How to Create Your Dream Life

Introducing The Well-Designed Life – a 12-month syllabus for creating & inhabiting your dream life.

When I was a teenager, growing up in the cultural wasteland of the rural Midwest, circa early-2000s, I spent most of my free time obsessively imagining what my life would be like when I was an adult and could move to a big city and have a cool, creative job and a beautifully furnished apartment within walking distance to coffee shops and bookstores.

I’d go to my glamorous office in a trendy, slightly over-the-top outfit that no one would bat an eye at, because it’s not weird to be stylish when you’re not in a rural small town. I’d come home and order takeout and sit on my couch watching TV or reading a book by my white brick fireplace. On weekends, I’d walk my dog (a corgi!) to the park and get coffee on the way home. I’d spend the afternoon with friends, exploring vintage stores and little shops (or, okay, the mall downtown, it was 2007 after all).

I had this vision in my head for years, and while the specifics shifted as I grew up, the core idea of my dream life remained – one where I was free to be creative and express myself in the ways I loved (style, decor, beauty, etc). Where I was close to friends and lived in a cultural center where there was always something fun and interesting to do. I valued a life full of beauty, creativity, self-expression, and community.

And not too long ago, I was hit with a realization. I was walking home from my job (at an all-women creative agency with a gorgeous studio), wearing my new gingham pants that I splurged on, and that would have definitely gotten me weird looks in my hometown. I was heading back to my vintage pre-war Chicago six-flat with crown moldings, hardwood floors, and a white brick fireplace. My husband was going to meet me on the sidewalk with our dog (a corgi) like he did most days, and then we were going to get takeout and sit in our living room watching TV.

And I realized – holy shit. I did it. This is the life I’d been envisioning all those years, and building piece by piece and brick by brick ever since. I felt so deliriously happy, I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

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I don’t share this anecdote to brag, but to say that it got me thinking. It’s easy to feel like a lot of coincidences, fate, and sheer dumb luck had gotten me where I was, but that’s not the truth. I’d done so much work to identify what I wanted and figure out the steps to take to get it – from taking a leap of faith to move to a city where I knew no one for what I thought was my dream job, to being brave enough to quit said job when it turned into a nightmare and start building my own business and schedule.

And then suddenly, I was writing. A new series idea was forming – a primer on how to design your own dream life. Not just surface-level Pinterest moodboards and cutesy decorating tips from Nora Ephron rom-coms, but in-depth, actionable exercises to help you envision the life you truly want to live (NOT what an algorithm or an influencer or your mom thinks you should want) and then figure out how to get it.

I’ve been sitting on this for weeks, turning it over in my mind, refining it, getting it just right. And now I’m finally ready to share it with you:

Introducing The Well-Designed Life, a 12-month syllabus for creating & inhabiting your dream life. (Yes, there will be homework). Let’s break it down.

What this isn’t:

This isn’t a productivity program. It’s not about optimizing your morning routine or hitting ambitious goals or the rise and grind mentality.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s not about having the perfect capsule wardrobe or reading all the “right” books or decorating your home like a magazine spread. I’m not here to tell you who you should be or what you should like.

And this definitely isn’t about resolutions you’ll abandon by February.

I’m not purporting to be some sort of lifestyle guru or coach (I hate that kind of stuff). I’m just a girl who has done a LOT of curation, soul-searching, self-doubting, and rebranding over the years. I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating the life you truly want to live.

This isn’t a manifestation, woo-woo, money-mindset course either. If that’s your thing, no shade, I’m happy for you, but I have too much of a skeptical streak in me. Asking the universe for a favor has never gotten me anywhere; staying curious about the world, believing in myself, and putting in the work to uncover what I truly wanted did.

What this is:

The Well-Designed Life is a 12-month framework for designing a life that actually fits YOU – not the person you think you should be, not someone else’s aesthetic, but the life that makes you feel most like yourself.

Every Friday for 52 weeks, you’ll receive a post with practical exercises to work through. Each month includes a comprehensive workbook with all the tools, worksheets, and templates you need.

Each week builds on the last, creating a holistic framework for creating and living your dream life.

Here’s what we’re covering over the next 12 months:

January: Defining Your Dream Life
The difference between aspiration and authenticity. You’ll learn how to distinguish what you actually like & want from what the algorithms have told you that you should want, and set up your vision framework for the year.

February: Your Aesthetic Identity Blueprint
Move beyond borrowed aesthetic labels to discover your true visual preferences through pattern recognition in your past and present choices. Define your personal color palette, material preferences, and compositional tendencies. Create a written aesthetic manifesto that guides every visual decision you make going forward.

March: Designing Your Work Life
Examine how work fits into your well-designed life instead of building your life around work. Audit your current work situation across time, energy, values, and money to identify gaps between ideal and reality. Define what makes work “good” for you specifically and identify three concrete actions to take in the next 30 days.

April: Money & Values Alignment
Complete a 90-day spending audit to see where your money actually goes versus where you say it should go. Identify spending leaks and reallocate money toward values-aligned categories. Create a money manifesto that guides spending decisions based on what actually matters to you.

May: Building Your Personal Curriculum
Design your intellectual life across books, podcasts, documentaries, courses, and skills – not just a reading list. Identify your intellectual identity, learning style, and the subjects and questions that genuinely fascinate you. Build a curriculum framework with core subjects, exploratory interests, and practical systems for actually engaging with learning in your real life.

June: Curating Your Personal Style
Learn to dress like yourself, not someone you admire, using your aesthetic identity from February and budget reality from April. Develop your style formula including silhouettes, color applications, and signature pieces. Build four seasonal capsule wardrobes and create a values-aligned shopping strategy.

July: The Art of Seasonal Living
We’ll cover how to live in harmony with seasonal rhythms instead of fighting them. You’ll learn how to embody your personal style and goals in ways that match your energy throughout the year.

August: Building a Creative Practice
Establish a sustainable creative practice – whether writing, cooking, crafting, photography, or any form of making – that fits your actual life. Learn the architecture of consistency including time, space, and tools, and work through resistance and perfectionism. Practice making things for seven days straight without sharing or performing.

September: Creating Your Sanctuary Space
Your home should be a sanctuary that embodies your ideal life and aesthetic goals. We’ll cover room-by-room strategies for creating a home that feels like you, no matter your budget or aesthetic inclinations.

October: The Art of Connection
We’re covering how to be the kind of friend and partner you want to be. You’ll gain practical skills and resources for listening, remembering, hosting with generosity, and building rituals with people you care about – aka, how to throw amazing dinner parties, be the best gift giver in the friend group, and never forget your mother-in-law’s birthday again.

November: The Practice of Documentation & Evidence
Build a daily documentation practice that helps you notice patterns and stay present in the life you’re building. Create evidence of your well-designed life through photography, journaling, or other methods that work for you. Develop your joy inventory and prepare for December’s annual review.

December: Your Annual Review & Future Visioning
You made it! In the final month of the year, you’ll reflect on everything you’ve learned and accomplished, celebrate your progress, and create a plan for the year ahead – so you never find yourself up at 2:30am on January 1st, frantically “rebranding” yourself again.

Here’s what this means for you:

The Well-Designed Life is exclusively for paid subscribers.

Every Friday, you’ll receive a new post in the series. Each week builds on the last. By December, you’ll have worked through all five pillars – Learning & Growth, Aesthetic & Creative Life, Space & Environment, Connection & Work, and Resources & Rhythms – with a complete framework for designing and maintaining your intentional life.

If you’re already a paid subscriber: You’re all set! This is included in your subscription. I cannot wait to do this work with you.

If you’re not yet a paid subscriber: Now is the time!

My current paid subscription is $5/month or $50/year. But starting January 1st, I’m adjusting pricing for new subscribers to $6.50/month or $65/year to reflect the added value of this year-long program (it’s gonna be good – I promise).

If you subscribe before December 31st, you’ll be grandfathered in at the current $5/month rate forever. Even as I add more value and resources, you’ll always pay what you’re paying now.

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Final Thoughts

I’m so excited (and nervous) to share this with you. I’ve been working on it in some way or another for ages, and I agonized over whether it fit with my current content or should be its own new Substack. But as I read over your feedback from our State of the ‘Stack survey, I saw how many people liked having lifestyle content hand-in-hand with book recommendations, and how many of you were craving more tips for living seasonally and intentionally. This feels like a natural next step, but I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

All my love,
– Lizzie