What’s Your Ideal Life?
By Danny Holtschke from StartupGeist
In his book ‘4-Hour Workweek’, Tim Ferriss recommends defining exactly how much you need to live your perfect life.
He calls this ‘dreamlining‘.
Based on Tim’s initial thoughts, the ‘passive income’ and ‘lifestyle business’ were born. Both terms refer to entrepreneurs who work to live their passion and don’t create a business for the sole purpose of making profits.
Try dreamlining and you will see: You don’t need much money to live a great life. You’ll be surprised in fact by how little you need if you don’t strive to buy and own stuff.
Welcome, and embrace our sharing economy.
A minimal lifestyle can really be a great foundation to start a business. Even more so, when you start offering services as a freelancer because it frees you from financial pressure. The need to make a lot of money to sustain your lifestyle. The need to show off. The need for approval.
The less we care about ownership, reputation, approval and money, the greater our lives become.
I know… I know… — This is general advice, but it does take us back to financial independence which is extremely rewarding.
It frees you up to work on the things that matter the most to you. You don’t work to make a paycheck — but instead, you work on stuff that matters to you.
3 Questions to See Your Ideal Life
Additionally to Tim’s dreamlining method, answer the following questions to get yourself closer to your ideal life.
- If I give you 1 Million Dollars, what would you do every day? What would you do differently from yesterday?
- Describe two really good days — One that is designed to get stuff done and one that is designed to relax!
- Then answer: What makes a great week? What makes a great year?
I intentionally avoid the word perfect. What / who is perfect anyway? I believe that even in thought experiments we should not be misguided by outcomes that are unachievable and unrealistic. These illusions make us unhappy and not present.
Think big, but start small and … well … realistic.
— Pro tip: If you don’t have time NOW, mark your calendar and commit to a time to answer these questions. Don’t forget to link to this article to keep track of context. Please share your ideal life as a response to my article and/or email me any questions you have.
More extreme approach
A more extreme approach to identifying your ideal life is to answer the following question:
- Suppose you only had 12 more months to live. What would you do differently from yesterday, last week and last month?
Your answers will change over time. Track them in a diary. This way you will come closer to what you really want. That’s my experience. Maybe it can be yours, too.
— PLUS pro tip: Ask yourself these questions MONTHLY! Please do the following: Copy these questions. Go to your calendar of choice — NOW. And paste the questions into a 30-minute timeslot that automatically repeats monthly. Set a reminder for the last Sunday of each month.
Go. Now. Don’t wait. Set yourself up for success and transformation … two big words that always start with a single step.
Did I say GO already?…
I mean it. By doing this you are setting yourself apart from your lazy colleague, fellow student or startup friend. Please do. It’s for you and I care about you because I am convinced it helps.
Let me pick two of the questions and answer them here.
My One Million Dollar Answer
I would not change what I am doing right now. I am deeply driven to make StartupGeist successful for my readers. For you! More people should live the life they’ve always wanted.
I believe that can be achieved by being an entrepreneur. It’s a great way to do so. Most people, however, don’t have the right mindset and values to unlock their talents and true potential. Of course, it takes time — BUT every journey starts with the first step.
I want more people to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. AND I want more entrepreneurs to realize a more focused, productive, healthy and mindful life. I lose focus, have unproductive days and drift away as most entrepreneurs do.
I believe that starting a company, or startup doesn’t necessarily need to be extremely stressful — when we apply the right tools and the right mindset.
That’s why I am driven to compile and share startup best practices and success principles with you — that I call ’The StartupGeist’.
The StartupGeist allows you to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.
How Would I Use ONE Million Dollars?
I would hire one or two people to accelerate the progress of StartupGeist. But I am also adamant that I wouldn’t overhire as everything is still so unclear and undefined. I am just starting. It’s not the right time to heavily invest in people and overspend financial resources (even if someone would gift it to me).
I would, however, invest in friends and like minded people to allow them to leave their jobs — if they want — to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
Similar to what Peter Thiel did with his Thiel Fellowship by encouraging students to leave University and purely focus on their startup, I would like to give small grants to would-be starters and learn from their progress. What is holding them back? How can they be accelerated?
To ultimately put this knowledge into an applied learning app and course for students who want to acquire the StartupGeist.
Welcome to Entrepreneurial Life Long Learning!
What If I only had 12 more months to live?
I would be sad for a few days. Most likely grieve in self-pity. I am not ready to die yet — I deeply want to give something back — hopefully already with StartupGeist.
Because this is much bigger than I am. It’s not about me. It’s about students becoming entrepreneurs and making a positive change on this planet.
After grieving (hope this would end quickly), I would get back to work.
Considering I am dying, I would probably work hard to find ambassadors, mentors and thought leaders to buy into the idea of StartupGeist to ensure it ‘stays’ alive when I am gone.
Besides that I wouldn’t travel the world because I am already living at beautiful places — Berlin, Berkeley, Chiang Mai, Bali — at different times of the year. I also wouldn’t spend much more time with friends or family because I am already doing this to my and their pleasure.
Please share your answers as a Medium response to my article. Click into the box at the bottom of the post, and fire away. Your response is its own stand-alone post on Medium.
I’m curious to see how your ideal life looks like too.
And again — I encourage you to set time aside and go over these questions another time — if you don’t have time NOW.
StartupGeist Knowledge Base
StartupGeist summarizes insights and experiences from startup experts and founders. This article is based on …
- Tim Ferriss: 4 Hour Work Week
- Tim Ferriss: Lifestyle Costing
Share your ❤ below — and respond with your thoughts.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
I am Danny and started StartupGeist to help students and recent graduates build a business — and have a good life. Why? To be free, financially independent and healthy. How? Build a growth mindset and deliberately practice skills that turn your ideas into something bigger.
