If you don’t know who Jonathan Mead is, you’re missing out. Jonathan is the man behind Illuminated Mind, a killer lifestyle design blog that encourages you to live on your own terms. That means making the choices and decisions that are going to make you happy. On a personal note, Jonathan is also the wonderful man who mentioned The Practical Nerd on Zen Habits, bringing this site its biggest traffic weekend to date. After that post, Jonathan sent me a preview copy of his current ebook, Reclaim Your Dreams – An Uncommon Guide to Living on Your Own Terms for review. I spent some time reading it, and here’s my response:

It’s easy for a lot of people to talk about what they want out of life, but it’s another beast entirely to actually do it. Instead, people enjoy sitting around talking about how their lives would be different if [insert random good thing that they want to happen to them]. But what they fail to realize is that the good things that happen to people occur because they take charge and do it, they don’t wait for it to happen to them automatically.

Jonathan, who is a life coach, uses Reclaim Your Dreams to show you the step-by-step process it takes to grab life and make it work the way you want it to.

#1 – It takes a deliberate, gradual pace.

A lot of people approach lifestyle design as if it happens overnight – “hey, if I do this and this, I’ll be happier!” It doesn’t always work like that, unfortunately. It takes time to establish your new life and grow it to a point that you will be happy. Patience is definitely a virtue. Jonathan takes the patience approach with Reclaim Your Dreams. Part 1 is all about breaking down the conventions of your mind.

One great term he uses is the “domestication of you”: when you are young, your parents and others teach you how to develop physically, but as you get older, they start to influence how you act and think, and even what you believe. In this way, it limits how you develop and what you believe you can do. You doubt your dreams, he says, and that is the biggest danger of all.

After breaking down your mental domestication, he then works on what he calls “manifestation”: making your dreams a reality. Part 2 covers this in great detail, allowing you to define your dreams and your values. He encourages you to decide what’s important for you first, and then helps you use those definitions to craft your life.

His “3 Keys To Making Your Dreams Happen” section (not to be confused with The Practical Nerd’s 3 Keys To Happiness – see the sidebar for more!) makes it crystal clear. These are the 3 things you need to do to start living on your own terms. It’s easy to digest, and ultimately, it’s even more useful for the average reader.

#2 – It’s also a workbook.

At the end of each section, there’s an exercise that he encourages you to do. Many books out there give you all the advice in the world – and then they stop there. It’s up to you to come up with the application. Jonathan includes specific steps for you to spend your time on that help you achieve your goals. It’s a great way to engage the reader by keeping you involved with the process as it unfolds.

#3 – He makes no grand promises.

In his conclusion, Jonathan freely admits that you may never reach your goal. But, he points out the real reason why you should be doing it: the journey. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and truly pursuing something that you want is one of the best joys in life. You learn more about yourself and you will, regardless of the outcome, give yourself a better, fuller, and more meaningful life as a result. There’s no such thing as a perfect life, and there’s certainly no such thing as a magic step to get you there. But the work that it takes to try is what makes life worth living.

In conclusion, this is great stuff. It’s detailed, and it really empowers you to make the changes you need to make in your life, even if you are a little scared to do so. Highly recommended.

Find Jonathan’s ebook at Illuminated Mind.

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