Lifebook is an online course through which you define your own life vision by going through 11 different aspects of life. These 11 life categories are: health, intellectual, emotional, character, spiritual, love relationship, parenting, social, career, financial, quality of life. For each of these categories you consider your:
- premise (discovering limiting beliefs, and defining more helpful ones),
- vision (how would like like it to be),
- purpose (why - what bad things would happen if you did not go for this, what good things will happen if you do?)
- and strategy (how might you get to your purpose).
The course takes 6 weeks. Every week you go through 2 categories. There is 1 hour-and-a-half long video to explain each category and another hour-and-a-half Q&A video per category summarizing previously-held online sessions. And then there is one online session each week, which is made available as a recording afterwards.
Word templates are provided per category. There is also an online My Lifebook environment in which you can note down your own thoughts per category. This web app works well on a computer, but I had some syncing problems with my mobile phone (on WiFi, so not due to bad internet) which resulted in losing quite some text.
In terms of community, for each category there is a discussion group, and there is a WhatsApp group through which you receive reminders and tips. Some participants started Telegram groups.
At the end you write down your overall integrated life vision. The next step is then to summarise your life vision to something short that you can quickly read through every day.
The course is taught by Jon and Missy Butcher who are both successful entrepreneurs and have realised their life vision twice now over the years that they have started using this approach they now teach. All the online sessions are led by Alex Surdu.
The course is about 500usd. There were a couple of variations on offer. It is worth it to check which version allows you to get a refund when you go through the entire course and finish writing your own lifebook (which used to be a default perk). Personally, this was a good motivator to keep up with the lessons and actually finish the course. (I am Dutch.)
Later I found out that if you sign up for Lifebook Mastery, all the basic Lifebook videos are also available, at 30usd per month (and first month free). The video interface used for the older videos in that mobile app has less functionality however. You can't easily click to specific moments in the video, and it forgets where you left off the last time. But it might be a relatively low-cost way to check out the materials and see if this is indeed what you want to do.
Review
In 2019 I've gone through the exercises when a friend took the course. In January 2023 I took the course myself. Some life events made it a good time to reflect.
While what I did in 2019 was already helpful, actually going through the course does provide a lot more depth to the exercises. It does take quite the time investment to listen to all the videos and sessions. About 7.5 hours each week, and then you also have to write your own premise, vision, purpose and strategy in your lifebook. Personally, I just replaced any podcasts and youtube videos I'd otherwise watch with Lifebook videos. I listened a lot while on the go, but this is not really supported by the app. You cannot download the videos for offline watching.
Most workshops, courses and books focus on a specific aspect of life, so it was refreshing to go through something that looks at all aspects of life and then also looks at the integration of all of them into one life vision.
It was also good to be reminded of the value of each of these categories. You might think there is not enough time to work towards some ideal vision for 11 categories, but there are quick and easy things you can do daily to move things forward. For example, you could start building a meditation habit of 1 minute a day, and you will already notice how that helps bring some calm and clarity in your life. Meditation is one of those things that actually helps in multiple categories, from Health, Intellectual and Emotional to your interactions with the people around you in Love, Parenting and Career. As Jon often points out: "A win somewhere is a win everywhere". Another example: when you start working out regularly, you will probably feel better about your body (Emotional), which will also help your Love Relationship. And you will have more energy and confidence which will help in all categories.
While this is not presented as a productivityProductivity
Productivity to me means more than getting a lot of work done, or even getting the right work done. It is actually about thriving as a human being. The [[lifebook]] course provides a nice example o... course, it will definitely help you thrive as a human being, by clarifying your vision and purpose, so you can make better decisions more easily, and be more goal-oriented both for personal and work-related goals.
To get the most value out of the workshop, I recommend the following:
- Go for a version in which you get the 500usd refund as a motivator to actually go through it all in these 6 weeks.
- Create the life vision summary at the end. Reading this daily is a life-changer. As you read it, you remember your vision, and this will help you make better decisions througout the day (identity-based behavior change).
- Define 12 tiny habits that will help move each category forward a little each day. Put them in a habit tracker of your choice. (I use Habits.)
- Use the offer of a free month of Lifebook Mastery to also go through the steps of defining your yearly, quarterly, and monthly goals. This will help you focus on the most important initiatives you can take to move your life in the direction you want.
- Do it together with a friend or co-worker, so you have somebody to talk to about what is being presented and discussed in the videos and how to define your own life vision.