Here is a selection of frequently asked questions from our customers. If you have any questions regarding Design for Life or LifeDesign™, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
Who’s it targeted at?
Absolutely anyone can use LifeDesign™. Many readers of Design for Life been young or old, male and female, professionals and workers. Success is not about education or experience – it is about attitude and technique – Design for Life has helped people of all ages. It has been very popular with Graduates – who value it in terms of helping them sort out their thinking at a critical period in their lives. It has helped me for the last 25 years. I am now 65 and still use the techniques. It is never too late and it’s never too early.
I don’t know anyone who has a Life Plan – why would you want one?
It’s true. Very few people actively plan their lives. They plan careers, businesses, weddings and funerals but it rarely enters their heads that planning techniques could help them sort out their life. There are very few people who have written goals (and even those who have goals them generally don’t achieve them). But I can tell you from direct experience that a Life Design can help make a real difference to the way you progress in life. A plan with a strong vision and SMART goals fuels better choices, decisions and actions. And that delivers results.
How can you convince me that it will work for me?
Just read the feedback from people who have used it. Even those who are sceptical at the beginning quickly see how it is helping them and that encourages them to invest more effort in it, which delivers more results. It is a virtuous circle. Of course you will find cynics who say that the only people who profit from self-help books are the people who write them. That is insulting. If you believe it you have to also believe that its not possible to learn any subject – life planning is no different from history. I have learned a huge amount from self-help and in my experience thousands of people derive benefit. The arguments against it seem extremely weak – if you can learn something valuable about hundreds of other subjects why can’t you learn something valuable about self-development techniques?
I don’t believe you can do it – life is too complex to plan. You can’t plan a life like you can plan a business can you?
Actually, you can. I have been doing it for the last 25 years and it has worked for me. Design for Life readers have been using LifeDesign™ for the last 8 years and it has worked for them. Just look at their feedback.
How long does it take?
I orginally chose 90 days as the target. Not 90 full days! It will take you a couple of hours to read the introductory text and somewhere between six and eight hours to complete all the Tools/exercises. That will deliver you a detailed personal life plan that will help you navigate life for months, perhaps even years. The diary section can be completed in a few minutes each day. However, the amount of time you give it depends entirely upon you. In my opinion the more effort you put in the greater the rewards will be. Remember you could spend a lifetime enjoying the results of a few hours effort! It seems to me that investing less than a couple of days in total designing the rest of your life is not a great commitment given what is at stake.
What if it doesn’t work?
It will work if you give it the time and effort, but if it doesn’t, all you will have lost will be £19.95 (or £9.95 if you got Design for Life Lite) and a few hours of effort. After all you could have been doing something more useful – like watching TV or eating donuts.
What are your qualifications for writing Design for Life?
I have been a user of self-help books and techniques for over 25 years and I have used all of the techniques I recommend in Design for Life to positive effect. I use many of the tools in my professional life in my two companies: The Insight Works Ltd and The Innovation School Ltd. Using these techniques has helped me arrive at exactly where I want to be in terms of work life balance. I am wealthier, more satisfied with work, I have everything material that I want. Writing and publishing Design for Life was itself a life ambition fulfilled.
Design for Life also reflects a big lesson I have learned – I like challenges – if people declare that something is difficult or too hard or impossible then I get interested. I grappling with life planning I have taught myself how to get results in trying circumstances by marshalling the creativity, innovation and problem solving techniques which I advocate in Design for Life.
Isn’t it better to let it all happen? Surely life is all about fate – what will be, will be.
My view is that it is far better to have a plan and exert control in your life rather than being pushed around by circumstances and people. Failing to plan is planning to fail. You can choose to take what life gives you or you can choose to make the most out of your life. Doing nothing is a choice but it won’t get you very far.
What inspired you to write Design for Life?
Reading and using dozens of other self-help books over a period of 20 years and finding them useful, but also finding they didn’t help me with everything I encountered. Understanding that self-help techniques can help transform lives, but also appreciating that many people are skeptical about them. Learning about the latest thinking in relation to “pure” coaching – that is, a great coach does not need to be a great player – just great at making someone a great player. Also that self-coaching was a possibility. Thinking that lots of people might like to have a life coach, but some couldn’t afford one or would prefer to work on their own lives in private.
Why does Design for Life add to the Genre?
Design for Life helps readers recognise they are probably doing far less than they could do in terms of managing their lives. Many people say they are unhappy at work, want to be wealthier, improve their relationships or whatever, but don’t know where to start – Design for Life™ provides that. No other product of this sort exists. It meets peoples needs in a different and very personal way, unlike any book and different from an ordinary diary. Many self-help books recommend that readers buy a notebook in order to do their exercises and of course you don’t read that until you sit down with the book. That can be very frustrating. Design for Life plugs that gap.
The fact that there are often no templates for the self-help exercises in books also means that you have to do the extra work in exploiting the books advice – which you might get wrong. Also some of us don’t like writing in our books! So, Design for Life has the strength of it all being in the one place. It does what it says on the tin. When you have all your own analysis in one place you can go back over it and see how far you have progressed.
Finally, Design for Life is built on the premise of one of the best things in life coaching – that is, the solutions to personal problems are all within your own power – use your head!
Who is a good example of having a great LifeDesign™?
Aah that is just the point – we are all individuals – what we define as a great life differs enormously. Some people want fame or wealth, others want a spiritual path, others want particular material things – some want better health or to be more attractive or have better relationships or be better parents. Design for Life helps you decide what you want and why and encourages you to go for it. Don’t live the life that your parents wanted for you or your family or the media – understand what you really want and find ways to do more of it.
Have you done the Tools/exercises yourself?
Yes, every single one dozens of times! There is nothing in this book which I have not tried and proven myself and that has not been tested and used by other people.
What difference has it made?
My life is better balanced and I am doing what I want more of the time. I am wealthier, happier, sorted. The Design for Life analysis means that you do get revelations and sometimes you get wow! moments. But the most important thing is that you are giving time to thinking these things through, so you are much clearer about how you want your life to be, as a result you find your choices are easier and better informed and you put your energy where it counts.
Design for Life™ can’t stop the scary stuff – You will still face the big worrying decisions, but you will get better at doing that because you will have tools to help you think through what you should do.
£19.95 is a bit expensive
Design for Life is a beautifully designed 240 page A4 format book. The price includes UK postage and packing. It is competitively priced against all Amazon Hardbacks and it cost far less than employing a life or performance coach. You always have the option of purchasing the £9.99 Lite version too.