Tag Archive for: Malaysia

Redefining Success: The Art of Lifestyle Design and Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship

In the second part of his interview with The Leaderonomics Show, Cody McKibben dives deeper into the concept of lifestyle design and its transformative impact on both individuals and businesses.

Cody emphasizes the importance of creating a life that aligns with one’s passions, values, and goals, rather than being tethered to conventional expectations. For him, lifestyle design is about building a business that serves your ideal life — not the other way around. By defining what truly matters, eliminating distractions, and automating repetitive tasks, entrepreneurs and professionals can unlock more freedom to focus on what brings them joy and fulfillment.

At the heart of lifestyle design is the question: What do you really want out of life?

Cody urges his audience to reflect on their passions and what motivates them to get out of bed every morning. Whether it’s traveling the world, spending quality time with family, or pursuing creative projects, knowing these priorities allows individuals to structure their businesses around those desires.

Far too often, people chase money without considering whether their efforts contribute to a meaningful and enjoyable life. Cody’s approach challenges this mindset, advocating for a life designed with purpose and intention.

Drawing inspiration from Warren Buffett’s philosophy, he underscores the importance of simplicity and focus. He shares how Buffett’s practice of only investing in what he truly understands resonates with his own approach to business and life. Keeping things simple and aligned with one’s passions leads to better decision-making and greater long-term satisfaction.

When asked about advice for young professionals, Cody emphasizes the value of self-awareness and passion. He suggests a simple exercise: identify where your skills, passions, and market opportunities intersect.

For seasoned entrepreneurs and executives, Cody advises stepping back to reevaluate their priorities. While building a profitable business is important, he warns against getting lost in the grind of long hours and endless tasks.

By deconstructing their businesses and focusing only on the most effective activities, leaders can create more balance and rediscover the “why” behind their efforts. Whether it’s spending more time with loved ones, traveling, or pursuing creative ventures, Cody believes success is ultimately about living a life that brings joy and fulfillment.

/by

Discovering the Hero’s Path: Cody McKibben on Entrepreneurship, Coaching, and the Future of Learning

 

In this inspiring 2010 interview with Leaderonomics, Cody McKibben — director of the HERO Foundry — shares his journey as a seasoned entrepreneur, coach, and visionary in the realm of personal development and alternative education. With over 16 years of experience building businesses, growing remote teams, and empowering young creators, Cody offers profound insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving world.

The conversation dives into Cody’s unique coaching philosophy, which blends psychology, mythology, and entrepreneurial strategy to help individuals unlock their potential. From navigating the challenges of building businesses across cultures to creating impactful educational frameworks like the HERO Library, Cody reveals how his ventures aim to equip the next generation with the tools, mindset, and confidence to forge their own paths. His emphasis on cross-cultural understanding, personal growth, and creative freedom shines through as a recurring theme.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, an educator rethinking traditional systems, or someone seeking clarity on your life’s purpose, this interview is packed with actionable advice and fresh perspectives. Cody’s reflections on the hero’s journey, the future of work, and the power of storytelling will leave you feeling inspired and motivated to take the next step in your own adventure.

Watch the full interview to explore Cody’s vision for a more empowered, innovative, and connected world — and learn how you can apply these lessons to your own life and career.

/by

How to Make Friends Around the World and Serve Clients on 5 Continents

 

In this thought-provoking talk delivered at the Guerrilla Entrepreneurs seminar in Kuala Lumpur, Cody McKibben, a pioneer of the “digital nomad” movement, shares his transformative journey of crafting a purpose-driven business and a fulfilling life.

Drawing from personal experiences and timeless wisdom, Cody challenges conventional ideas of success, urging entrepreneurs to prioritize lifestyle design and meaningful impact over the pursuit of profits alone.

Cody passionately explains how businesses can serve as tools for creating the life you desire, rather than being the end goal. This philosophy is central to his mission: to help others escape the “template lifestyle” and embrace a life of freedom, adventure, and purpose.

Cody delves into the profound impact of Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Work Week, outlining its four principles — Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation — and how they guided him to redesign his career and lifestyle. By implementing these principles, Cody transitioned to a location-independent business model, which allowed him to work remotely while exploring the world.

This approach isn’t just about working less, but about working smarter and living more intentionally. Watch this powerful talk to learn how entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for accelerated personal development, deeply intertwined with meaningful experiences, quality of life, and the ability to give back.

On a practical level, Cody shares actionable insights for aspiring digital nomads and entrepreneurs. He discusses the importance of finding mentors, leveraging online tools, and building global relationships.

Ultimately, Cody’s message is about more than just entrepreneurship or travel — it’s about creating a life aligned with your values, passions, and VISION. By redefining success and embracing unconventional thinking, Cody inspires others to take bold steps toward designing the life they’ve always envisioned.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or someone exploring the idea of digital nomadism, this seminar is a must-watch for anyone seeking to combine purpose, freedom, and adventure.

Watch the full video to explore how Cody McKibben has turned his philosophy into action — and how you, too, can break free from the ordinary to live life on your own terms!

/by

The IMPOSSIBLE List

Anyone motivated to be successful—to really make an impact with your life—has a list of important things they want to do. Things to have, things to be. Places they want to go, people they’d love to meet.

You may not have a list of life goals all written down on paper. You probably keep an immediate to-do list, you might have some of your long-term life goals written down on scraps of paper or word doc lists on your computer here and there, but you know at the very least you have those things somewhere in the back of your mind.

I’ve challenged myself with yearly goals in the last couple years, and I’ve mapped out plans for my businesses and different projects. I don’t frequently achieve everything on my lists, but as my friend Ramit Sethi once told me, if you’re not failing at a couple things each month, you’re not trying hard enough.

And I’ve found that sharing those goals publicly gives me additional motivation and accountability to follow through, and sometimes friends and readers can offer words of advice, help, or partnership on some goals.

I’ve had some pieces of the puzzle in the works for a long time, but I hadn’t put together a comprehensive “bucket list” of things I want to do before I die until recently. It wasn’t until Sean Ogle recently wrote about bucket lists, and how to identify the most important life goals that will enable you to achieve the other items on your list—the travel goals, the possessions, the fun stuff—that I finally got motivated to really solidify my whole life list and put it out here to share with the world.

Several friends and bloggers have compiled great bucket lists that have helped inspire some of the things I decided to put on my list. There’s a mix of places I’d love to jet set, landmarks I’d like to see, adventures I’d like to have, experiences I hope to share with specific friends and family, and of course I immediately took Sean’s advice and prioritized the importance of the enabling goals that will make everything else possible.

So without further ado, here’s my bucket list—or, 84 adventures you can follow me on here at Thrilling Heroics:

Enabling Goals

  1. Develop an online business that earns over $3000/month in passive income.
  2. Build a blog with 10,000+ subscribers.
  3. Write an ebook or launch a digital product that earns $6,000+.
  4. Publish a best-selling book.
  5. Achieve 100% freedom from all debt.
  6. Get an article published in the print edition of Esquire, GQ, Wired, Details, or Maxim magazine.
  7. Leverage my blog audience to make a major positive impact in at least 10 peoples lives (we’ve already helped my friend Ryan, and Tim & Rodrigo (two scholarship awardees at Digital Nomad Academy).
  8. Speak at South by Southwest Interactive and stick around for the music festival in Austin, Texas.
  9. Set up a Hong Kong corporation.
  10. Make at least $200K in a given year.
  11. Get a second passport, and maybe a third too.
  12. Complete my Personal MBA.
  13. Attend an official TED Conference. (Already had the honor of helping plan the locally-organized TEDxBKK!)
  14. Sell my photography and other creative artwork.
  15. Organize a lifestyle business summit (March 2014 in Costa Rica! – a 5 so far SE Asia)

Adventures to Have & Things to Do

  1. Learn to rock climb in Railay Beach, Krabi.
  2. Climb up to the mountaintop Wat Tum Sua Temple in Krabi, Thailand.
  3. Learn to sail.
  4. Climb a volcano.
  5. Eat slow-roasted crispy suckling pig in Bali (delicious babi guling).
  6. Spend a week with friends at Burning Man in the Nevada desert.
  7. Go skydiving. Go skydiving again.
  8. Learn to play guitar.
  9. Reactivate my French and achieve fluency.
  10. Learn to speak conversational Spanish. (half-way there in Colombia 2014)
  11. Get in the best shape of my life with my trainer Tom Frearson.
  12. Replace my morning coffee with Yerba Maté for at least a week.
  13. Get a tattoo with a design from my best friend.
  14. Take my dad to eat real Kobe beef at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant CUT in Los Angeles.
  15. Spend a whole lot more time with my grandfather and learn about his life before he leaves us.
  16. Raise another dog.
  17. Take my best friend Patrick to a Daft Punk concert.
  18. Share a beer with Carlos Miceli in South America. (Sept 2013 in Santiago, Chile)
  19. Settle abroad for at least 3 months elsewhere in Asia, in Central and South America, and Europe.
  20. Live at least 3 months in San Francisco, San Diego, and Austin, Texas.
  21. Work for a month at a winery—like, in the fields, growing grapes—in California or France wine country.
  22. Drive the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible Lamborghini.
  23. Camp under the stars on the beach and see the sun rise. (2009 in Prachuap, Thailand)
  24. Participate in the world’s biggest water fight during Thailand’s New Year’s festivities (Songkran).
  25. Do a beach photoshoot with a swimsuit model.
  26. Go to a shooting range and fire off a Kalashnikov rifle and a Desert Eagle .50 Action Express. More importantly, learn to disassemble & reassemble them.
  27. Drive a Tesla Roadster.
  28. Take a gondola along the Venice canals in Italy.
  29. Ride camel back across the Sahara desert.
  30. Take a Serengeti safari in Tanzania and Kenya.
  31. Trek through the jungle on the back of an elephant.
  32. See the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (twice).
  33. See the view from the top of Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  34. Party on Ibiza for New Year’s Eve in Spain’s Ballearic Islands.
  35. Go to the Glastonbury Festival in England and see Stonehenge.
  36. Participate in the Brazilian Carnaval celebration.
  37. See what Mardi Gras and Voodoo Fest are all about in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  38. Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with my son.
  39. Learn to surf (took lessons in Bali 2010). Learn to surf properly!
  40. Learn to DJ or mix electronic music.
  41. Own a Ducati motorcycle.
  42. Buy and restore a 1965 or 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350.
  43. Stay in an over-the-water bungalow in beautiful Bora Bora in the French Polynesian islands.
  44. Spontaneously walk into the airport and randomly buy a same-day ticket to wherever looks appealing.
  45. Drive the Amalfi coast near Sorrento, Italy.
  46. Rent a villa on Lake Como or Lake Lugano with friends.
  47. Own a small bar or restaurant with live music.
  48. Leave any wealth or assets I have when I go out to people who really deserve and need them.

Places to Travel & Landmarks to See

  1. The ancient temples at Angkor Wat, Cambodia
  2. The Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, Greece
  3. The Sistine Chapel and Vatican City in Rome, Italy
  4. The pyramids at Giza, Egypt
  5. Machu Picchu in Peru
  6. The home of the Oracle at Delphi, Greece
  7. The Taj Mahal
  8. The ancient city of Petra, carved into canyon walls in southern Jordan
  9. The Karnak temple and the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt
  10. The Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza near Cancun, Mexico
  11. Iguazu Falls on the Argentina/Brazil border
  12. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
  13. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  14. The Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines
  15. The Borobudur stuppa in Java, Indonesia
  16. Gorgeous Zion National Park, Utah
  17. Niagara Falls lit up at night
  18. Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
  19. Jerusalem’s Old City
  20. The Hagia Sofia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
  21. The abbey of Mont-St-Michel in France

You’ll notice I’ve included a few things I’ve already accomplished (plus I come back to update this list every few months, so things are continually getting crossed off).

I’ve also taken Sean’s advice to have a few things that will be easier to achieve, and a few goals I can obtain in the very near future.

I think when you make your own list it’s important to recognize the big things you’ve already done that you’d always dreamed of, and include a few “gimme” goals so you can start off strong and stay motivated.

Of course I expect that my feelings about some items on the list may change throughout the course of my life. I may not achieve everything, some of my goals will change, or I may add new items to the list. But, it’s a starting point and it’s something I can always refer back to to remind me what I want to accomplish.

Of course if there’s anything you can help me achieve, or something you want to join in on, leave a shout out and we’ll talk! 

What’s on Your List?

Take a look at my in-depth breakdown of how to establish meaningful personal and professional goals for yourself in all the important realms of your life. It’s written to help you establish yearly goals, but the principles can be applied to building your own life goals list too.

If you have a bucket list already, share it. If not, take a look at the above articles and get on it! Your time here is short, so remember to value every day you have and make the most of it.

/75 Comments/by