Can Your Home Turn Around Your Life?

(If not, I have good news...read on...)

If you’re a homeowner and your home isn’t giving you all the things it should, I’m willing to bet that the REAL REASON you’re stuck isn’t what you think it is.

…but are any of these factors the REAL REASON you’re stuck?

I don’t think so.

In fact, I believe…

The REAL REASON your lifestyle has stalled…

The REAL REASON your satisfaction with your home has dropped…

The REAL REASON you just flat out aren’t as SUCCESFUL and HAPPY as you should be usually comes down to one thing…

Your Home Doesn't Give You More Than Your Basic Needs

Here’s the deal: Most homes stop working when you want better than the basics, better than shelter and security.

If you’ve ever re-organised, built, bought, or re-designed a home, tell me if this sounds familiar…

You’re excited to move into your home and can’t wait to get settled.

After a month or two, it’s clear it feels great and is charming! Things are going well, but there are some things that could be better, you’re excited and pour all your energy and passion into it.

As your energy and time spend on your home increases, you start to see some dips in the rewards you’re getting from it. Maybe you don’t get to see your friends as much as you used to, you’re getting stressed by things that are starting to annoy you about the house. But you’re still working it, so you pour on a little more energy. Ok, so if you’re anything like me, you pour on A LOT more energy. After all, we have a new home…

“What happened?” you ask yourself…

“Why do homes suddenly stop working the moment you want to get more than your basic needs out of them?”

Most home owners won’t admit it, but THIS is the question we’re all DESPERATELY trying to answer.

And the good news is, I’m about to do just that…

It turns out, the secret to “getting more than our basic needs out of your home” has almost nothing to do with how much you pay for it. Yes, there are things you need to know and basic rules you need to follow, but at this point, re-organising, building, buying, and re-designing your home cost what it costs, and there’s little you can do to change that.

So, if the secret to successfully getting more than basic needs out of your home isn’t in how much you pay for it, then what is it?

The liberating truth you must understand is this…

There's No Such Thing as a

"Housing Problem"

The Real Secret To Getting Everything You Want in Life Is Learning To Design Homes That "Expand the Circle"

I realize this is all a bit cryptic, so please allow me to explain…

I realize this is all a bit cryptic, so please allow me to explain…

And THIS Is Why Homes Stall and Lifestyles Get Stuck...

Nearly all the homes I see that work at first but then fail at delivering have the exact same problem…

…they’re all focusing on the wrong home-design-type.

They’re either focusing on The Basics, or they’re focusing on The Looks, but almost no one is actively creating houses and homes designed to realise THE AMPLIFIERS, whose impact on any person’s or family’s lifestyle and happiness is at least 10X bigger than both the Basics and the Looks, combined!

So, if you want to grow your satisfaction and lifestyle and move beyond a home that gives you the basics, your mission is simple…

You need to design a home that can successfully work with you to get you whatever you want in life…. happiness, stronger relationships, better health, more wealth… And to do that, you need to build a home that can give you it all; the basics, the MUCH DESIRABLE Looks, and the EVEN MORE IMPORTANT Amplifiers.

And to do that, you’re going to need a “Turnaround Home Post-it”…

I’ll tell you the story of why I keep 5-year-old post-its framed in my place in just a minute, but first, there are a few things you need to know about me…

I am an architect turned entrepreneur, turned strategist.

I launched my first design practice in 1999 and designed my first house right after. I was diving into turnaround design before most people even knew what “Turnaround” design stood for, and I started mushing-up design, health, business, art, environment, and architecture when quality of life was measured in quick dollars ….not long term lifestyle, happiness, or success.

I’ve designed homes in good times, and I’ve designed homes in challenging times (like the crazy times we’re living in right now)…

…and through it all, one lesson has remained true:

The ability to convert a basic home into one that enhances your life and boosts your satisfaction is the single most valuable skill anyone can have.

Unfortunately, for me, I had to learn this lesson the hard way…

How My “Million Dollar Post-its" Saved Me from Losing My Marriage

I want to tell you a story I don’t tell very often, because it’s a story I’m not particularly proud of.

The date was January 12, 2015, and I was sitting…alone…in front of my computer in my home office in Hobart Tasmania, feeling sorry for myself and staring at the checkout button for an airplane ticket to leave everything and go home.

My once happy marriage was failing, and we had just moved to a new city in the hopes of a better life, and together, we were starting a business. It should all be working, but I was struggling and with the stress of trying to negotiate our future, I was on the brink of giving up on everything.

“What happened?” you ask yourself…

"How did a growing and successful relationship descend into a death spiral so quickly?"...

Compromising My Way to a Shared Life Cost Me a Year… And Nearly Broke My Marriage

With all the “talks” about our future; what we want, what we don’t want, we were tired and frustrated. We could never keep a plan, gaining happiness for one of us came at the cost of another.

Yes, we were working on creating a shared life, but at what cost? Clearly, a year of “compromise” had taken its toll.

And to top it off, neither of us was happy and we were overwhelmed with the constant uncertainty.

So there I sat…thinking should I push that button and buy that airplane ticket?

Here were my options:

1. Keep compromising what I wanted in life and risk an unhappy, unsuccessful life and a broken marriage, or…

2. Cut my losses, leave my marriage behind, and move back home.

It felt like an impossible choice with no right answers.

But in my moment of peak-desperation I focused on one word. Home. I wanted to go home. I had never made this new life my home. The place that is your source of comfort and security; the place that nurtures your relationships; the place that propels you to success and wealth.

I looked up from my computer and saw something I had seen 100 times before, but never truly noticed…

…it was my big and colourful stack of post-its.

Like many designers, I had heard the stories of breakthrough ideas conceived on small papers and post-its.

You know which … the original scripts for the best Pixar movies (A Bug’s Life, Wall-e, Finding Nemo…)… and what about J.K. Rowling’s earliest scribbles of Harry Potter…

…all born on post-it size like paper…

But what’s so special about post-its?

Why have they inspired so many breakthrough ideas?

Sure, post-its are readily available, and it probably doesn’t hurt that they’re often found everywhere.

But I think it’s something else.

I believe post-its inspire innovation, because…

Post-its Force Simplicity, And Simplicity Beats Complexity

“If I can sketch the path to make home here that gives us what we really need to be happy and successful, and digs us out of this hole of compromises we are in before the night is over, then I’ll go to bed and commit to working my ‘post-it plan’, tomorrow…

…if not, I’ll push that button and buy the airplane ticket, and I’ll start packing up, and commit to breaking up my marriage and looking for other ways to find purpose in life, tomorrow.”

Today those post-its sits in a frame in my house. Time and the Australian sun have faded them, but the words are still visible if you look closely.

Every now and then, someone will notice it and ask, “What’s with the framed post-its?”

“Oh, that?” I respond…

“Those are My Million Dollar Post-its…”

I know, I know…the name is a little corny…even hypey…

…but fact is, those post-its (and the home I sketched using them to guide me) were directly responsible for saving me a million dollars that next year.

Those post-its saved my home from certain failure, and, most importantly, they saved my marriage from financial stress.

And while I didn’t realize it at the time, the “Turnaround Home” (as it came to be known) unlocked the secret to intentionally influencing happiness, relationships, and success using my home, and believe it or not…

…we’re still growing our home with a variation of those original post-its to this very day.

Now, I want you to have your own “Turnaround Home”…

Introducing:

The Turnaround Home Challenge

Together, We’ll Design A Turnaround Home That Converts A Home Without Purpose Into One That Enhances Your Life But Is Simple Enough To Fit On A Couple of Post-Its

To be clear, this is NOT a course.

This is a live, interactive challenge where we will work together for 7 days to design a “Turnaround Home” for you.

Here’s how it’ll to work…

The challenge kicks off and each day, you’ll be invited to a live training where I’ll teach the core lesson, answer your questions, and give you a simple action item to complete prior to the next lesson.

You’ll also be added to a member’s only community where you can get all your questions answered in real-time and interact with your fellow “Turnaround Home Challengers.”

The first two days we’ll focus on strategy (which is super-important, as I’m sure you can imagine), and days three through five we’ll actually design and document your “Turnaround Home”.

There are 5 lessons over 7 days (we built-in two “Catch-Up and Q&A Days,” so you don’t have to worry about falling behind). Also, each session is available for a limited time replay, so if you can’t make a session, you’ll still have time to catch up.

At the end of this challenge, you’ll have a simple, actionable Turnaround Home design that will enhance your life, plus a 30-day guide for executing and optimizing your design.

In short…

By this time next week, you’ll have your own set of “Million Dollar Post-its”…suitable for framing 🙂

So there you have it.

The secret to solving all your home challenges could be just a post-it away.

I hope you’ll join us.

Marisol Miró Quesada

Founder & Managing Director | DIY Strategies

(and amateur post-it artist)

CHALLENGE SCHEDULE

Each day during the challenge we will stream LIVE into the Facebook group. All you have to do is head over to the group at the time of the call and we’ll be there streaming live (don’t worry, we’ll send you reminders too).

During these 30-50 minute calls, Marisol Miró Quesada will go in-depth on the exact strategy he used to plan and build her “turnaround home post-it” while helping you create your own too!

Engage with Marisol, the DIY Strategies team, as well as fellow challengers inside the private Facebook group as we help each other sketch our “Turnaround Homes” and get valuable feedback to improve your design.

And if you fall behind one day, don’t worry! All calls are recorded and available for a limited time right inside the Facebook group.

By the end of the challenge, you will have all the support and training you need to leave with your own “Turnaround Home” design PLUS we’ll give you the one-pagers to turn those post-its into reality.