Why manifesting your dream lifestyle is easier than being Marilyn Monroe (and 14 blogs to help you do it)

“I wasn’t the prettiest, I wasn’t the most talented, I just wanted it more than anybody else.”
- Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane Baker)

Say you’re Norma Jeane and you’re setting off to the big bad world of Hollywood. Nearly everyone you come across is going to either want to tear you down (because you’re competition) or build you up (for their own material gain).

Now say you’re not Norma Jeane, but you. Say your goal is not to become a superstar, but simply to enjoy a happy, productive life to its full potential, doing whatever you love from any country in the world.

The goal of living a full, happy, productive life is quite different from the goal of becoming a Hollywood icon in many ways, but here’s the particular difference I want to talk about. You achieving your goal does not detract in one iota from anybody else’s ability to achieve the same goal.

This means that you don’t need to “push Liz Taylor off the magazine covers,” as Marilyn once said. Everyone you come across who shares your goal will delight in supporting you, helping you, guiding you, befriending you, mentoring you, emulating you, praising you, and honoring you.

You may be thinking, “Really? I hadn’t noticed the hordes of people pounding down my door to support, help, guide, etc, etc.” That’s probably because you aren’t surrounded by people who share the same goal. Sure, everyone wants happiness. But for many people, a little happiness is all they think they deserve. Working for someone else. Making enough to pay the bills. Looking forward to the weekends. Getting by.

If you’re not satisfied with little happiness, and you want big happiness, then the company of little-happiness-people is not going to stimulate you. The ideal is to be surrounded by a circle of friends who intimately know your weaknesses and your fears, who trust you enough to share their own dreams, who spend long lazy brilliant hours talking and thinking and imagining with you. There’s nothing that can compensate for this.

Some bloggers come pretty close, though.

Here are 14 blogs that I regularly turn to for community, inspiration and practical advice. Each one of them has something special to offer working nomads and anyone else with an unconventional lifestyle. Here they are, in no particular order.

Zen Habits

Zen Habits is a productivity blog for simple living, run by self-described “regular guy” Leo Babauta.

How Zen Habits helps working nomads

Leo writes about simplicity, health & fitness, motivation and inspiration, frugality, family life, happiness, goals, getting great things done, and living in the moment. Although there’s no specific focus on travel, all of the advice and tips apply to or can be easily modified to fit the itinerant lifestyle. Leo’s also a great example of someone who broke free from traditional methods of earning money (i.e., “having a job”).

Steve Pavlina: Personal Development for Smart People

Steve Pavlina’s personal development blog posts are usually unconventional, sometimes controversial, and always thought-provoking.

How Steve Pavlina helps working nomads

If you believe, as I do, that personal development is one of the key motivations for travel, than this blog will resonate with you. Steve invites readers to challenge beliefs and assumptions and manifest their dreams. He’s just begun a series of posts about his experience traveling internationally.

Get Rich Slowly

Get Rich Slowly is a personal finance blog that offers sensible advice for people who want to gain control over their finances.

How Get Rich Slowly helps working nomads

Let’s be honest: it takes money to sustain a nomadic lifestyle. It doesn’t have to take a lot of money (it usually takes less than you think), but you probably won’t be able to fully enjoy your life if you’re fretting about debt. The tips and tricks at GRS will help you afford to manifest your dreams. There’s a great community, too.

Productivity 501

Productivity 501 is run by Mark Shead and provides practical tips on increasing your personal productivity in areas such as time management, technology, organization and more.

How Productivity 501 helps working nomads

Becoming more productive gives you more time to do what you love. This isn’t about becoming a machine or being busy all the time; it’s about knowing what’s important to you and doing more of those things. Productivity 501 often posts on topics of particular interest to working nomads, such as a paperless office or how to run online meetings.

Goodlife Zen

Goodlife Zen offers practical inspiration for a happier life. It’s run by Mary Jaksch, an authorized Zen master, psychotherapist, and author.

How Goodlife Zen helps working nomads

If you’re traveling a lot, it’s difficult to form a stable connection with a meditation group or spiritual community. Goodlife Zen is basically a portable spiritual community that you can carry around with you. You can participate in retreats, chat with members, and seek spiritual guidance. Mary is extremely warm and gentle, and although the focus is of course Buddhist, I imagine that nomads from other spiritual traditions could find much to appreciate in this community.

Illuminated Mind

Illuminated Mind is a blog for questioning souls, wanderers, outliers, and vagabonds. If you’re living a nomadic lifestyle, this probably describes you.

How Illuminated Mind helps working nomads

Being a successful working nomad means going against conventional wisdom much (most?) of the time. Jonathan Mead’s posts challenge and inspire you to live life on your own terms.

Location Independent

Location Independent is a network of resources run by Lea & Jonathan Woodward, who coined the phrase “location independent” and run their businesses from Thailand, South Africa, the Caribbean, and anywhere else they want to.

How Location Independent helps working nomads

Location Independent is the resource for anyone getting ready to quit their 9-5 job and make the switch to a live-and-work-from-anywhere lifestyle. There’s a blog for professionals, a blog for parents, a TV site with episodes from around the world, a forum, guides, ebooks, and tons more.

WebWorkerDaily

WebWorkerDaily is geared towards online professionals of any kind. Topics include productivity, career, technology and lifestyle, and the articles are written by various authors.

How WebWorkerDaily helps working nomads

If, like many working nomads, you generate your income online, you’ll appreciate the technology tips and how-to guides. The multiple authors give this blog a diverse voice–there’s always something helpful or interesting to read.

Soultravelers3

A chronicle of the adventures of a family of three from Santa Cruz, California, as they travel around the world.

How Soultravelers3 helps working nomads

This blog has a more personal flavor than many of the others I’ve mentioned. It’s an inspiration for parents or prospective parents who are tired of hearing, “But you can’t travel with children!”

Aliventures

A blog about the “meaty questions of life,” run by Ali Hale.

How Aliventures helps working nomads

Ali’s posts are thought-provoking and interesting. They might start you down a train of thought and the next thing you know, you’re on a night train to Prague. Or they might give you something to think about next time you’re trapped in a ferry for 12 hours. Who knows? If you like getting more from life, read this blog.

Steve Olson

A journal of Steve’s discoveries and experiences on his quest for personal freedom.

How Steve Olson helps working nomads

The blog’s tagline is “For People Pursuing Freedom,” and that says it all. The posts are driven by a spirit of fearless inquiry and will get you excited about making your dreams happen today.

Jonathan Fields: Awake@the Wheel

Calling this amazing resource a “blog for entrepreneurs” doesn’t do it justice, but I’ll leave it at that for now.

How Jonathan Fields helps working nomads

Among other things, Jonathan helps you figure out how pursuing your passion can pay the bills. There’s a boatload of inspiration and practical advice on everything related to work, play, entrepreneurship, and life.

Springwise

Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts that are ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation.

How Springwise helps working nomads

What if your next brilliant business venture is succeeding right now on the other side of the world? The innovation that works in Dubai could work in Sweden–with a little tweaking, of course. Springwise can spark ideas and take your career in a totally unexpected direction.

Yaro Starak: Entrepreneurs Journey

Entrepreneurs Journey is mainly focused on internet business and blogging, although Yaro also writes about spirituality, maintaining your integrity and achieving your life goals.

How Entrepreneurs Journey helps working nomads

If you’re interested in making money online or changing your mindset, this is definitely a blog to follow. And if you want to learn how to blog professionally, sign up for Yaro’s Blog Mastermind course.

Baby Norma Jeane

Turning inspiration into action

Connecting with like-minded individuals and communities online is terrific. I get a huge rush when I read something that cuts straight to the heart of a knotty issue or challenges me to confront my beliefs. I don’t mean to imply that reading blogs is always a profound experience, of course–there’s also the simple satisfaction of learning how to use a technique, solving a problem, or helping someone else in the comments section.

If the process always stops there, though, reading blogs can turn into a hamster-wheel kind of activity. The real work happens when you take someone’s idea and put into practice to enrich your life.

What blogs do you visit for community, inspiration and practical advice? What ideas have helped you transform your life?