What We Really Do: Holistic Lifestyle Design

 

I was first introduced to the idea of "lifestyle design" back in the day after reading Tim Ferriss' excellent book "The 4 Hour Work Week." It's the idea that we have the power to design aspects of our lives in whatever way suits us. We don't have to follow the same blueprints everyone else follows. We're free to blaze our own paths. It was the idea behind this "You Get to Make the Rules" post. And it's the foundation of this project. I just needed a friend to help me articulate it.

A marketing friend who has been following this project (and has listened to my sometimes-manic rants on these related topics) recently asked the kind of pointed question marketers like to ask"

So... what the hell are you actually selling?

I've had enough conversations with this friend over the years to understand he wasn't asking me to rehash the same eight hundred detailed, intertwined ideas and concepts I typically use to explain what I'm envisioning in my head when I think about this or any of my projects. He didn't want to know the intricate workings of the Rube Goldberg machine of ideas. 

 

If you've been reading through these first two dozen or so blog posts, you're probably scratching your head and asking "So what's the point?!?" That's fair. I've been explaining each of the intricate parts of the whole without really hitting on the Gestalt-esque big picture. 

So what's our elevator pitch?

We sell Holistic Lifestyle Design.

We start with your goals and values. Then we figure out what you really want in life. And we make you a road map to get there in a way that integrates every aspect of your life that matters to you.

Holistic Lifestyle Design.

That's it. We provide people with the guidance and resources to help them make real, concrete changes to improve their lives in a way that aligns with their values, goals, and other people in their lives. Nothing more, nothing less. 

But Why the Tribe and the School?!?

I know what you're thinking -  why do you need this complicated Tribe and School model to help people live the kind of life they want to live? Couldn't you just become a life coach or some shit?

There are two answers.

First, this model should solve most of the major problems that any sort of school faces in a way that helps individuals throughout our community and the community as a whole. In my twenty years in public education, I've been blessed to work with a lot of people in a lot of different roles. And I've experienced countless seemingly unsolvable problems. This model... I think it'll solve those problems. 

Second, this project IS my holistic lifestyle design. I'm a big believer in living the brand. Be authentic in everything you do. I've spent years and years designing the lifestyle I want to live. The logistics of life (like moving from SoCal to the Western Slope) have sort of forced me to make compromises that pulled me away from the life Shelly and I want to live (kind of a "one step back to take two steps forward" sort of thing.) This project is my opportunity to fix that. Further, I've surrounded myself with genuinely good, like-minded people. Together, this project will allow ALL of us to live that lifestyle we all want to live.

There are plenty of other reasons, most of which are peppered throughout this blog. But these are the two biggies. If there's one lesson I've learned in life, it's that there's always alternative solutions to common problems. And this project solves a whole lotta problems. 

So How Exactly Does This Work?

Meet Larry. Larry has made a long string of bad life decisions.

Our school will help Larry devise a plan to get his life on track using the resources available through our school. Right now, today, our young Tribe has the expertise to offer a lot of classes that could help Larry become the kind of man he always wished he could be. For example, we might:

• Help Larry's self-confidence by helping his look better by taking a class in improving your physical appearance and a class in weight loss.
  
• Help Larry kick is smoking habit with a class in overcoming addictions.
• Help Larry move out of his Mom's basement and upgrade that 8086 IBM by getting a better job with help from our "How to Write a Resume" and "How to Master the Interview" classes. Or, if he's the creative, adventurous type "How to Start a Business" class. 
• Help Larry meet women and get a little action with our "Attraction and Love 101" class.
• Help Larry meet new friends with our "Social Skills 101" class.
• Help Larry make social connections by interacting with the other students and Tribe at the school, especially during our quarterly Conferences, which are really just thinly-veiled parties. 
• Help Larry develop new hobbies that will double as helping him and our community become more resilient, such as our "Back Yard Gardening" class or our "Handguns 101" class. 
• Help Larry develop the skills to better understand and empathize with a a diverse range of people by having him interact with our Tribe.
• Help Larry better integrate his work life, his family life, his time with friends, and his time engaging in recreation by developing four-way wins.
  
• Help Larry give back to our community and learn how to apply practical skills to real-world problems by becoming an assistant for one of the School's Teacher-led community-improvement projects. 

And so on.  

The goal is to give Larry a blueprint to make his life better (the lifestyle design element) in a way that integrates his professional life, his social life, and his "me time" with other relevant people, including his friends, family, and community (the holistic component.)

This project has A LOT of moving parts because it aims to solve a lot of problems. But this particular issue - what do we sell - is critically-important. In future posts, I'll expand on this point in great detail, including outlining the multiple ways a Student can benefit from our School. I'll also discuss what's in this for the Teachers, too, as they're another critical piece of the machine that is this project.

~Jason

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