It's been almost 20 years since I realized I needed to actively DESIGN my life. In other words, if I was going to get the level of happiness and fulfillment that I wanted from life, I had to be very intentional about designing and creating that life. And that's why I designed “Ski Fridays” into my year…
Go get Michael Hyatt's book and all his extra bonuses at this link!
Lee Davis
Great video….I’m now inspired to go get a massage every Saturday. It is a little pleasure to look forward to after working hard all week. I call it JackShack Saturday. So now I get that massage with the “happy ending’ every week. It has totally changed my attitude. Thanks for the idea!!!
Jason Daly
This is a great point about life. Sometimes we work so hard and forget why we are doing it; to help others, to have a great lifestyle and actually have the time to enjoy it.
It is important to take a step back sometimes and to re-evaluate your life and to see whether you are on track or going off target.
I have been quite poor at this in the past but I am getting better!
Thanks Jeff!
Tom Rather
Hi Jeff.
What a great post. Living and working from Big Canoe.com, an 8000 acre gated community in North Georgia,
surrounded by beauty every day is a blessing. It is a reminder to savor what’s really important.
Thanks for the reminder.
Best,
Tom
Christine O'Leary
Hi Jeff, Great blog as usual! It came at a great time for me. I’ve been trying to get to work writing my first ecourse ever since PLF Live in Phoenix, Arizona in October last year. I was there and it was amazing! Somehow, life keeps getting in the way, but I’m now determined anew to design MY life and make it happen. I have ‘Walk on the Beach Mondays’ (I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia) which I schedule into my week, so I can relate to your Ski Fridays! Cheers, Chris
David McGlennen
I love this video and inspiration to create the life we want. So many entrepreneurs, me included, think that life is all about crazy hours and just working. I’d seen Michael’s book and have been a huge fan so now I’m going to get it.
Kerryn Wayow
HI Jeff,
My business is in “viable” mode, so no skiing for me 🙁 However, with all your advice and tools, one day soon 🙂 Thanks for all the videos, I try and implement all the nuggets of advice and wisdom.
Lance Morgan
This really hits home. I grew up skiing at least once or twice a week. It’s my favorite thing to do. Unfortunately life got the best of me and I stopped going once we started having kids. I have 4 girls and a new baby boy. My two oldest (13 and 10) have never been skiing until this year. I couldn’t believe I had never taken them skiing but I have been in survival mode for so many years that the years just flew by. This year I decided to change and get more intentional with my life. I have enjoyed many Saturdays skiing with my girls and loving every minute of it. Now I’m going to start Ski Friday’s for myself to get up there and do what I love doing. Thanks Jeff!!!
Bill
Jeff, great post and timely, thank you. The law of diminishing intent: the longer you wait, the lower the probability, Tony Robbins, that’s a gem and one I just added to my arsenal. I will get the book, and thank you so much for all you do. I know you pride yourself by adding value, and you really do. That’s why I always try to stop and watch your videos. You da man!
Tom Lucas
Hi Jeff, thanks for your reminder: Ski-Fridays make so much sense. I used to do Beach-Friday, but Friday traffic can be a nightmare here in the UK so I do Beach-Monday whenever possible, while everyone is hunkered down doing ‘Monday Meetings’ ….
Keep up your fantastic work, Jeff, you are a real inspiration. I’m theoretically ‘retired’ twenty years but once upon a time I also met with Jim Rohn – we shared birthdays and he too was a real inspiration!
Bill
Jim Rohn? Wow, so lucky you, he was a jedi master!
Natalie Zacher
Thank you for the reminder that it is important to take time to smell the roses which is in a way, celebrating progress made so far. I am at a point where a baby step is all that I can manage right now but the point is to schedule in some fun; it makes the journey more fulfilling. I am getting better at this.
John Fealy
Great advice Jeff. Going to try and set aside some personal time for myself. Even if it as a few hours a week it may help relieve some stress. You are an insperation to so many. Thanks for being you.
Mary McLean
Just moved to Europe so I could ski! hahaha…
…and, yup, I haven’t gone yet.
So am on a local website now, looking for an area near me so I can go ski every week!
Thanks for the reminder.
Anna Gatmon
Thanks Jeff. Perfect timing for me, as I am about to launch my new business in a few months… an important reminder to design it to fit my needs and lifestyle, so that I can be at my best when I show up. I enjoy your weekly videos. Keep sending them.
Josh Patrick
I’ve been doing this for years. It really is about designing and not just creating a great life. Start with design, then you can create. Starting with just creating doesn’t work especially well. I do the same for biking in the summer. Both are pretty meditative activities.
Pete
It’s interesting how you and Michael and other of your successful friends are trying to plant the seeds of maturity in the garden of youth. I love how you keep referring to “Impact”. A surgeon in Chicago was written up in a recent Rotary Magazine for retiring from surgery at a normal retirement age and going to seminary so he can travel the world to make an impact. Article was titled ” From Success to Significance”. That’s what I see you folks attempting to teach. Bless you for it. Maybe I’ll meet you someday so I can thank you personally. Meanwhile, back to your book, “Launch”.
Brent
Good reminder Jeff. As a ski enthusiast too, I envy your ski fridays. I do concur that unless you put something on your calendar and protect it, then it won’t likely happen. For me right now, it’s ballroom dancing tuesday with my daughter :-). I pre-ordered Michael Hyatt’s book this book. I look forward to receiving it in the mail from amazon. I am also looking forward to PLF Live 2016!
Thanks,
Brent
Jeff Walker
@Brent: ballroom dancing with your daughter… awesome!
Mark
So right. So easy to get busy creating that cash flow and forgetting what drove me to get into that groove originally. Always found travelling to conferences was the best time to come up with new ideas and insights. But beyond that simple insight it would be even better to have that ideal life that I am aiming at to really live this brief time I am oaths planet.
Theresa "T" from Boulder, CO
Hi Jeff – It feels important to me to make conscious choices about one’s life and to set aside time that is enjoyable regardless — indeed, perhaps in spite of — whether one is enjoying business success or not. I make very intentional decisions and do, in fact, design my life outside of the “norm,” of many women that i encounter in my particular life circumstances. The clock-punching 9-5 absolutely does not work for me as an older single mom and survivor of “the big C.” I have consequently had to “take a hit” monetarily in some ways, but what I’ve gained has been priceless in terms of the freedom of designing a life that is the healthiest for me, still being able to pay bills while still having the time to set dreams in motion (because the goal is not to just live hand-to-mouth and pay the bills!), live what has been coined the “new normal” after cancer, and be a present, vibrant, and available parent to my son. It’s meant carving out those blocks of time, including cutting back my hours somewhat. I may not be skiing on Fridays, but I relish my workout and meditation time. I’m grateful to have fashioned a flexible schedule that helps me juggle work, parenting and necessary time for myself. It almost feels like I’m playing hooky with my Mondays off — although I use the word “off” here very lightly! I work hard at work that I love, and I know that as I move toward my goals and “live forward,” I’m also very much enjoying the present and living in my right range. There is quite a work ethic ingrained in many of us, especially business-minded, entrepreneurial types. I think it’s equally important to strive to discover how to achieve goals while still enjoying the present. I think it’s very doable to feed one’s soul and enjoy the moment while still reaching for those business goals. I bet I’m sounding really “Boulder” right now ;-D By the way, I love the down-to-earth authenticity and accesssiblity that I always see in your videos: Almost dropping the book, speaking very naturally. IMHO, it lends you a credibility that more scripted video does not. They still come across as professional and polished, but not so much so as to be off-putting. I also watched the video on the bicycle give-away. Heartwarming!
Chris Mentzel
Very true! I moved to Maui after selling my business in Berlin and have never looked back. But none of my friends made the escape from the daily grind, they stayed in Berlin and kept working. Building my business with PLF now, so time is more scarce, but nothing keeps me from doing long beach walks.
Josè
Thank you from Italy, Jeff! 🙂
Paul Mitchell,Sydney.
Every year since 2006 my wife and I have had a “years into weeks plan”.
What we do is plan upfront the same # of weeks holiday to match the year we are in ,and yet keep up the same income.
For example 2010 ,ten weeks off and now 2016,16 weeks off.
So our relative income is actually higher and our lifestyle dramatically awesome.
And we just came back from a weeks Skiing in Hakuba,Nagano ,Japan.( that’s 7 Friday’s Jeff)
Cheers Mitch.
Tobin Leopkey
How about ski… everyday?
Misty
Thanks Jeff! I have been doing Trekking Thursday’s. Sometimes cross country skiing and sometimes hiking. It has made a world of difference in how I feel about doing my work. Creating my life!
Petra Meffert
Thank you for recommending the book. I thought it could be interesting for my Playing the Matrix Group on Facebook. On impulse a few of us decided to read it together. Great idea! Unfortunately in Austria I will not receive the book until end of March. So I hope my friends will wait for me- or I will have to buy the e-book, too. 🙂
ken ca|houn
Good idea to schedule time off – I do saxophone sundays, playing classic jazz…
Cedric
Hi,
I just discover skiing this year and I unerstand why you enjoy this time so much,
It’s part of my new lifestyle,
Cheers
Saad Aldousari
You inspire me everyday. Thank you Jeff.
Saad from Kuwait
Cleveland Gardner
Hey Jeff,
I just went on Amazon Kindle and purchaced Michael Hyatt’s book. Thank you for the reccomendation, I am looking forward to reading it. Also your video rang true for me as we returned yesterday from a trip to Tahoe. We Skiied at Mt Rose and Squaw Valley for four amazing days. Judith my new bride, (We got married Feb 14th, 2016), live in Santa Fe NM and we embrace the idea that, today is the best day of our lives, phylosophy. I retired at 52 ,( Sales Rep back east ), she is a Sothebys broker here. I am a writer now. Life is good . Love your stuff! Thanks Cleveland
Elaine Danforth
Jeff, i knew I had to look at your video when I saw the subject line to the e-mail. I was just back from a one day ski trip when I saw it, and made a mental note I had to watch the video.
Wonderful! I have been having a great ski season, and crave more. I have not started my business yet, but am hoping it will open up possibilities for a life design that includes much more skiing. For me, it’s a 4 hour drive each way, and so the trick will be to figure out how to live up in or nearer the snow country, at least during ski season. Thank you for the inspiration and joyful example of what is possible when you decide where you’re going, and what road you have to take to get there.
Morgan Roberts
We ski weekly on Wednesdays! It is priceless for our business as well. We get more done in that day than most days behind the computer screen. Living in Colorado as well it is amazing to ski during the week instead of the weekend with the masses. I love that this business can give me that opportunity and gift. Thanks Jeff!
Jen
Hi Jeff,
Good, genuine advice as always. Thank you. I used to work the ski fields in Austria and Australia, so love the freedom skiing brings.
Now with my business I work 70 hour weeks – BUT take 8 weeks holidays a year to travel with my family and play beach volleyball. So, it’s a sort of all or nothing. But deliberately planned. Life balance comes in a lot of different way. I love the mantra ‘create a life’.