Comments on: Lifestyle design: a new profession

By: Marc Beneteau / Lifestyle Design School

Marc Beneteau / Lifestyle Design School — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:58:31 +0000

Interesting article and posts.
Since Timothy Ferriss’ best-selling “4 hour work-week”, the term “lifestyle design” is generally referenced in relation to Tim’s book. However, the concepts and ideas go back at least 30 years, to Richard Nelson Bolles and “What color is your parachute”. I talk about this extensively on my site, http://lifestyledesignschool.com, and also want to reference Clay Collin’s excellent blog The Growing Life (http://thegrowinglife.com) that inspired my own writings in this area.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:23:19 +0000

I feel as though I am going through a lifestyle design transition. My husband and I leave on September 30th to backpack to various countries around the world for a year or so. What do you think?

As we have been planning for our adventure we have been updating a blog. http://www.nomadbackpackers.com We would love to have other opinions, ideas, encouragement, advice, helpful tips, and more left as comments.

Thanks,
Natalie

By: Mcgill

Mcgill — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:32:58 +0000

As a member of first world society, My philosophy is simple, I believe that the jobs you offer should both inspire & excite me. It should be designed & crafted to add life to my domestic life & give me years of pleasure and I should never get the feeling that comes with being *employeed* under a lousy boss. As long as you can provide people like me with such jobs, we are all happy and we’ll continue to add to the country’s economy

By: Grant

Grant — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:18:44 +0000

Steve, I love this comparative point (that even those who live modestly live well) and it begs an anthropological response: why is it that we don’t feel this to be true, why does stigma still attach. Less stigma, to be sure, but we dont seem to be able to escape the evaluative frame that (now and only now) finds us wanting. This would be a very good reason for living like someone from 1958. It would signal the viewer that you wish to be judged by that standard and by that standard you are, we are, a very wealthy man indeed. Anthropological ruminations only. Thanks, Grant

Jason, Revolutionary but not a full circle. Thanks, Grant

Acad Ronin, thanks, point taken, this must be so or the creative professions could not sustain themselves, or, eventually, got on the business of lifestyle design! Thanks, Grant

By: Acad Ronin

Acad Ronin — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 16:28:35 +0000

Employment is low in manufacturing precisely because of increasing productivity. Note, employment in agriculture in the US went from almost 100% to the present 3% precisely because productivity increased. Productivity improvements are gains against nature. We are doing more with less. This frees up people to do other things, ie services, and gives us the income to afford them.

By: Jason Spalding

Jason Spalding — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 13:34:31 +0000

Riots are nothing new in France in 1789, when a Parisian crowd was demonstrating furiously in front of his palace, King Louis XVI asked, “Is it a riot?” and was answered, “No Sir, it is a revolution.’’

By: steve

steve — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:28:27 +0000

I think the economics are wrong. Productivity improvements for goods with low elasticity of demand will reduce employment for those goods. That’s why manufacturing employment is falling–you can’t sell 10% more steel when you cut its labor requirements by 10% (and cut its cost by less than 10%).

But the question of overall unemployemnt and job creation, across all possible markets, doesn’t depend on productivity growth. Even with specialization, people can work on new things as old things employ fewer hands. How easy this is depends on a bunch of factors about the fluidity of the labor market, characteristics of the worker, and the expansiveness of macropolicy (e.g. interest rates).

There is an interesting question about the possibilities of living a decent material life without having to work all the time. If you want to live as well as a middle-class person thirty years ago, you can move to a place without crazy real estate prices and get by on very little income. Of course, your relative position in the income distribution today will be much lower, but in terms of absolute material consumption, your food, shelter, entertainment, clothing, etc. can be as good or better than in 1976 without a traditional job.

Will we see some sort of migration to this lifestyle from people who feel overwhelmed by the acrobatics necessary to stay current as full-time producers in an increasingly dynamic economy? And if so, could we sell these people lifestyle design as Grant proposes?

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 11:59:39 +0000

fouro, I wish it were my term, but I think it was invented by the incumbent. Best, Grant

M E-L, I give up, what about eating? Best, Grant

By: M E-L

M E-L — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 10:56:54 +0000

Um, what about eating?

By: fouro

fouro — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 10:16:14 +0000

Here, here, Grant. My examples are the feeble embryonic blindfold darts variety. The true heroic comes out of a subset of, maybe, newly liberated Millenials, the coming Digital Diogenes’ (-eses?)

Andrew, I remember it vaguely. My Great Uncle Harry and Auntie Nellie, products of that generation. Big things were quietly talked about. A holiday to “the continent” was eeked out without fail. The Sunday chicken was Wednesday’s soup, but served on lace at a leisurely pace, in Harry’s garden. Gentel poverty is a marvelous term.