Are You a Lifestyle Designer or a Lifestyle Lemming?
Since Tim Ferriss coined the phrase “lifestyle design” it has come to be all the rage especially in the community of aspiring location independents. Somehow a term whose two words could conjure a broad spectrum of life possibilities has come to be pigeonholed to translate to “design your life to emulate Tim Ferriss, start an online business, hire virtual assistants and go galavanting around the world taking a variety of classes”. OK, so I didn’t have a great reaction to the “4 Hour Work Week”. It may be because I read it in a small hut in Costa Rica during a horrible case of Montezuma’s revenge, howler monkies roaring outside my window. When you’re running to the toilet after every couple of pages it’s bound to have an effect on your enjoyment of a book.
Don’t get me wrong – I acknowledge that Tim has some very good ideas and had the brilliance to come up with his own language and coin terms like “lifestyle design”. Because of his book the idea of location independence has hit the general public and more people are aware of this possibility in their lives. That’s amazing and also what we are hoping to help with at Nu Nomad. What rubs me wrong about the book, though, is the template given that to be location independent means setting up an online business via Ferriss fashion. I don’t like people being led to believe that there is only one way of doing things. And as a woman, I found the whole good-old-boy frat voice pretty irritating (just had to get that one off my chest).
The Definition of a Lifestyle Designer
Let’s take a look at the term “lifestyle designer”.
The definition for “lifestyle” according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary is:
: the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture
And according to Merriam Webster a “designer” is:
: one that designs: as a : one who creates and often executes plans for a project or structure <urban designers>
So, we can put this together to mean that a lifestyle designer is one who creates a plan for a typical way of life. The word I want to emphasize here is CREATE. CREATE – not “copy”, not “emulate”.
The Definition of Lemming
Now, since the topic of this post is discerning whether you’re a designer or a lemming we must look at the definition for lemming.
According to good old Merriam Webster, the lemming is:
: any of various small short-tailed furry-footed rodents (as genera Lemmus and Dicrostonyx) of circumpolar distribution that are notable for population fluctuations and recurrent mass migrations
I’m not totally satisfied with this brief definition so let’s also look at Wikipedia.
While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groupings when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat.[7] On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming. They then swim to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.
Hmm. They may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat and are often pushed into the sea as more more arrive at the shore. And mass suicide?….let’s return to that one in a moment.
Be Yourself
You might wonder why I’m writing this post at all. I mean, I co-founded Nu Nomad which is meant to help more people achieve location independence. Am I not kind of shooting myself in the foot?
What I’m passionate about here is getting the word out that if you want to be location independent there are a lot of ways to go about it. You are not limited by anyone’s template. But you’ve first got have a personal reason for wanting to be location independent and then CREATE your personal way to make that happen for yourself.
How can you know if you’re a lemming or a designer? I’ve put together a few discerning criteria:
Reason for wanting to be location independent:
a) Designer – you have a deep longing to be free. For you, location independence may not be about world travel although it could be. Location independence is about just that – independence and freedom. You are ready to take your life into your own hands and make your own way. In spite of the difficulties you know it may present you are determined to build a career that will allow you to choose your setting.
b) Lemming – you’ve read something about a person working on a laptop from some exotic beach and that sounds cool. You don’t really care what they’re doing – you just want to do the same thing so you can jump into that hammock too.
Plans to become location independent:
a) Designer – you are making plans based on your previous and current skills and passions. You have a roadmap for yourself to get from point A to point B. It may take further education or experience to reach the level you will need but you’ve got a focus for where you’re going and how you’re going to remain independent.
b) Lemming – a lot of people are making money on the web so you probably can too. You don’t really care what you’re going to sell – you’re just going to make a lot of money. Doesn’t it just take having a good idea and then hiring the right low cost workers overseas? It doesn’t matter if you’ve never had a web business. Even better, if you put up a picture of yourself in that hammock with your laptop probably enough people will click google adsense to keep you floating in Mai Tais. ( mass suicide here you come)
Preparations for location independence:
a) Designer – you’re reading a wide variety of location independent books and blogs as well as researching destinations to see what fits for you. You’re saving your money, cutting expenses and shedding yourself of un-needed stuff in preparation to free yourself.
b) Lemming – you read 4HWW and that’s all you need. Ferriss is God! Did you see his latest video? (put it back in your pants, bud)
If you want to design a lifestyle that everyone drools over it’s got to be something you’ve created based on who you are. Don’t be the next Ferriss knock-off. Design your own brand. You can learn how from Greg Rollett if you’re not sure where to start. If you want to be location independent and travel the world our main site and book have tons of information for you. Want more examples of nomads who are living life their way without templates, read our category of Meet the Nomad interviews. And you can find lots more examples of nomads living life on their terms at Free Pursuits latest list 44 Creative and Adventurous Bloggers You Should Know.
Whatever you design, make it yours and be smart.
Photo by mecocrus
