About 15 years ago I picked up the seminal book by M. Scott Peck called The Road Less Travelled. In the book Dr. Peck suggests ways in which confronting and resolving our problems, and suffering through the changes, can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding.

For me the core message of the book was about taking responsibility for your own life rather than blaming external circumstances.

The title of the book was influenced by the poem by Robert Frost – ‘The Road Not Taken’ which has also been a huge influence on the way I live my life. The last three lines of the poem have always resonated with me:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

 

I took the one less travelled by,

 

And that has made all the difference."

I was reminded of my core belief when I stumbled upon a guest blog post the other day on lifestyle designer Cody McKibben’s blog Thrilling Heroics entitled The Road ‘Most’ Travelled is Fricken’ Dangerous Man. 

The author Jonny warns of the dangers of the road ‘most’ travelled in one hilarious sentence:

“School – Work - Eat Some Strawberry Pie – Die.”

Yikes.

For many people the road most travelled is education (school then university or college) followed by a steady climb up the career ladder. The addictive pull of a regular salary check (I remember what that was like!) keeps us in jobs that we hate because we have mortgages to pay and new shoes to buy. Time and time again when I speak to my friends about their jobs, they sound frustrated and trapped but the alternative i.e. taking the road less travelled is too scary for most.

So what does the road less travelled look like for me:

Having a flexible, fulfilling and sustainable working life that enables me to live my whole life to the fullest.

For example this year my flexible working life has enabled me to:

• Work from anywhere I like, whether that’s the comfort of my front room, the park on a sunny day or a co-working space or coffee shop for company.
• Not count how many days of annual leave I have left – instead I take time off when I want to.
• Pick and choose projects I want to work on and people I want to work with.
• Spend a month at co-working space The Hub in Amsterdam researching and writing about mindfulness at work.
• If the sun is shining (it does sometimes!), to take the afternoon off now and again and go hang out.
• Plan a six week trip to India in the winter to escape the cold (woohoo!).
• If I am tired and unfocussed to have the flexibility to go take a nap, grab a yoga class or go for a walk on the canal.
• Have the time to take on pro-bono work for social enterprises doing amazing work.
• Have a go at planting my front and back terraces with leafy veg and herbs to provide some of our weekly food (thanks to Mark at Vertical Veg for all his advice!).
• Take the whole month of August off to write my new book The Business Yogi: How the Science of Yoga Can Help You Be More Productive, Happy and Healthy at Work (watch this space).

Interested?

Here are some ideas on how you can start to build flexibility into your working life:

• Keep your business overheads low to zero. Work at home or join one of the low cost shared workspaces in your area. Use outsourcers rather than permanent staff members to keep your fixed costs down. Not having fixed overheads means that all the money coming into the business is profit.
• Combine work trips with play by extending your trip by a few days.
• Rent your property when you are away – we rent our gorgeous flat in central London through AirBnB when we go away (which tends to cover most of the trip!). 
• Live a minimalist lifestyle – I gave up buying new clothes and shoes about five or six years ago and have never looked back. I use charity stores and clothing swaps to keep my wardrobe updated for a fractional of the price. For minimal living ideas and inspiration check out the mnmlst or Rowdy Kittens blogs or Leo Babauta's ebook The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.
• Use a simple cash flow forecast spreadsheet to predict when money is coming into the business so you can forward plan.

The road less travelled can be a scary place with uneven surfaces, unknown bends up ahead and strange noises from the bushes. But it’s a real way of living your life to its fullest.

The road will still be there if you need to get back on that path. Why not take a look at a different way?

[image with thanks to Nicholas_T via CC]

 

I have been a big fan and follower of Tim Ferriss since I read his best selling book The Four Hour Work Week in 2008. This book and his ideas spawned an entire 'lifestyle design' and location independent lifestyle that many around the world, including me, are working to achieve.

His talk at the 2009 Do Lectures in Wales talks about the art of thinking, and doing, big.

An inspiring video which will make you think how you can accomplish the impossible.

Colin Wright is the fresh-faced founder of Ebookling, the ebook publishing site that is disrupting the business model of ebooks. He is also a lifestyle designer and blogs about living in a new country every four months, and other lifestyle experiments, at his blog Exile Lifestyle.

At a recent TEDxPhnomPenh, Colin taked about the importance of Extreme Lifestyle Experiments - a way Colin approaches problems by attacking them from a different angle, and how even the smallest lifestyle experiment can help you get the perspective you need to find that new approach.

To try out your own Extreme Lifestyle Experiment, follow these steps:

Step one: Identify exactly what the problem is that you are facing in your business/lifestyle right now. Don't just start, as many of us do, with just looking forwards to the goal. Start with the problem and the solution may be easier to find.

Step two: Plan on how to get to your ideal business lifestyle. Design it backwards by looking at the final step in the process and the step behind that and so on.

Step three: Set rules and boundaries for your Extreme Lifestyle Experiment. Colin lets his readers chose his destination but because the time period is only four months, the risk is minimised. How can you minimise the risk if you experiment?

Step four: Jump! We all suffer from 'analysis paralysis' and can spend months if not years planning but not making a change. Colin urges us to just go for it.

Enjoy a little lifestyle design boost on a grey Tuesday afternoon!