A Childhood Dream Come True — Kinda

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When I was growing up, I wanted to be an interior designer. (I also wanted to be a rock star or a DJ, but that’s a story for another time.)

I loved how differently a room could feel with a simple rearrangement of furniture, a new piece of art on the wall, or the right colors given the way natural light entered the room. I’d often make changes in my bedroom and feel totally invigorated.

I once covered my ceiling in pictures of Duran Duran (I was OBSESSED with Simon LeBon) that I had torn out of teen magazines like Bop and Teen Beat (remember those?!)  I felt so cool looking up at the pictures as I laid in my bed. Much more creative than hanging them on the wall, if I do say so myself.

While my interior design career never came to fruition, what I do today actually isn’t too far off.

I’m a lifestyle designer of sorts. Applying similar principles of interior design, I help clients, students, and members reprioritize and rearrange their projects, relationships, and thinking to better fit the life they want.

Like a room in your home, small tweaks can have a huge impact. For example, learning to pause before answering any kind of request decreases the likelihood of you saying “yes” when you really meant “no.”

Or identifying when your zone of productivity is during the day and doing your most creative or important tasks then. (Instead of trying to be a morning person when you’re not, and then beating yourself up for not being productive).

Or rearranging your mindset from believing you have to do it all yourself to actually asking for help from the right people.

I distinctly remember a client of mine from years ago, Diane. She and her husband were becoming digital nomads and she was a bit stressed about ending up someplace and not liking it. Having booked several Airbnbs in advance, what would they do if they were miserable?

“Um, you’d leave early and head somewhere else,” I said.

There was a long pause in our chat.

“Oh my gosh, we could just leave,” Diane exclaimed.” Of course! I never even considered that.”

Sounds obvious, right? But for Diane, giving herself permission to change her mind was something she wrestled with often.

And change their minds they did. Several times, in fact, during their 16 months of travel.

Diane said she felt like such a badass and so powerful from not tying herself to a decision.

It’s permission she still taps into today and her life has taken some unexpected and awesome turns as a result.

So while I may not be redesigning rooms, I’m pretty darn happy redesigning lives. It’s so cool to see the ah-ha moments on my clients’ faces as they realize they have a lot more options than they thought.

I guess you just never know where your childhood dreams are going to take you. Don’t give up on them just because they may manifest differently than you had planned. I’m glad I didn’t!

So I’m curious — What did you want to be when you were little? And does it relate to your life today? I’d love to know! Comment below to share.

P.S. If you’d like to do some redesigning of your own, check out my self-paced course Design Your Dream Life. In it you will get clear on where you want to take your life, come up with a solid action plan to make it happen, and worth through any tendencies to delay or avoid progress. It’s pretty powerful I must say! Click here for more information.