Why would you want to think about lifestyle design and cybersecurity? Do you have a job where your boss respects you and treats you like an adult? Or does your boss watch your every move, tracking you from 8:59am to 5:01pm?

There are a lot of jobs where you need to be in a certain place at a certain time for a certain amount of time. This is irrespective of your actual productivity during that time.

Some employers treat their employees as adults who are free to do their work as they see fit, as long as the work is finished well. Those employees can often  design their lifestyles.

What is lifestyle design?

Lifestyle design was popularised by Tim Ferris in his book “The Four Hour Work Week” back in 2009. The idea is that you eventually separate yourself from having to physically be in the office. This allows you to do more work in less time and frees more time for things that you want to do. Cybersecurity often allows you to design your lifestyle while still working a fulfilling career.

Lifestyle Design

Lifestyle Design and Cybersecurity

What is it about cybersecurity that allows for lifestyle design? First and foremost, in order to be in the field you must demonstrate a level of competence that isn’t often required in other jobs. In order to get a cybersecurity job you must have prerequisite skills and have a deep understanding of technology. This means that you’re already knowledgeable and have proven a commitment to your field.

Additionally, unless you’re doing incident response, you rarely need to be in any one place at any one time. If you’re analysing malware, you can analyse it anywhere – in an office, on a plane, or at the beach. A lot of cybersecurity work requires a laptop and/or mobile and wifi. You can get that just about anywhere to get your work done. Once it’s done you’ll need to show up to the client meeting with your presentations of course, but that’s not difficult. As long as you don’t miss the meeting and your results are good, your boss often won’t care if you were 36,000 feet up while pulling apart the latest zero day malware sample!

That sort of freedom allows you to do things on your schedule. Do you need to run out in the middle of the day and work a little later? That’s okay. That’s what lifestyle design is about, and becoming a cybersecurity expert can help you do that.

It doesn’t hurt that the pay is often very good as well, which allows you additional freedoms. While others grind through careers they hate, you’ll have freedom from debt, freedom from worry, and the ability to make decisions as they suit you best.