Few are surprised to learn that an interesting lifestyle as well as being an interesting person – interesting to be around, is a lot of hard work. There are big benefits in terms of new acquaintances, friendships, stories to tell and having a fun life – an attractive lifestyle, is what brings positive people towards you. Of the opposite sex, especially.

The common wisdom is that you need to be affluent, working for yourself and vacation three or two times a year in exotic locations chasing an adrenaline rush. And it works! You could quit your job, sell your car and spend the following 3 months backpacking through Western Europe. Go on a three week African safari. Scuba dive with sharks at the Drake Passage or the Great Barrier Reef.

And like an acquaintance of mine, proceed to play World of Warcraft for 6 hours a day upon returning home, with an odd night of Poker in Atlantic City, until the next vacation.

But what if you could fake it? What if you could awesome things right where you live, dirt cheap, on your schedule, at any time and could invite anyone along?

First, let’s define what a lifestyle is and why you should care.

Lifestyle: standard of living, routine, way of life and means to attain it. In other words it’s one of myriad of ways to pigeonhole you. Are you a hacker, a hiker, a surfer, an adrenaline junkie, a historian a sailor or a wine connoisseur? Why not also be an artist, a musician and a writer to boot?

If followed this far, you might agree it’s an intriguing life – few people ever do that once in their life let alone on a day-to-day basis. After all, who has the time? Or the money.

So here’s a big secret: you don’t need to be good – simply good enough.

You don’t need to go on a Cross-Pacific sailing race to enjoy sailing – a one-line single sail boat on a lake is plenty adequate. Louvre is magnificent, I’m told, but many people still visit MoMA and MET every year. Even foreigners!

New Jersey has two dozen museums. Add New York and Philadelphia in to the mix and it’s easily a few years worth of museums within 2 hours’ train ride.

Sure there are no zebras in upstate New York, just as there are no black bears in sub-Saharan Africa.

So, how exactly do you fake an interesting life?

Try one new activity every two weeks.

That’s it!

Here’s why this works: if you go on vacation three times a year, you do three “cool” things. If you only do one every two weeks you’ll end up with twenty six. That’s a twelve-fold difference in lifestyle points! Some people would kill for that.

Here’s how I make it work. This might work for your particular situation or not, but this way there are no easy excuses.

I’m a huge fan of classes. Most sessions are once a week and don’t interfere with weekends. I like to jump from one class series to another to keep it from becoming a chore.

  • Dancing classes
  • Cooking classes
  • Drawing workshops
  • Urban gardening
  • Wine making
  • Photography classes

I’m also a fan of museums. Not only do they specialize in one genre or another, often special exhibits are the real reason I’m there. So, you’re a guy and don’t like Monet – what to do?

  • Tour a brewery
  • Car museum
  • Science Center
  • Museum of Sex
  • Writer’s, inventors or president’s birthplace
  • Arboretum
  • Historic site

Go outdoors. Sure there are bugs and marshmallows over the camp fire. Also hiking, wild animals and often skinny-dipping in the lake in moonlight. Hey, you never know.