Why Lifestyle Design Is Like Working at McDonald’s – And Why It’s a Good Thing

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Beyond my sneaking suspicion that most lifestyle designers are the type of people that would take great pleasure in running full throttle and leaping in a fit of glee right into a sea of seizure-inducing colored balls — and then do it again simply because they’ve now got the time to do so — there’s actually a more sophisticated rationale (albeit not as fun) as to why lifestyle design is comparable to having a job at McDonald’s, and why it’s a positive thing.

As a child, whenever anyone asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, “Work at McDonald’s” was never the answer, or we’d be at risk for being instantaneously swatted upside the head with the latest edition of the New York Times, while mom and dad’s heads shook in contempt and told us how we wanted a career, not a job. Scorn, scorn, there-go-my-childhood-dreams-of-bringing-the-hamburgerler-to-justice.

Be versus Do

At a young age, we are implicitly taught that the ubiquitous “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was code for “What kind of career do you want to have?” There we are, our sweet little 9-year old cheeks a flush, simply trying to shovel endless amounts of Power Rangers fruit snacks into our mouths in peace, and here come all of these pesky adults, attempting to suffocate us with the one famously fatal American attitude of you are what you do. You are defined by how you produce income. One of our society’s greatest flaws, in my opinion.

Notice that no one ever answers the question of what do you want to be when you grow up with world traveler, world-renowned salsa dancer, connoisseur of fine bourbon, excellent conversationalist, polar bear enthusiast or, my personal favorite, avid ball point pen collector.

Yet, if all were right in the world, these are exactly the types of responses we would be giving, because the distinction would be made between “be” versus “do,” and “What do you want to be when you grow up?” would transform into a two-part series including “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Be versus do. Hell, mental health professionals would be forced to close up shop.

Lifestyle Designers Know Better

Eventually, when we finally do engage ourselves in the requisite career selection process, we are told to pick a career based on our interests, passions and desires. (Do Spanish men count?) ”You’re going to be doing it everyday for the rest of your life, so you had better love it!” At the time, this seemed like logical, sound advice. Pick career. Life gets based around it. Voilà. Middle-aged heart attack, coming right up, sir.

Lifestyle designers know better. They have taken a stand against the career mentality, and instead of seeking a career they love, with their personal lives secondary, they’ve opted to seek a life they love, with a career as secondary. Except there’s one crucial distinction: A lifestyle designer isn’t interested in a career; s/he is interested in having a McDonald’s-esque job. I’ll explain.

For those of you who have read The Four-Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss coins the term “muse” to refer to the type of job, as we’ll call it, that is one or multiple self-supporting businesses. He states:

“Can a business be used to change the world, like The Body Shop or Patagonia? Yes, but that isn’t one of our goals here . . . our goal is simple: To create an automated vehicle for generating cash without consuming time.”

From this perspective, the aspiring lifestyle designer is not encouraged to pursue his/her passions from an income position, but rather to take an income position that will allow him/her to pursue his/her passions in a separate and unrelated fashion. Although the two do not have to be mutually exclusive, they often are. Just like when you were in high school and worked at McDonald’s–you did it so you could fund your personal life, not because you were passionate about hot, artery-clogging grease and those killer visors. A lifestyle designer may or may not be all that passionate, per say, about their particular chosen stream of income; they are passionate about living life, and enabling themselves to do so through a variety of non-related means. They are the masters at differentiating their identities as people versus their identities as income producers.

For example, Ferriss’ muse was called BodyQUICK, a vitamin supplement. Two of the examples he gives in the book include a guy selling French shirts and a woman selling a yoga DVD. Or take real life lifestyle design superstar David Walsh (@dvdwalsh) of Muselife.com, who has successfully created a muse called Audio Mixology, in which aspiring bartenders can download a combination of audio and print materials designed to teach basic mnemonic devices for memorizing cocktail ingredients, or his business partner, Seth Hosko (@shosko) of www.sethhosko.com, who is in the process of creating a new muse designed as an iPhone app called Language Cheat in which users become versed in how to realistically use a foreign language for practical, real-world applications.

The point here is that I’m willing to bet that Ferriss would not describe himself as being passionate about vitamins. (Although I would argue that Walsh is, in fact, passionate about mixology; I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with both he & Seth here in Philadelphia, during which time my whiskey consumption skills were put to the test.) In any event, what we’re seeing is a drastic shift in mind-set, where the notion of a career as the ideal has become an antiquated, almost foolish choice, and the notion of having self-sufficient muses–or “jobs,” as I see it, being defined as something you do for money’s sake, like a job at McDonalds–has taken its place. Except this is a hybrid of jobs that are carefully constructed, smart, intelligent designs implemented with purpose, deliberation and intention, and unlike McDonald’s, you are free to take your time and do with it what you please. The practice of lifestyle design is an art form in its own right.

What’s Your Message?

That said, there is one other amusing similarity between LD & McDonald’s: The slogans that have graced the golden arches throughout the years are curiously well-suited to the lifestyle designer. Check it:

What You Want Is What You Get (1992 – 1995)
Do You Believe in Magic? (1993 – 1997)
Have You Had Your Break Today? (1995 – 1997)
We Love To See You Smile (2000 – 2003)
I’m lovin’ it (2003 – Present)

I’m a big fan of the first and last slogans in particular, but all of them carry an underlying message that reflect a carefree, life-is-good-on-this-side-of-the-fence that encourages the consumer to take a time out from the harried, frenzied life of the rat race–and I think that’s something that all lifestyle designers can relate to.

To all of the aspiring lifestyle designers out there, what types of muses are you contemplating? Have you been able to successfully combine something you’re passionate about with an income stream? Just want to express your newfound desire to jump into a sea of balls? Let’s hear your thoughts.

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http://steamdryer.info Reagan Eaves

Steamdryers also need attention!
http://richard77sutton.bravejournal.com Cole Yazzie

May I ask Is it free or paid? Where can I download it from? Thanks in advance for your response!
TMFproject

Hey, Makenzie! I think you hit the nail right on the head with, “I wasn't doing or being what I wanted.” That is exactly the entire point of this website–to encourage others to do as you have, and to respect their dreams, desires and wishes. If you don't, no one else certainly will. It's about standing up for yourself, taking a stand, and letting your heart guide your decisions instead of your brain, which has been so manipulated by society's dreams desires and wishes…that the two end up becoming one in the same. And what does that lead to? You guessed it: A bunch of robots. You don't want to be a robot. So cheers to you, for throwing conventions to the wind and being brave! Cheers!!!!!!
TMFproject

Hi, Kent – Thanks so much for taking the time to thoughtfully reflect and interact here- your comment was much appreciated, and certainly gave me some food for thought! I have a couple of points:

1. “If you had already put a system in place to make enough money to live on, what would you DO?” He understood the question because he realized the concept of spending all your time working for money was a waste of your life. His answer unfortunately (or genuinely) was “Play video games.”

I can't stress how important this question is. Thanks for highlighting it. I wanted to address it because, as I read your comment about your son responding with “video games,” I automatically thought to myself, “Well, sure, because that's what he knows at this point. But I”m sure once he gets older and becomes exposed to other hobbies, activities and interests, that could change.” And then it hit me – maybe the same applies for adults, as well. We default to trading time for money because that's all we know at this point, but if we were to become aware of other options, then that could change. Furthermore, I think the same concept could be applied across the board to other concepts – if a person has never traveled, for example, then he/she will rarely crave it. You don't miss what you never had. I'm curious how many of us would still be in the same situations if we were exposed to other things, at which point, once we are aware…there's no going back.

Also, I agree with what you say about McDonald's. I didn't mean to imply that there was a direct correlation, because you're right, at McDonald's you are trading time for money and you aren't afforded any opportunities for creative thought, etc. I just was hoping to make a point that there are many lifestyle designers out there who have managed to create self-sustaining muses that may or may not be related to anything they're passionate about, similar to having a job at McDonald's, because at the end of the day you're at liberty to pursue your true interests. You're not devoting your life to a career, and taking it home with you at the end of the day. You're liberated to do as you please with your free time, without feeling some sort of guilt for not propelling your career forward…because once you leave McDonald's, you're done! Once you create a muse, you're done! Know what I mean?

Kent thanks so much for coming by the site – would love to keep the interaction alive. And opposing perspectives are always welcome, as they help to round out the conversation and allow readers to take what they like, and leave what they don't. Awesome. Cheers, Kent!
http://www.adventurousmom.com/ Makenzie

Ashley I love it! Great perspective. I have to say that the 4HHW is an inspiration to us all. I recently walked away from my six figure salary because I wasn't doing or being what I wanted. This was a business that I owned. I am obviously getting a lot of sideways looks from people that could never imagine I would do such a thing!! It really takes courage to live this lifestyle and it takes no courage to be mediocre. But, when I'm in Moab with my kids for a week, and they “can't come because they HAVE to work” well then, we'll see who chose the right life. Like I say, the more precious commodity is TIME, not money. I can't spend a million dollars to get back the time I spent writing this post…not that i'd want to, but it's just the way our world works! Love your blog. Keep an eye out for trackbacks!

TMFproject

Hey, Makenzie! I think you hit the nail right on the head with, “I wasn't doing or being what I wanted.” That is exactly the entire point of this website–to encourage others to do as you have, and to respect their dreams, desires and wishes. If you don't, no one else certainly will. It's about standing up for yourself, taking a stand, and letting your heart guide your decisions instead of your brain, which has been so manipulated by society's dreams desires and wishes…that the two end up becoming one in the same. And what does that lead to? You guessed it: A bunch of robots. You don't want to be a robot. So cheers to you, for throwing conventions to the wind and being brave! Cheers!!!!!!

http://twitter.com/kjax Kent Jackson

(I actually wrote this back on NOV 9 but just around to posting it now)

Your post was eerily relevant to me.

Earlier tonight, before I read your post, I actually DID have this conversation with my nine year old son, a breathing version of the hypothetical one in your post. I had just listened to the audio version of The Four Hour Work Week and looking for direction. The question was phrased the way you put it. “If you had already put a system in place to make enough money to live on, what would you DO?” He understood the question because he realized the concept of spending all your time working for money was a waste of your life. His answer unfortunately (or genuinely) was “Play video games.” I can't really blame him, he is my son. When I was a teen, I can distinctly remember aspiring to own a video game store, so I could play all the games, all the time, for “Free”. I STILL don't know what I would want to do if I had unlimited time to spend! Although it surely involves adventures with my 9 year old and the rest of the family.

The greatest difficulty comes when you are successful in creating a muse. The hard work is filling your free time with meaningful pursuits. Nine years old is still too young to know what you want to “do”. It is almost easier to focus on what skills interest you the most, focus your energy on that skill and build your muse around it. Muses take skills in some field to build. Whether the skill be storytelling or coding or music.

Later that night, when I tried to ask further, all he wanted to do was get back to flinging a Tastycake Chocolate mini donut across the room with the catapult he made at cub scouts…

I understand where you are going with the McDonald’s analogy from the standpoint of a job for the money and not about the work, but I think it over simplifies on two points.

First is passion. You don’t need passion to work at McDonald’s, but to develop a muse that actually works takes huge amounts of it. I don’t mean you have to be passionate ABOUT the subject of your muse, just the creation of it. A muse takes creative thinking and rule breaking, the likes of which would get you fired from McDonald’s. Not to mention, working at McDonald’s, you are told what to do and how to do it, every second. With a muse and a “Lifestyle Designed”, no one tells you what to do or how to do it.

The second is in time investment. McDonald’s is the definition of a job that requires you to be present to get a paycheck. Linking a muse to a McDonald’s style job severely under values a proper muse. A muse should operate with a bunch of work up front but later you don’t even need to show up! When I think of a McDonald’s style job I think of meaningless work that takes my time and offers no rewards for efficiency or innovation.

One thing he said which really got me was. He would rather be poor but have his father around and at home with him than have “Bill Gates” money but never see his father. With those priorities, I guess we are doing something right. I wonder if that will last until he is 17.

Thanks for putting your thoughts out there. Even if I don't always agree with them, it forces me to think about assumptions that I made a long time ago and challenges their validity.

TMFproject

Hi, Kent – Thanks so much for taking the time to thoughtfully reflect and interact here- your comment was much appreciated, and certainly gave me some food for thought! I have a couple of points:

1. “If you had already put a system in place to make enough money to live on, what would you DO?” He understood the question because he realized the concept of spending all your time working for money was a waste of your life. His answer unfortunately (or genuinely) was “Play video games.”

I can't stress how important this question is. Thanks for highlighting it. I wanted to address it because, as I read your comment about your son responding with “video games,” I automatically thought to myself, “Well, sure, because that's what he knows at this point. But I”m sure once he gets older and becomes exposed to other hobbies, activities and interests, that could change.” And then it hit me – maybe the same applies for adults, as well. We default to trading time for money because that's all we know at this point, but if we were to become aware of other options, then that could change. Furthermore, I think the same concept could be applied across the board to other concepts – if a person has never traveled, for example, then he/she will rarely crave it. You don't miss what you never had. I'm curious how many of us would still be in the same situations if we were exposed to other things, at which point, once we are aware…there's no going back.

Also, I agree with what you say about McDonald's. I didn't mean to imply that there was a direct correlation, because you're right, at McDonald's you are trading time for money and you aren't afforded any opportunities for creative thought, etc. I just was hoping to make a point that there are many lifestyle designers out there who have managed to create self-sustaining muses that may or may not be related to anything they're passionate about, similar to having a job at McDonald's, because at the end of the day you're at liberty to pursue your true interests. You're not devoting your life to a career, and taking it home with you at the end of the day. You're liberated to do as you please with your free time, without feeling some sort of guilt for not propelling your career forward…because once you leave McDonald's, you're done! Once you create a muse, you're done! Know what I mean?

Kent thanks so much for coming by the site – would love to keep the interaction alive. And opposing perspectives are always welcome, as they help to round out the conversation and allow readers to take what they like, and leave what they don't. Awesome. Cheers, Kent!

TMFproject

Vin-
Thanks for the comment, brother. You are one of the finest examples of someone trusting their instincts and making choices (good choices, in my opinion) based on what you truly feel will increase the quality of your life, versus what will simply increase the quantity of your life (money). I greatly respect anyone who's willing to take that stand, and, well, flip the bird to anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. Sometimes it's not an easy task, because you're surrounded by countless numbers of people who will try and hold you back–perhaps not consciously, but because in seeing you break free, they become pressured to examine their own lives, and oftentimes they aren't happy with what they find. Worse, they might feel like they lack the ability to change it, which further frustrates and perpetuates their bitterness. In the end, that will lead to a lot of negativity pointed at you and your decisions. People like maintaining the status quo. People like to feel like they're not alone in their misery. And the minute you threaten that, people become defensive. So, it is tough. You were able to make that transition, and it's pure awesome of you. This blog is focused on building a community of like-minded people who value the quality of their lives–their time, mobility, happiness–over the amount of their paychecks. It's quite an active community..just look at the comments listed here on this post alone. A lot of the ideas are based around Tim Ferriss' book called The 4 Hour Work Week. I'm pretty sure you can still get a free audio download of it here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/965583/ Also, I would recommend checking out some of the other blogs I've got listed in my blogroll on the homepage, on the bottom right-hand side. These are all related, and are leaders in the community.

So glad the post was valuable to you! Get in touch anytime if you want to chat more about it.
Vin

Wow Ash talk about something really hitting home. This relates directly to my career change and overall lifestyle changes over the past few years. I have found myself questioning life choices and life goals a lot as of late, trying to distinguish between what choices and goals were set for my own personal reasons and which ones were set forth because society (my definition of this word covers a very wide range) claims you have to. I did a lot of writing about how sick it has made me that success is nearly measured on a pure material basis. It is all about how much money you make, how established are you financially, what kind of toys (cars, boats, houses, vacation spots, blah blag PUKE) do you have, where you are located on the corporate ladder, and other such meaningless things. I am all about doing whatever it is that makes you happy, I learned first hand that the high paying job and the tittle that comes with it can make you far more depressed and sick with life than the minimum wage job you worked just to put some change in your pocket and buy the needed items. I could continue on forever about this but I think you get my point that I agree with a lot of what your saying. I also want to thank you for turning me on to all this I am learning a lot from it, although I am not entirely familiar with some of the terminology you use or things you reference but that leads me down a new road in search of more knowledge. So thanks and hope to see ya soon.
Vin

Wow Ash talk about something really hitting home. This relates directly to my career change and overall lifestyle changes over the past few years. I have found myself questioning life choices and life goals a lot as of late, trying to distinguish between what choices and goals were set for my own personal reasons and which ones were set forth because society (my definition of this word covers a very wide range) claims you have to. I did a lot of writing about how sick it has made me that success is nearly measured on a pure material basis. It is all about how much money you make, how established are you financially, what kind of toys (cars, boats, houses, vacation spots, blah blag PUKE) do you have, where you are located on the corporate ladder, and other such meaningless things. I am all about doing whatever it is that makes you happy, I learned first hand that the high paying job and the tittle that comes with it can make you far more depressed and sick with life than the minimum wage job you worked just to put some change in your pocket and buy the needed items. I could continue on forever about this but I think you get my point that I agree with a lot of what your saying. I also want to thank you for turning me on to all this I am learning a lot from it, although I am not entirely familiar with some of the terminology you use or things you reference but that leads me down a new road in search of more knowledge. So thanks and hope to see ya soon.

TMFproject

Vin-
Thanks for the comment, brother. You are one of the finest examples of someone trusting their instincts and making choices (good choices, in my opinion) based on what you truly feel will increase the quality of your life, versus what will simply increase the quantity of your life (money). I greatly respect anyone who's willing to take that stand, and, well, flip the bird to anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. Sometimes it's not an easy task, because you're surrounded by countless numbers of people who will try and hold you back–perhaps not consciously, but because in seeing you break free, they become pressured to examine their own lives, and oftentimes they aren't happy with what they find. Worse, they might feel like they lack the ability to change it, which further frustrates and perpetuates their bitterness. In the end, that will lead to a lot of negativity pointed at you and your decisions. People like maintaining the status quo. People like to feel like they're not alone in their misery. And the minute you threaten that, people become defensive. So, it is tough. You were able to make that transition, and it's pure awesome of you. This blog is focused on building a community of like-minded people who value the quality of their lives–their time, mobility, happiness–over the amount of their paychecks. It's quite an active community..just look at the comments listed here on this post alone. A lot of the ideas are based around Tim Ferriss' book called The 4 Hour Work Week. I'm pretty sure you can still get a free audio download of it here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/965583/ Also, I would recommend checking out some of the other blogs I've got listed in my blogroll on the homepage, on the bottom right-hand side. These are all related, and are leaders in the community.

So glad the post was valuable to you! Get in touch anytime if you want to chat more about it.

colinhiles

Ok, this is not aimed at this blog in particular but there's a strong theme with a lot of lifestyle designers thats begining to disturb me! I'm all for lifestyle design, I personally help midlifers in this area but a lot of blogs I read really get down on people in jobs.

We must remember there are a lot of people who have chosen their jobs around their passions, interests and desires. They love working for a company, they love working long hours, and they love conforming. I've worked with people that have found work so compelling thay want to spend more time in the office. Some don't have hobbies because their work is more fascinating than any evening class. Work is where life is for these people.

I'm worried some lifestyle designers believe the popular myth that work is wicked – that it saps our energy, steals our time and errodes our spirit. This belief is one big genera-lies-ation. I'm sure many people in companies all over the world would like to write a new headline – Work is Wonderful!

Now that said I would agree that nobody should be stuck in a job that is, 'too small for the human spriit' as Studs Terkel wrote. They shouldn't accepted it as fate and this is where we can help them break out.

Ok, enough of my drivel, its late and I'm off to bed.

TMFproject

Hey, Colin – thanks for stopping by and offering a new perspective. That's always a good thing!

Your point is certainly well-taken, and you're right–there are people who are perfectly happy to fit in, do what they're told, and just go with the flow. (Although I might make the argument that there is a certain percentage of those people who simply aren't willing to think, because, well, thinking requires work and therefore have “chosen” those paths based on their relative ease). Yet, the goal of this site and, from my perspective, the collective goals of many “lifestyle design” sites out there are certainly are not to belittle those for whom the above is a reality; however, I do think that one of the objectives IS to offend those that are seeking other alternatives, but aren't doing anything about it. As you said: “They shouldn't accept it as fate and this is where we can help them break out.” In this context, if I can offend someone ever-so-slightly slightly as a probe to cause them to reflect on the quality of their lives, then I feel like I'm meeting my goals. I don't believe change comes as a result of tip-toeing around the point, essentially catering to what people want to hear so they can feel good about themselves. The idea is to make them question their choices, and the only way that will happen is by presenting unconventional ideas. At that point, after critically reflecting, an individual still “loves working for a company, loves working long hours and loves conforming,” then that's great! But I'm willing to be there will be a larger percentage who won't. And that's who we want to engage in conversation.

The other thing that crossed my mind here is that I'm not sure it's an issue or liking your job or not; the fact of the matter is that even if you love your job, you're still tethered to a desk (usually), and the result is that you are, by default, severely limiting yourself in terms of experiencing life if you must spend 2,080 hours a year at it.

I'm going to address this further in a post, because it's a topic that many people would be interested in hearing. And if you have any thoughts on what I've said, please feel free to share! I'm glad you found me.

http://www.freestylemind.com/ Oscar – freestyle mind

Hey Ash, I loved this article. It makes a lot of sense to me.
http://www.awesomeandroidapps.com Brian W.

Calculus ahead, sorry in advance (I’m not kidding).

It seems silly to debate over whether you should aim to enjoy your work or minimize the amount you work at a pays-for-life job.

Graph out your average week (or, theoretically, where your life is headed, as far as you can see). The x-axis is time, the y-axis is how much you’re enjoying life at that instant. The goal of lifestyle design, as I see it, is to find the choice and proportion of revenue-generating (work) and non-revenue-generating (play) activities that optimizes the integral, the area under the curve, adjusted for how much a given amount of money means to you and how much a given opportunity for altruism means to you.

I realize this won’t make sense to a lot of people. Tough, you should have paid attention in math class. Without the math:
If you can love a job so much that working less than 60 hours a week would leave you wishing for more, great. If you hate a job but only have to do it two hours a week from anywhere in the world to fully support your lifestyle, great. If you endure a year of misery to be blissful forever more, great. If you’re just as happy on $100 a week as $10000, great. In all these cases, you’re a winner – muse, job, mcdonalds, rich, Spanish boys, poor, vitamins, whatever.

Now the question is, how many people can manage their ideal lifestyle without a wildly profitable lifestyle-design blog?

All the best to you, Ms. Ashley.
http://rulesoptional.com Andrew MacPherson

The notion of Muse Vs. Passion gets discussed a lot in the lifestyle design community. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the supposed dichotomy in which it’s framed seems rather strange. As you point out, it doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive at all.

It almost feels like a bizarre war in which the disciples of @garyvee and @tferriss have chosen their respective allegiances and defend whichever position through the rigid lenses of their favored guru. The fact that Gary and Tim have appeared together and made attempts to frame the debate in their own terms makes it even more suspicious. Check out the Google search for “gary vaynerchuk tim ferriss” to see what I mean. From a PR perspective, there’s certainly value for them.

The polarization aspect seems so anti-lifestyle-design. My indirect attempt to raise the point wasn’t one of my more popular posts, but the responses I got were unexpected.

My first exposure to @dvdwlsh was through a post in which he attacked it from a different frame. That’s still one of my favorite posts ever. Corbett (@freepursuits) just flat out posed the question and got quite a few responses as well.

I tend to fall on your side. Who cares if you love what’s generating the income if you’re not spending your own time on it?

http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org Ash

“Who cares if you love what’s generating the income if you’re not spending your own time on it?”

I think if executed properly, then this is the optimal mindset to maintain; that said, judging from the survey that was done over at FreePursuits, only 5% of location independents are actually working 10 hours a week or less. The majority, at 45%, are working 40-49 hours/week. If that’s the case, then you sure as hell don’t want to be doing something blatantly asinine for all those hours–you’d want to be at least a little passionate about whatever it is you’re doing. It seems that what’s lacking is more an implementation issue than anything.

On a different note, I think it comes down to a basic human sense of pride. We truly want to be able to say we’re doing is worthwhile, and be proud of our accomplishments. However, again it’s a social conditioning assumption that your most important accomplishments will be work-related. Instead, we need to be focusing on our accomplishments as kick-ass human beings doing extraordinarily, disgustingly cool things. Like travel around the entire world using only human, wind & solar power. I have no idea how you haven’t made it on Oprah yet.

Reading Gary’s book right now. Will have more to say on that topic later, no doubt!

http://operation_zebra.deadjournal.com Kaity

based on our interests, passions and desires. (Do Spanish men count?) ”You’re going to be doing it everyday for the rest of your life, so you had better love it!”

First I wanted to jst give you a thumbs up on this juxtaposition …

My muse … wel my career has become the thing that I am most passionate about but school is killing my joy. I think that once school finishes that I will develop a keen interest writing and coordinating events for people. Possibly a bit of film and photo stuff to keep my soul alive. I think I might also go into consulting and writing grants for people, because it is a good way to make money and I could choose who I want to consult with.

However, I would agree with Nate here in saying that corporate jobs might be a muse. I this case, it would be a government job because I could gain a high level of mobility and see the world and do the work I want to do while generating income.
http://www.fearlessendeavors.com/ Nate

I’ve been contemplating this a lot lately. What it all comes down to is freedom.

People are becoming jaded with corporate jobs. They feel that they’re not cared for. There certainly is no such thing as job security. And, most people are chained down to a desk for 8-10 hours a day, so there’s no mobility.

The thing is, a corporate job could become a muse, couldn’t it? If you had the freedom to work when and where you wanted, I think a lot of people would be happier.

For example, let’s say one of your passions is world travel (as it is for many ‘lifestyle designers’). What if you had a completely mobile environment and your employer supported it? You could travel, do your work when you want to do it as long as you’re getting it done, and live the lifestyle you want to lead.

I digress here a bit…and there’s one BIG key that I’m not addressing, which I fully admit. AUTOMATION. Most lifestyle designers want to generate steady, automatic sources of income. I’m still working on that one myself!

http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org Ash

Dude, if you haven’t already, you have got to read my favorite Steve Pavlina article. Every time I read it I get so inspired. Also – I do think the world would be a better place if we were able to work when and where we wanted, but I don’t see it realistically coming to fruition any time soon. I also think I’d rather be an entrepreneur just because I seem to have issues with authority lately. LOL. Check out the article, I think you’ll like it:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/

Here’s an excerpt:

Getting a job and trading your time for money may seem like a good idea. There’s only one problem with it. It’s stupid! It’s the stupidest way you can possibly generate income! This is truly income for dummies.

Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working? Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working? Who taught you that you could only earn income while working? Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?

Don’t you think your life would be much easier if you got paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with the kids too? Why not get paid 24/7? Get paid whether you work or not. Don’t your plants grow even when you aren’t tending to them? Why not your bank account?

Who cares how many hours you work? Only a handful of people on this entire planet care how much time you spend at the office. Most of us won’t even notice whether you work 6 hours a week or 60. But if you have something of value to provide that matters to us, a number of us will be happy to pull out our wallets and pay you for it. We don’t care about your time — we only care enough to pay for the value we receive. Do you really care how long it took me to write this article? Would you pay me twice as much if it took me 6 hours vs. only 3?
Non-dummies often start out on the traditional income for dummies path. So don’t feel bad if you’re just now realizing you’ve been suckered. Non-dummies eventually realize that trading time for money is indeed extremely dumb and that there must be a better way. And of course there is a better way. The key is to de-couple your value from your time.

Smart people build systems that generate income 24/7, especially passive income. This can include starting a business, building a web site, becoming an investor, or generating royalty income from creative work. The system delivers the ongoing value to people and generates income from it, and once it’s in motion, it runs continuously whether you tend to it or not. From that moment on, the bulk of your time can be invested in increasing your income (by refining your system or spawning new ones) instead of merely maintaining your income.

This web site is an example of such a system. At the time of this writing, it generates about $9000 a month in income for me (update: $40,000 a month as of 10/31/06), and it isn’t my only income stream either. I write each article just once (fixed time investment), and people can extract value from them year after year. The web server delivers the value, and other systems (most of which I didn’t even build and don’t even understand) collect income and deposit it automatically into my bank account. It’s not perfectly passive, but I love writing and would do it for free anyway. But of course it cost me a lot of money to launch this business, right? Um, yeah, $9 is an awful lot these days (to register the domain name). Everything after that was profit.

http://leadersofthefreeworld.org Andrew Caldwell

haha, this is getting weirder! I've got this Article of steve's printed out on my desk! And i've sent the link to everyone I know, you can't read this article and not get pissed of at yourself for sitting around at work and not having a go.

TMFproject

Pavlina rocks!!!! I love his “10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion” too, but that's too hardcore for some people. But the way he frames everything is just so spot on!

http://www.journeyofmyown.com Clayton

My first job was at McDonald’s. I lasted for two months before I lost the strength to tolerate another corpulent, stained-white-undershirt-wearing customer ordering me around like a tyrant and insulting my intelligence.

I still haven’t found a muse that is fully in line with my passions. Right now, I’m just having a crack at affiliate marketing products on weight loss, panic attacks, and dating advice.

I have a few ideas that might be a bit more exciting, but those are still in development.

http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org Ash

It’s hard, because the concept of the “muse” goes against what seems logical. I worry, for example, that if I were to start a muse similar to what you’re doing, how long could I keep that up before I wanted to stab myself in the eye with an industrial-sized ice pick? Until you can automate the articles you’re writing, I’m sure it’s going to be a bit challenging, if not time consuming more than anything else. What is the solution?! Right now, I’m contemplating some ideas. I really dig information products, but need to learn more about marketing them in a way that results in maximum profit. I’ve had an eBook out since 2007, and never truly got to the point where I was happy with the amount of $ it was making me, although I do believe this is a function of a lack of marketing know-how.