Introduction

Every single thing you do has an impact on how you turn out to be and how your future takes shape.

       

There are many who go through life without giving much thought on how they want themselves and their future to be. A majority of those who have thought about it, aren’t clear on how they could get there.

If you really want to, getting to where you want to from where you are right now shouldn’t be hard.

At all.

Especially if you have from some of the greatest achievers, philosophers and eminent thinkers who have walked this earth guiding you through the transition.

If you are looking at on-your-face guidelines about creating your life without circuitous and long ‘inspirational’ stories, you are at the right place.

How this book came to be

As designers, we love to create. It is our lifeblood.

As a Design Professional, the most challenging and significant project I could take on is to design a blueprint on how people could be creating lives they want to lead and choose to live in.

Let me backtrack…

I was invited to speak on ‘Creativity’ for a batch of college students back in 2014 by a colleague at Oracle. I asked him why he chose to ask me to speak? He said that he could not look beyond me in his contacts for the talk - I worked (and still do) in the creative field (I am a Design Professional, I enable people Design their lives as a ‘Designing Your Life’ certified coach & facilitator and teach design), have a MS Degree in Psychology (and a MS in Electrical Engineering as well). I had also published my first epistolary novel (And We Remained) by then.

I agreed to the talk – and the core of my talk centered around what creativity meant, the history of creativity, the value of creativity in organizations, how creativity is a core component of innovation and entrepreneurship, what it takes for an individual to be creative and how an individual could create the life he wants to lead.

I loved working on the content and all the work that went into the talk. I felt enriched and fulfilled after giving the talk. I got some feedback on how well the talk was received by the students.

Back at Oracle, I pitched for and started to conduct half-day bootcamps (workshops) on ‘Structuring Creativity’ for all freshers/ interns joining our unit every few months – each batch was anywhere between 80 to 120 students. I enjoyed these bootcamps so much, that I continued reading up on the topic, gathered relevant wisdom and ideas, and began to speak, teach and conduct workshops on this topic outside of Oracle as well.

I also started the 'Structuring Creativity Foundation' - a non-profit which provides Career Advice and Life Coaching for college students and recent college graduates looking to create a rewarding life and a fulfilling career through workshops and one-on-one coaching & counselling.

A part of the material which I have gathered over several years on this topic has culminated into this book.

Since the pandemic struck, I have been working from home. I save more than two hours on commute to and back from office every single day. I got a chance to read further which enabled me to gather more wisdom and ideas on this topic.

I then decided it was time to put the material together in the form of a book.

One reason I was determined to compile this book is that, there isn’t a single book which covers all the different ideas and wisdom which are needed to create the life which you want to lead. Some focus on thinking, some on confidence building, some on relationships, some on minimalism, but there isn’t one single book which covers everything as this one does.

Collating all the material together as a book has been a journey which has been both enlightening and satisfying.

I only wish I had such a book to refer to about twenty years ago.

How to get the most out of this book

This book is a set of guidelines (life-hacks) and wisdom recommended by several achievers and established thinkers to create who you want to be and create the future you want to be in.

Life-hacks in this context are recommended actions which you can implement immediately in your life as you live every day. Wisdom is more of long term – they are about knowing how things work in this world and for you to align yourself accordingly.

Though the sections have been organized in a logical way to make the most sense, you can start reading from anywhere. 

It is ‘Creating your life in 101 steps', because creating in this context is a continuous process and not something you do one day and let it be.

Let this book be your constant companion. Read it every day, even when you get just a few minutes to read (especially when you get just a few minutes to read), until you can consume and implement all the concepts presented in this book in your life. 

You will come across places where you will be asked to ‘introspect’ and to complete a series of ‘assimilations’ – take a few moments to do so and you will be benefited. Maintain a document of your introspections and the assimilations you complete for your reference and regularly revisit this document for clarity on the path you will be choosing.

I have also recommended books for different topics covered here if you want to understand the specific topic in depth.

Finally, do keep an open mind – open for learning something new to be able to create your life.

After all, it’s about creating YOUR life. NOTHING can become more important than this.