in the car and driving without a destination in mind.

Doesn’t make any sense, right?

*** Okay cool, Luke. But how TF do I do it then?

Lifestyle design boils down to 3 different qualities that you have to attack.

The first step is: Curiosity

You have to be relentlessly curious about life itself.

You have to have daily conversations with that voice in your head - the roommate you can never get away from.

When you first start out, you may hate this voice. You may think that voice is an asshole. You may think that voice is chalked full of fear.

... Fear of change, success, failure, judgment, or so many other possibilities.

You have to ask yourself an absolutely absurd amount of questions to find out:

The Goal - What you truly want out of life

The Playing Field - What you currently know to be true about your life based on the information you currently have

The Plan - What you should do about the goal in spite of the playing field

The curiosity stage is basically where you “fuck around and find out.”

This curiosity should have no boundaries or limits.

Ask yourself questions like:

- What was my childhood actually like?

- What were my role models actually like?

- What have I been telling myself was true about myself my whole life? Why? Have I questioned this?

- How do I actually feel towards my family? Why?

- How do I feel about money? Does it make me angry, hopeful, sad? Why?

- How do I feel about my appearance? Do I take care of myself?

- What would I do if money wasn’t important?

- Whose opinion stops me from doing things I wanna do? Why?

- What do I want to spend my time doing?

- What hobbies do I have outside of work?

- When was the last time I tried something new? Why has it been so long?

This is the stage where you discover who you actually are.

The next pillar or stage of lifestyle design is: Authenticity.

One of the key characteristics of successful and happy people is confidence.

Confidence can be built like any muscle in the body can.

It’s built through reps.

It’s built through experience and real, tangible practice.

However, the root of confidence is authenticity.

You can only truly be confident in yourself if you actually know yourself.

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” - Socrates

To become your truest and most authentic self, you have to be able to be honest with yourself.

Not bullshit honest, either.

… The gnarly and confrontational kind.

The David Goggins kind.

The kind where you call yourself out, hold yourself up to a particular standard and take full accountability for every facet of your life.

It’s only at this point that you can begin to design your life.

If you don’t commit to 100% honesty with yourself, then you’re gonna keep living your life based off the thoughts and ideas of other people.

Think about it…

If you don’t know what you truly want out of this life experience, you haven’t done the work.

If you haven’t done the work, you’re not your authentic self.

You quite literally can’t be.

Simply because you don’t know.

You start with curiosity and then you stick to your guns through authenticity.

Through curiosity, you start to realize what your “big goal” or destination is.

Through authenticity, you realize what the playing field actually is.

And then…

My favorite made-up word is “figure-it-out-ivness.”

That’s the 3rd pillar of lifestyle design.

A few years back, Jordan Palmer gave me one of the greatest compliments of my life as an entrepreneur when he told me:

“Your level of figure-it-out-ivness to solve any problem is as relentless as anybody I’ve ever seen.”

The reason why it hit so hard for me is that I think that every single person in the world is an entrepreneur in their own life.

And quality entrepreneurship is based on one’s ability to solve problems under pressure.

So when it comes to lifestyle design, we have to solve problems.

The “problem” is basically your big dream goal lifestyle.

The pressure?

That’s just figuring out and executing the plan in the timeline that you want.

Each person on this planet is as uncommon as anything could be.

Nobody ever has, is, or will be exactly you.

They won’t have your exact past, experiences, knowledge, environment, family, friends, memories, or dreams.

So the plan you build to design your life HAS to be hyper-specific to you.

That’s the only way you can design the dream life that you truly want.

It’s a simple + straightforward process.

It’s not easy.

It’s simple.

1. Be relentlessly curious about yourself and life to find out what your dream lifestyle is.

2. Stay authentic to your true self once you find the answers to your curiosities so you know the playing field.

3. Figure out what the plan is and then execute on it

The best part about this process is that you chase energy the entire time.

You’re not chasing happiness.

What gives you the most energy?

Finding out about yourself.

Bettering yourself.

Being honest with yourself.

Building your dream lifestyle.

Happiness will find you throughout the entire journey.

Have fun.

Ride the lightning,

Luke Bockenstette