We talk a lot about Life Design here at Breverie, but what is Life Design? What is the concept of Life Design, and how can you apply it to your own life?
To begin this conversation, let’s break down the word design.
There are two reasons I love the word design, especially as it relates to your life.
- To design something means to plan or do something with purpose or intention. It is not something that happens by accident.
- To design something is also about visualization. You have to be able to visualize something that you can comprehend and see in your own mind to be able to bring it into reality.
For me, Life Design means I can visualize it. I can look at it, refer to it, and bring it into being with purpose or intention.
So now, let’s talk about what that purpose really is.
WHAT IS LIFE DESIGN, AND HOW DO I FIGURE OUT MY PURPOSE?
What is life design and the purpose or goal you are designing your life around?
I’m not sure about you, but I want to achieve a lot of things in my life.
I barely scratch the surface of where I want to be as a business owner, a parent, and myself.
I don’t want to choose one part of my life over another.
I don’t want to feel guilty as a mother for dedicating time to my business or feel like my business is going to fall apart when I’m off the clock with my family.
It’s ok if you want to have it all.
Let’s normalize wanting to have it all without the guilt.
The takeaway when figuring out your purpose?
You can have it all!
You don’t have to compromise your professional life for your personal life or vice versa.
Life Design is a system that helps you achieve your goals and purpose.
The Four Essentials Of Thriving In Life
Let’s see what those four essential Life Design principles are.
THRIVING IN LIFE TIP #1: BALANCE
A thriving life is all about balance. You have to balance all these different parts of your life successfully.
How do you achieve balance?
By KNOWING what those parts are. You have to see the complexity of your life and assign value to each of those areas.
Do you thrive in all areas of your life, or are you neglecting specific areas?
Balancing it all means thriving in all areas that matter to you without feeling guilty.
To balance your life, you have to set priorities.
Because, honestly, you can’t do many things at once. If you’re spending time with your family, you aren’t working. If you’re working, you aren’t spending time with your family.
Many people try to do everything at once, but that’s not a good idea.
To achieve your best results, you need to focus on one thing at a time and be ok with whatever you aren’t spending time on at that moment.
THRIVING IN LIFE TIP #2: SUSTAIN
Whatever you’re doing, you want to ensure you can sustain it for an extended amount of time without burning out.
Many of us focus so much on achieving our to-do list, and we put so much pressure on ourselves that we forget to rest.
We work ourselves to death and then spend hours and months in therapy trying to recover from burnout, and you don’t want that.
You need to know how and when to recharge.
You need to know when your cup is empty and how to stop, take the time you need to recharge, and then get back to it when you’re re-energized.
An essential for a thriving life is a sustainable system.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself first without feeling guilty.
Helping yourself first isn’t selfish. It is the only right way to live your life.
THRIVING IN LIFE TIP #3: ENJOY
Live your life in such a way that you can enjoy it today.
None of us knows how much time we have left on this planet.
We’re working on big dreams and goals, yet our life is happening right here in front of us.
Don’t miss out on it looking too far into the future!
Whenever you feel too fixated on some end result, or like you’re waiting for your future to come, for summer to come, for that big break to come, you’re missing out on an opportunity to be living your life today.
THRIVING IN LIFE TIP #4: ELEVATE
As human beings, we are born to grow.
So what does Elevate mean when we ask ourselves, “What is Life Design?”
Elevate means:
- Figuring out what your core values are.
- Designing dreams and goals that align with your core values.
- Having the confidence and strength to pursue your dreams even when it’s scary.
Elevate is an essential component of thriving.
Why essential?
Because if you remove any of these four elements, you aren’t thriving anymore.
- If you’re struggling to balance everything, it’ll be hard to enjoy your life.
- If it’s not sustainable, you’ll burn out.
- If you don’t enjoy your life today, you likely won’t be able to achieve your goals and dreams later.
Growing, achieving goals, and expanding your life are where deep satisfaction and fulfillment come in.
All of these ingredients work together when you’re creating a truly thriving life for yourself.
And this is where Life Design comes in.
WHY IS LIFE DESIGN IMPORTANT?
Life Design is a system that helps you to achieve the four essentials of a thriving life.
I’ll be honest here. Throughout my life, I’ve had several periods where I realized I was missing one of these components.
Let’s look at these phases and tell me if you see yourself in them.
Phase 1: Living On Autopilot
The scenario: I had a successful career. I was married and had a daughter. From the outside, my life looked picture-perfect, but I wasn’t enjoying it.
For the first 29 to 30 years of my life, I was on autopilot. I wasn’t striving for anything.
I would wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, make dinner, and go to bed, just to do it all again.
And then, one day, I woke up and was ready to change my life.
I realized I wasn’t satisfied in my marriage, and I needed a change — something new.
So I got a divorce.
Then, the next phase began.
Phase 2: Looking For Myself
The scenario: I was on a quest to understand who I was and what I wanted from my life.
I moved in with my parents, and that itself crushed my balance because I had lost everything.
I wasn’t in control of my life.
I worked too much trying to hide from myself, and I was desperate for answers that I didn’t know how to find.
It took me two years to realize that the answers were inside myself rather than external.
So I decided to move from Ukraine to the United States.
That was the second biggest decision I had made in my life — moving to another country as a single mother.
This leads us into phase three.
Phase 3: Learning What It Means To Live
The scenario: I started to get curious about what life had to offer me.
Up until that point, I’d lived with my ex-husband or my parents. I’d never stopped to ask myself, “What do I want?”
Now, I was taking care of a child on my own, and I was completely responsible for our well-being.
Life was still challenging.
It wasn’t very sustainable trying to manage being a mom and working in a country where I didn’t know anyone.
But, for the first, I was enjoying my life, and I was growing as a person.
A year later, I met my husband, and the next phase of life started.
Phase 4: The Comfort Zone
The scenario: I was in a supportive relationship that was very fulfilling, and growth started to slip off my plate.
I found my comfort zone, where life felt safe and cozy, and I stopped growing.
But I needed that!
My life had been about expanding for the previous few years, and I needed to pause and really enjoy being in that comfort zone.
It’s ok to pause and relax into your comfort zone if you’ve been in survival mode or deep periods of growth.
And then 2020 hit. Everything shifted in the world.
I knew it was time for the next phase to start.
Phase 5: Challenge Accepted
The scenario: Something was growing in me, and I knew it was time to elevate my life by starting a business.
I call this period of my life Challenge Accepted.
No one in my circles had started a business, so I was jumping into new territory.
And I loved it (and still do)!
But I quickly learned I wasn’t living a sustainable and balanced life. I had two jobs, and it was no joke.
Phase 6: A Crisis Encourages Change
The scenario: Everything falls apart.
In December of last year, a crisis started to unfold.
I had decided to quit my full-time corporate job and make my business work.
I worked all day and night. I was irritable. I yelled at my daughter for no reason. My husband voiced his concerns.
So we decided to take a family vacation that turned into a nightmare.
Something at my work and my husband’s work blew up, and we worked when we should have been recharging.
I was the closest to burnout I’ve ever been. I wasn’t enjoying my life.
All of the four essentials of a thriving life had fallen apart.
So I decided it was time for a change.
I had to change the way I looked at my life completely.
And I did so, one issue by one until I started enjoying my life again.
I also developed this whole Life Design system, the path I’ve been on since March, called Living by Design.
Now, I can confidently say that I embody all four essentials of a thriving life.
I work full-time, run my business, parent my daughter, connect with my husband, and work out several times a week in a balanced and sustainable way!
LEARN TO APPLY THE LIFE DESIGN SYSTEM TO YOUR LIFE
Designing your Life Design System is only the first step in designing your ideal life.
To create a Life by Design, you need to first create a Life Map — a picture that represents all different areas of your life.
You set your goals, map them to your core values, and then make them actionable with short, mid, and long-term goals.
It’s not enough to only have a picture of your Life Map. You have to set your priorities, learn which goals to focus on, and how to uncover your strengths.
It’s an ongoing process.
Then, you need to start living it.
Which is where my mentorship program steps in to help you stay accountable every day.
The mentorship program includes:
- Access to a self-paced Live Design One-on-One course to give you the foundation of Life Design.
- Mastery. Participate in facilitated sessions, roundtables, and workshops where you can practice those course skills.
- Opportunities to coach and teach others because true mastery comes from teaching others.
- Accountability and encouragement to apply these principles in your own life.
Change will happen only when you can apply it to your own life. It all starts with self-awareness and self-acceptance.
“WHAT IS LIFE DESIGN?” JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
You may have seen yourself in some of those phases of my life, and that’s ok.
You don’t want to judge yourself. Instead, find acceptance for where you are in your journey, and take that knowledge to continue growing.
Because awareness and acceptance are the first steps.
This is just the beginning when we answer the question, “What is Life Design?” It’s an opportunity to take the trajectory of your life into your own hands. Stay tuned for more information about Life Design principles during this series.
If you have any questions, you can always reach out to me on Instagram. I can’t wait to support you on your journey.
Olena xx
