This post originally appeared on Location Rebel in September 2012, and has been updated for February 2022.
Trying to figure out how to live life? Have you been waiting forever to actually start doing the things you really want to be doing in life?
I’ve got news for you, if that’s what you’re doing, you’re never going to get there.
A lack of urgency leads to complacency and a comfortable life, much like the one I describe here.
So what do you have to do if you want to live out the life of your dreams?
Ok maybe not like this ^^^ per say, but, just read the article.
How to Live Life: Start. Right. Now.
When people sign up for my email list, the first thing I ask them is “describe in detail what your perfect day looks like”. At least once a day, I get someone that responds, and says “I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it.”
You’ve never thought about it!?!
You’ve never daydreamed about diving in the Maldives, or simply waking up without an alarm clock? If you don’t at least have an idea of what you want to do with your days, then you’ll never be totally happy with your life.
Everything I advocate and teach you on this site will not make you a millionaire (ok, it may eventually). However, it will give you something much more important: time.
If you don’t have a plan for what to do with the time you gain through building a lifestyle business, then you’ll be just as unhappy (and probably more so) than you are right now.
So like I said, how do you start getting closer to the life you want? You start now.
What Does This Look Like?
If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I have a bit of an affinity for the finer things in life. I joke that due to my affinity for warm climates, golf, and the occasional scotch and cigar, I’m a 70-year-old man stuck in 27 year old’s body.
Edit: Wow, that joke doesn’t seem so funny now that I’m 36…
No matter, my dream life involves a lot of travel, golf, and the ability to stay at 5 star hotels and eat at 5 star restaurants.
This isn’t a pipe dream. However, if I wasn’t constantly taking action on doing these things it might feel that way.
Let’s say you want to stay at 5-star hotels and resorts every time you travel, what should you be doing now? Going to 5-star hotels and resorts.
Some offices are better than others.
Just because you can’t stay there doesn’t mean you can’t still get much of the same enjoyment. Go have a Bud Light during happy hour in their fanciest bar. Find a nice place on the property with wifi and do your work from there. Get to know some of the employees.
By doing this on a regular basis you’re constantly reminding yourself that you do belong there, and that this is a goal of yours. If you never go, it will never seem real. By making a habit of going to establishments like this on a regular basis you’re training your subconscious to believe you should be there.
This works with everything.
Do you just want to spend more time with your family and newborn at home? At least once a month, just stay home and work. Even if you have to take a vacation or sick day to do it. Stay home, and do your work from there. Start training yourself to believe this is the rule, rather than the exception.
Another alternative is to get a work-from-home job. I know a guy that can help with that…
Like traveling? Head out to the closest airport and work from there for a day. It sounds ridiculous, but by constantly immersing yourself in aspects of your dream life, you’re reaffirming the fact that it’s important to you.
Join over 40,000 people who have taken our 6 part freelance writing course. Sign up below and let’s do this together.
By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from Location Rebel. We'll respect your privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Who Is Living the Life You Want?
Do you know someone living out the things you want to do? Spend more time with them, get to know them better. I can’t stress the importance of having a good community to help you towards your goals.
“Just doing it” is how you physically prepare to live your perfect life. However, having a solid community of people to turn to is how you’re going to prepare mentally and emotionally.
Assuming you have similar goals to me, the mental side of things is way more difficult than anything else. I owe this blog more than you know for allowing me to build a supportive community.
If you go back through the posts on this site before October 2009, I was clearly clueless about what I was doing, or rather, clueless about how to get where I was going. The comments on those posts were extremely valuable in making me feel as though I wasn’t alone.
Looking back the best thing I did for myself was to integrate myself into the right community and having a couple go-to people to look to for support.
When Was the Last Time…
…you lived out any aspect of your perfect day? My guess is it’s been a while. Make a vow to change that this week. Do at least one part of your perfect day:
- Wake up without an alarm
- Spend all day with your family
- Find a veranda and go have coffee on it (a lot of people include this in their perfect day emails!)
- Cook a big dinner with the people close to you
- Work on your small business
Whatever it is start doing more of it on a regular basis. The reality is that while yes, many of the responses I get involve travel, most are simply full of things you could do on a normal Saturday. So start now.
Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle is the Founder of Location Rebel where he has spent the last 12+ years teaching people how to build online businesses that give them the freedom to do more of the things they like to do in life. When he's not in the coffee shops of Portland, or the beaches of Bali, he's probably sneaking into some other high-class establishment where he most certainly doesn't belong.Join over 40,000 people who have taken our 6 part freelance writing course. Sign up below and let’s do this together.
By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from Location Rebel. We'll respect your privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Another great post, Sean!
The timing of your e-mails always seem perfect. I have been pondering what my ideal day would be like…and I think it would be very similar to yours (sunshine, improve the golf game and drink a few beers….might as well throw in a coffee on a veranda somewhere).
You made me realize in this post that it is okay to “fake it until you make it”. I also realized that I really need to sit down and actually write out my ideal day. The act of writing it and seeing it on paper everyday can only help me.
Thanks again for the awesome post. I absolutely love coming here to get your insights and advice on everything related to actually living your life.
Thanks for the kind words! I think the “fake it til you make it” in certain situations is totally applicable. This being one of them.
It’s like how people always say you should dress for the position you want. If you wanna be CEO, dress like he does.
So, I guess if you wanna be like me, grow out your beard and get some flip flops 🙂
Note: That last part probably isn’t good advice…
This is such an obvious concept yet it’s not obvious at all :).
I guess that is why you are living it! If you want to live a particular type of life then go live it. Makes total sense. In fact it makes such good sense, that few people ever actually do it.
I like the idea of finding a way to incorporate the life I want into my daily life as a reminder for the life I want to live. Very powerful stuff here.
Sounds good to me!
The best way to live like a millionaire is to be a millionaire as we say in PF land.
Great post – I think it’s true for anything you really, really want to do: just get started (or, if you want to add a quick Nike-sponsored twist: Just Do It).
I’ve realised in my own life that, much as I’d love to, I’m not in a position to work from anywhere and earn enough money freelancing just now. But, now I’ve got a full-time job I’m actually excited to be doing, I know I’m going to be working every night after work to set myself up to make a break for it once I’ve got our finances sorted out.
You’re totally right: you don’t have to take a giant leap-of-faith into the big, scary world, but if you can start doing even the smallest element that reflects the life you want to live then you’ve taken your first step on your road to freedom and happiness.
You know, the challenge I find is that when I describe my perfect day it involves things that I (the way I am now) would not actually do. Getting up without an alarm clock – before noon – simply doesn’t happen to me. It’s a bad day if I wake up before 8 with an alarm clock – it’s usually because I didn’t sleep well, woke up waaaaayyyyy to early and couldn’t get back to sleep. But my perfect day involves waking up refreshed and energized at 7am. It doesn’t matter so much where I am or what I do – that stuff will change drastically with every day dream. And I have many days when I am loving my current job and am absolutely in awe of my current home. The changes I want most are to change who I am.
That’s something I’ve figured out from your emails, and again from your post. Just thought I’d share it.
Hey Sean,
Just found your blog today and have been checking out your content. Respect! Love what your doing, what your achieving and what you aspire to achieve. I left my job just a couple of months back and am currently sunning it up and relaxing in the Canary Islands. Planning to hit Thailand into the new year, so in many ways I’m living what are my perfect days. Wake up early, breakfast in the sun. Hit the water with a great stand up paddle session. Prepare a great “Primal” meal with my beautiful girlfriend. However, I know that this can only be for so long. Until savings are diminished, and the reality of a 50 hour work week existence resurface. Plan on starting up a blog, and really want to get stuck into a Lifestyle Business, containing my passions, interests or/and skill sets. No desire to be a millionaire. Just live stress free, doing the things I like with the people I love, and having the financial freedom to do so.
It would be great to hear from you with any feedback and advice. Until then, Ill hit the archives. Great site! Live the dream!
Hi Sean,
Man I love your content. You would not believe this, but this is the first time I post on a blog and after following you for some months I think it is the time to finally take the plunge and start my own blog. I won’t get into much details but I’ve been notified that my Job is being eliminated (move to India ) in the following months; so being a father of two these are ‘bad’ news !
At this times of uncertainty I still think this is the best thing that can happen to me and my family if I manage it smartly. I have great goals and I truly think that better things comes. I will follow your advice of start the journey with a Blog, sounds great; I am not experienced with internet stuff but I just created my blog 55weekslater.wordpress.com. ( starts tomorrow )
I named it “55 weeeks later” because I wonder who things will look for me 55 weeks from now ? I think much people tend to create Goals for the upcoming 2, 3 or even 5 years go ( a car, a house, a career). But what about the following 6 months or a year ? I think that more challenging.
Man I admire you and your community, so I will make sure to put into action some of your advises too. By the way the project supposed to be called 52weekslater but I changed to 55 weeks to sync it with my 2013 birthday.
I will start tomorrow posting my GOALS, deadline 55 weeks later. Everyone is invited 🙂 I am doing this because I want to live the life that I WANT; and you said that for you it started with this blog.
-Hector
A picture is worth a thousand words, and the one you posted is certainly an apt description of my perfect day. I have similar goals as you, but, am at a loss as to how to achieve them. I don’t have the funds, nor the means to obtain them. I am typing this on a Twelve-year old G4 Mac. The things I have tried never pan out, as the golddigger would say.
Sean- Awesome points. I’m going to do my perfect day right now, and then work on living it out, even if it’s one thing at a time. Love your site- you’re an inspiration to those of us that feel “stuck” in the 9-5 routine.
Great advice about doing a part of your ideal day now. I do this from time to time and it’s great motivation to follow through to where all of my days are like that. I love to wake up early and chill on the porch with the whole day ahead of me. That’s my motivation!
My perfect day looks like this: visiting a new country, talking to the locals, preferably in their own language, contemplating nature and playing music all day long… 🙂
Yes! This is so true. And it’s a lot easier than some people make it out to be. A Bud Light or a juice in a fancy hotel, a sick day, etc. etc.
Along the same lines, if you love traveling and wish you could do it more, you can simply go to an unfamiliar neighborhood in your own city, and bring your camera or whatever else you do on vacation but not at home, and explore. This is not expensive, and it can be lots of fun! I am particularly partial to going to places where people speak unfamiliar languages, like Korean, but this isn’t a necessary element in this type of adventure…
🙂
My perfect day will be the day I have my teenage hair and hairline again.
I’ve had my perfect day written out for years now. so this post just hits it in the head for me. “Just do it” isn’t doing it for me at the moment: I don’t even have the money to spend a few hours at a fancy hotel, or to take the day off (don’t get paid), or to drive to the intl airport (car isn’t dependable enough) … Life on minimum wage is dreary enough but when your dream just won’t leave you alone … it gets that much more so.
I can only hope I’ll soon be posting something like “A year ago I was struggling on minimum wage, and today here I am in Spain living my dream …”
Great stuff here, man, as usual. Describing your perfect day and even writing it out is so important. I’ve realized this past week, now that I am one week into self-employment, that I really need to have a clear vision for what this looks like. It’s so easy just to get caught up in the flow and go with it. Nobody’s going to control our life for us, we have to take the reigns and be proactive.
I also totally agree about putting yourself in a position to enjoy something even though you may not be able to afford it, like a fancy hotel. There is a high-end resort down in Palos Verdes that sits right on the ocean. Stunning views and just beautiful. I often go down there to read and work and enjoy a coffee while overlooking the ocean. Parking is free and the coffee costs me $4. Enjoying the benefits of the experience for less than $5. Sweet.
I’ve decided that I do really like the idea of having a leisurely lunch or drink at the nearest fancy hotel. There are several not far from where I live, and I have to go downtown soon for an errand anyway … Why not? Just one day, though. Budget won’t allow for more. Anything else left over goes to the new laptop (this one’s ready for the Smithsonian) which will help get the real dream for me.
Hi Sean everyone want life like dream. I want life like the way i want to spend seriouslly it is without an alarm clock & etc. etc. I think we should live our lives like kings and queens; then each day of our life will become extremely beautiful. I started my own blog to live life http://nectarofhappiness.com share your thoughts.