Image by krandolph.

I have a confession to make…I’ve run out of draft posts that are ready for publishing – actually there are plenty, I just don’t feel inspired enough by any of them to publish them – so this post is off-the-cuff, written on Sunday evening here in a very rainy Cape Town (no, I am not happy about that).

In this post, I’ll share my latest thoughts on the concepts of location independent living (as we approach the 18 month anniversary of living our chosen ‘ideal’ life) and lifestyle design…

We’re not the only ones…

When we first started our lives of location independence and gadding about the globe working as we travel, it’s not like we were the only ones doing it, we were just some of the only ones blogging relatively loudly about it (if you exclude Mr. Ferriss & Mr. Potts of course).

These days, it seems like every one’s at it…you can’t browse the blogosphere without noticing nomad-this, traveller-that, lifestyle design-this, dreamlining-that. It’s great – it means that more and more people are choosing to follow their dreams and design their own lifestyles.

And the more people who blog about it, the more resources, experience & knowledge are shared with others who want to do – and the more proof there is that creating your desired lifestyle can be done by real people and not those with millions in the bank. Win-win, right?

Maybe, but I’m concerned…

There are those who are doing it strategically and with planning & preparation (like Mr. Collins and Ms Kirsty) and there are others who are taking some of this lifestyle design stuff with a seemingly cavalier approach – or blogging about it in a way which sounds unplanned, unstrategic, risky and haphazard.

Let me first say, that I believe that anyone can do anything they put their mind to. The problem is that there are a number of skills, capabilities and qualities which come more naturally to some people than to others – and it’s these qualities which are often vital to enabling your own lifestyle (especially if it involves running your own business outside the corporate world).

Unfortunately not everyone has these qualities – and more often than not, find them difficult to cultivate no matter how hard they try or how many personal development blogs they read. It’s these people who continually struggle to design their own lifestyle and wonder what they’re doing wrong and why they can’t ever get it right. It’s not their – your – fault, it’s just nature’s way of ensuring diversity.

Light at the end of the tunnel…

That may sound hopeless – it may sound like I’m saying that for people who don’t have the ‘right’ qualities, to give up, you’ll never make it. But that’s not what I mean at all…never give up, never give up, never give up (as Winston would say) on creating your own perfect lifestyle.

Just be aware that if you don’t quite achieve what you originally set out to, there’s a reason why and very often it’s meant to be that way.

So what does that mean?

It means that the absolute most important part about designing your own lifestyle is just that…the design bit. Don’t get swayed by what you think you should have, or could have, or think you want (based on other peoples’ lives and blogs).

Get utterly clear on what you want for your life (that’s way harder than it sounds) – and be realistic. I know that’s not very PD (personal development-ish) of me but reality bites and setting yourself potentially unrealistic goals because it’s your dream lifestyle is going to help no-one, least of all you.

Design your lifestyle in a way that makes sense to you and who you are currently – and who you think you can be (not where you can be or what you can be). Get that bit right and then you won’t be one of those people who gets there, realises it’s not what you wanted in the first place and then thinks, “Now what?”.

Nor will you be one of those people who constantly struggles to get there and always wonders why it just won’t happen for you – if it’s meant to happen, it will…

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