Did you ever think there was a better, different way to live? Did you ever think, “Maybe I don’t have to go to a job and work 40+ hours a week, feel exhausted, wish for more time for myself or my family, and wonder when the fun stuff begins?” If so, get ready: your life’s about to change.

When I was a little girl, I woke up every morning with the sun. I opened my eyes, heard birds chirping outside my window, and smiled, thinking about the adventures of the coming day. Fast forward to my last corporate job, when I woke up with the alarm clock, slammed my hand down on the snooze button and laid in bed, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, thinking about the eight hours I was about to spend working under fluorescent lights, in a small cubicle, so my boss could take credit for my work and someone else could profit.

Why do we do this to ourselves? When I look back on the time I spent in Corporate America, I realize that I didn’t know any better. Despite the entrepreneurial spirit I’ve felt through my entire life, there was a period of time when it simply didn’t occur to me that my life belonged to me and I didn’t have to live according to the narrow path that had been defined for me.

It took carpal tunnel syndrome and an inflexible corporate environment for me to realize that I desperately needed a change. And that’s what it took to remind me of the philosophy my dad taught me as a little girl, something I’d long forgotten: that work is what makes the rest of your life possible.

From this perspective, “work” takes on substantially less meaning, while “life” takes center stage. I like this because it reminds me where my priorities lie. I’d much rather my tombstone read, “She truly lived,” than “She worked a lot.”

It’s easy to say “work makes the rest of my life possible,” but how does it look in real life, and how do you put this into play in your own life? How it looks in real life:

I wake up each morning, knowing that the day belongs to me. I have a schedule, but I’m not beholden to a boss or supervisor who will dock my pay or fire me if I decide the schedule doesn’t suit my mood that day. One of my priorities is my health and physical well-being, so most mornings I start my day off with a workout at the gym. Since my day is my own, I can work out without rushing, and that allows me to get to know the other members of my gym, which means it’s a social event as well.

Then, depending on the day and what I’ve committed to, I may work with clients, do some writing for my blog, e-zine, the book I’m working on, or the other sites I write for, or read one of the several books I’m into at any given moment. Aside from scheduled meetings with clients and deadlines, I do what suits my mood the best - if I’m struggling for inspiration for my articles, I spend more time reading. If I’m in the mood to bake bread with my husband, I do. And I’ve structured my businesses so that if I want to get on a plane and fly to South America, England, or New Orleans for a weekend or a month, I can do it without a second thought and my income doesn’t change a bit.

The point is, no day is completely consumed by work, it’s all flexible, and everything I do for “work” is something that I enjoy doing. If I don’t enjoy it, I either don’t do it or I find someone who does and I outsource that work to them.

When I speak to groups, I’m often asked, “How many hours a week do you work?” Sure, just like Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, some weeks I only work four hours. But if I’m working on a book or one of my one-on-one clients is launching his/her business, I work at least forty. Those are the extremes: most weeks I stay somewhere in the twenty to twenty five hour range. But I can tell you this: I wake up with the sun and the birds chirping, just like I did when I was a little girl. I always wake up smiling, and I love what I do.

But I’m not that different from you. I’m not overly lucky and nothing that special has happened that made this possible for me. Virtually anyone can do this. So how can you incorporate this into your own life?

The mindset comes first. You have to take responsibility for your life and know that it is yours to live in whatever way that you want. Think this is easy? It’s not. This can be one of the scariest things you’ll ever do. But as Seth Godin recently wrote, “the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.” So take a risk and believe that your life belongs to you.

Second, figure out your priorities and your goals. What’s most important to you? Are there things you want to do, places you want to see? Maybe you just want more quality time with your family, or want more time to relax- that’s okay. The point is to figure out what’s most important to you.

Third, design a business to suit your lifestyle goals. This is the most challenging aspect of applying this philosophy, because it requires some extra knowledge- what opportunities are out there, how to repurpose what you already know and/or do, how to brand yourself and market your business. There is no one-size-fits-all solution- a business model that works for one person may not be suited to another. Your best bet, the easiest and fastest way to accomplish this, is to work with someone who has successfully made the transition themselves, who knows the opportunities out there, can help you figure out what suits you best, help you put it all together and show you the ropes.

Finally, be prepared to work to get to the point of living the dream. I’m not going to lie to you. It rarely happens overnight. Some of my clients have transitioned into this lifestyle (what I call the “Business in Blue Jeans lifestyle”) within a month or two, while others have taken a bit longer. Some of it depends on the industry you’re in and some depends on what you’re willing to put into it and how focused you are. Because the fact is, even though you aren’t working as much or as hard as before, in this lifestyle, when you are working, you need to be really focused.

Ultimately, the bottom line is that when you’re working for a life that you’ve designed, when you love what you’re doing and when you know that you aren’t just putting in the time, everything changes. Change the way you view work, and you’ll completely change your life.

你是否想过有一种不同的生活方式会让你过得更好？

你是否想过“也许我不必每周工作40多个小时至不知乐趣何在，还要筋疲力尽地祈求有更多时间给自己和家人”？

如果你想过，那就做好准备吧！你的生活将要被改变。

当我还是个小女孩的时候，每天早晨我都在阳光里醒来，睁开双眼，听鸟儿在我窗外啁啾而鸣，边微笑边幻想着接下来一天的奇妙旅程。可快进到我最后一段打工时光看看：每天早晨我都在闹铃声中醒来，狠狠地拍停闹钟后复又躺回床上，感受着胃孔里的恐惧感觉，盘算着我将在小房间里荧光灯下度过的八小时----让我获得老板的良好评价让别人获益的八小时。

为何我们要这样对待自己？当我回望自己在美国企业中度过的时光，我发现我那时其实不知所谓。除去那种贯穿我全部生活的企业家精神，曾有一段时期，我完全感觉不到我的生活是属于我的，我只觉得我要在别人为我规划好的狭窄道路上前行。

后来，腕管综合症和死气沉沉的企业环境终于让我意识到：我迫切需要改变。也是在那时，某个我遗忘了好长一段时间的人生哲理重又浮现在我的脑海里，那是我小时候父亲教给我的哲理：工作，不过是一样满足你生活其余部分的事情。

从这种角度看来，“工作”不再那么意义重大，“生活”才是重心所在。我欣赏这句话，全因它让我知道什么才是对我最重要的，我宁愿我的墓碑上写着“她曾好好活过”，也不要写着“她勤奋工作过”。

说一句“工作只是满足我生活其余部分”很容易，可在现实生活中我们该如何看待工作呢？又该如何在自己的生活中实践这个哲理呢？

在现实生活中该如何看待工作？

现在，每天早晨醒来，我都知道这一天是属于我的，我会安排好我的工作，但对于我的老板或者主管（在我自认某天的情绪不宜按照安排工作时，他们可是能扣减我的薪水或者把我炒掉的人），我不会感激涕零。对我来说，身体健康是一大要事，所以我的日子大多会始于健身房里的晨练。既然日子都是我的，我可以从容安排每天，得以认识一下健身房里的其他人（这意味着健身也是一项社会活动）。

然后，视乎那天的状况和我原本的打算，我可能会见顾客，也可能给自己的博客、电子杂志、未完成的书或者其他向我约稿的网站写点什么，或者随时翻看一下最近正在看的书。除了预先安排好期限的顾客会议之外，我只做些最吻合当下心情的事：要是我正苦于没有写作灵感，我会花多些时间看书；要是我想和我先生一起烤个面包，那我就去烤面包。由于我已经把自己的事情安排好，所以，当我想坐飞机去南非、英国或者新奥尔良度个周末或者住上一个月的时候，我可以不加思索就走，而同时我的收入不受任何影响。

关键在于，我没有一天是全部耗费在工作上的，我灵活安排；而我做的所谓“工作”都是些我喜欢的事情，如果我不喜欢做某些事情，我要么不做，要么就把它们外包给喜欢做这些事情的人。

当我给人们做演讲时，我经常会问，“你们每周工作多少小时？”，当然了，像《每周工作4小时》的作者阿添那样，有时我也会每周工作4小时；可一旦我要写书，或者我某位需要一对一服务的客户要推行他的业务时，我每周至少工作40小时。这些都是极端情况，大多数时候，我大约每周工作20到25小时。不过我可以告诉你，一如当年，现在我每天都在阳光鸟语中醒来，总是笑着醒来并且热爱我所做的一切。

其实你和我并无太多不同。我并非特别幸运，也没有发生什么特别的事情让我过上这种生活，事实上，每个人都可以过上这种生活。

如何在自己的生活中实践这个哲理？

首先，心态最重要。你必须对自己的生活负责，并且明白，过上你想要的生活是你的责任。是不是觉得这很容易？其实不是，这可能是你做过的事情中最令你不安的一件。不过就像塞斯·戈丁最近写的：保守前行才是最冒险的事。所以呢，冒一下险吧！相信你的生活在你手里吧！

其次，明确事情的优先级、定好你的目标。什么对你最重要？有没有什么是你想做的？有没有哪里是你想去的？也许你只是想要多些和家人在一起的美好时光，或者只是想放松一下，都没问题，关键在于，找出对你而言最重要的事情。

再次，设计一种和你的生活目标相配的工作。这是整个实践中最富挑战性的一环，因为它需要一些额外的见识----例如你要了解现在有些什么机会、要如何修正已有的知识、要怎样宣传推广你和你的业务。没有万能的解决方案，适合这个人的模式未必适合另一个人。你最好的选择就是找一个已经成功转变的人来合作，这个人知道机会在哪里、能够帮你找出最适合你的模式并且能够从千丝万缕中理出头绪，这就是最简单的捷径。

最后，准备好为实现梦想而工作。我不会骗你说这能在一夜之间发生。我有些顾客用了一到两个月时间过上这种“穿牛仔裤工作”的生活方式，有些则用了更长的时间。这既取决于你所在的行业，也取决于你愿意向其投入什么以及你能有多专注。因为事实是，尽管你不必再像从前那样费力费心工作，在这种生活方式里，当你要工作的时候，你还是要足够专注的。

归根结底，当你为自己所设计的生活而工作、热爱你所做的事情、明白你不是在耗费光阴时，一切都变了！改变你对工作的看法，也就彻底改变了你的生活。