Lifebook Review (2023): Is Lifebook Worth It?
If you’ve been searching for a way to get your life in order, then you’ve probably heard of Lifebook by Mindvalley.
Lifebook is a lifestyle design system that helps you plan and achieve your life goals with an awesome project: the creation of your own, literal lifebook.
I decided to give it a shot. And I can’t wait to tell you my thoughts on it in my epic Lifebook review.
Was it worth it?
For me, absolutely. But I don’t think Lifebook is for everyone…
Read on to find out why.
(This review contains affiliate links which means we earn a commission if you sign up — at no extra cost to you. However, it’s an honest review about my personal experience with Lifebook)
What is Lifebook?
Lifebook is a six-week course on Mindvalley, comprising 21 lessons. It’s taught by Jon and Missy Butcher, a power couple who own a suite of successful companies.
Over the course of six weeks, Jon and Missy work with you to help you create your own, 100-page book that maps out your goals for these 12 distinct areas of your life:
- Health and fitness
- Intellectual
- Emotional
- Character
- Spiritual
- Love Relationship
- Parenting
- Social
- Career
- Financial
- Quality of Life
- Life Vision.
Lifebook requires 3-6 hours a week of work, totaling about 18-36 hours over 6 weeks to create your own 100-page lifebook.
And what does your 100-page lifebook do?
It allows you to become “the author of your own life” by truly understanding the type of life you want to live. That’s the goal.
Jon and Missy will get you thinking deeply about the kind of success you want in life across these 12 categories.
Lifebook really is quite simple, easy, and effective — think of it as your own game plan for where you want to get to in life.
The key is that you’re actually writing everything down and then printing and binding your own book. That’s what makes a lifebook so effective.
By putting the vision of your life to paper, you become more attached to your vision, and therefore more likely to see it to fruition. So the foundation of a lifebook has “scientific concrete” behind it.
What is Mindvalley?
Mindvalley is an online learning platform growing in popularity. They have over 30 courses on topics as varied as Energy Healing, Money EQ, and Super Reading.
Their courses are structured around daily video lessons of around 10-20 minutes. These video lessons have an extremely high production quality and are usually a joy to watch.
It must be said that the platform has a “DIY spirituality” twist to it. Some classes are geared toward open-minded folks who don’t mind learning about less-than-concrete theories.
What I like about Mindvalley though is that there are still plenty of classes that focus on concrete, grounded skills like “mastering sleep”, hacking your brain for better performance, and becoming focused.
In short, it has a spectrum of courses that you can take to help you fulfill that “missing piece” of your life.
Mindvalley is not a “teach me how to make an omelet” type of learning company. It’s a “teach me to be the better version of myself” platform.
Wondering what other Mindvalley courses you should take? With 50+ courses to choose from, Ideapod’s new Mindvalley quiz will help you decide which ones are right for you.
About Jon and Missy Butcher
Jon and Missy Butcher identify as artist-entrepreneurs, and have founded dozens of companies, and help support orphanages, inner-city youth, and recovering addicts.
They have founded Purity Organic Coffee, created The Black Star (a movie about artists who have struggled with addiction) and currently own Precious Moments (a ceramic figurine company).
They have chosen to partner with Mindvalley to bring their Lifebook project to as many people as possible.
The best bit is that the course is actually the system they developed for their own personal lives.
Although they’re living their best lives now, they were once directionless and unsatisfied with what they were doing. The system they teach you has guided both of them in achieving the successes they now enjoy.
How much does Lifebook cost?
Lifebook is an interesting course on Mindvalley in that the price can be a lot cheaper than what you originally pay.
When you enroll in Lifebook you pay $500. That’s the course fee.
But, if you are able to complete your lifebook — that is the book itself (not just the course), then you can get a rebate for the course itself.
In short, the class can be free.
The catch is that you need to complete your lifebook in its entirety, and you need to complete it + apply for your rebate while the class is still in session.
The cut off dates vary depending upon when you start the class. Make sure you pay attention and follow those instructions to a T if you want that rebate.
Click here for the current best price for Lifebook.
(Note that Lifebook isn’t included in the Mindvalley annual membership. You can learn more about the Mindvalley Membership here).
Who is Lifebook for?
You’ll enjoy Lifebook if you:
- Want a step-by-step, personalised guide to change your life from your current state to a positive one that you’ve visualised
- Enjoy projects that require daily work, introspection, and planning
- Aren’t content with your current state of life, but aren’t looking for someone to give you the answers
- Are looking for a self-improvement method that has an encouraging form of self-accountability
- Have a passion for crafts.
Lifebook is a self-improvement course. It relies heavily on “manifestation theory,” meaning that if you combine a strong desire, belief in change, belief in yourself, and a plan for change; then you will achieve your desire.
Lifebook is all about making a physical version of that “visualization” — a book! If manifestation theory is something that you believe will work for you, then lifebook will be a great course for you as well.
Who won’t like it?
Lifebook isn’t for everyone.
The course is designed around putting pen to paper to craft a plan for your life that you’ll then execute. Not everyone is going to appreciate both the granularity of this approach and its emotional journey.
You probably won’t like Lifebook if:
- You’re not into self-improvement courses. Lifebook is, at its heart, a self-improvement course filled with self-improvement terminology and theories. If the word “manifest” makes you queasy, this isn’t the course for you.
- You don’t like daily work. If you’re a binger or a “do-it-when-I-want-to” type, then Lifebook might be frustrating. This course is best for people who want to do a little bit of work every day (If this is you, MasterClass might suit you more).
- Your life is where you want it. If you’re content with your life and happy with its trajectory, then there won’t be much in Lifebook for you.
My experience taking the Lifebook course
I decided to try Lifebook because I was intrigued by its promise of helping me create my own path for my life. So many self-improvement courses are based around internalizing philosophies without giving you a specific path forward.
Lifebook was all about me creating that path on my own.
I thought it was pretty novel (pun intended), and I wanted to let you know if my experience matched my expectations.
For my Lifebook review, I figured the best way to explain it is to walk you through the six-week course. Let’s take a look at the major milestones of Lifebook.
The Warm Up
Before week one, you start with week 0 (ok, it’s a warm-up), that consists of six parts. The most important of these is the assessment.
This is a 20-minute quiz that asks you different questions about all aspects of your life (based around the previously mentioned 12 life areas). These aren’t true/false or right/wrong questions. There aren’t wrong answers.
After you finish the quiz, you’re given a life quotient. It’s your base level for the course. The goal of the six weeks is to boost your score.
It’s not going to get published in any scientific journals, but it’s a nice way to measure your success.
The other exercises include an hour long welcome video, a 2+ hour F&Q, and a small video on joining the Lifebook Tribe (I’ll talk about that later).
Once you’ve checked those off your to-do list, you can officially begin with week one.
What a week looks like
Each of the six weeks focuses on two of the twelve life areas that we touched on earlier. Up first is week one, which focuses on Health + Fitness and your Intellectual Life.
There are three lessons for this week (each running over an hour). The first and second lesson are dedicated to the categories respectively, while the third lesson is an F&Q on the material you’ve covered.
Embedded into each lesson are templates for creating your lifebook. You can download them as a PDF, Word, or Pages. Each lesson gets you to write into the pre-formed template, allowing you to craft your lifebook one simple lesson at a time.
Each week, you continue to build out your lifebook through the templates. By the end of week six, you’ll have completed a 100+ page book. I found it helped to re-read and reflect on each before I moved onto the following week, just to make sure it’d all sunk in.
I also thought it was great that each page has the Butchers’ responses (which can be modified or deleted as you record down your own thoughts), so you have something to work with rather than a completely blank slate.
The next weeks go through the remaining 10 categories in the same way: two categories per week plus an F&Q as the third lesson.
The weekly F&Q
The weekly F&Q (also known as a coaching call) is either live or pre-recorded — depending upon when you take the course.
The course is live twice a year. If you sign up outside of the live times, then the F&Qs will be prerecorded, but still full of all The Butchers’ insights. Plus, you can skip forward if you find elements unhelpful.
Keep in mind you aren’t required to finish all the F&Q’s to get a refund, and each week there are four or five videos, so plenty to get through! For me, it was a little bit tough to fit it all in, given that each session was quite lengthy.
But luckily, each call has time stamps so you can skip to the parts you’re most interested in. I found the best approach was to read through the topics, then select the parts most relevant to my journey.
The post-quest assessment
At the end of week six, you’ll take another quiz — similar to the first. This one again measures your life quotient. The goal of the course is to have created a quantifiable improvement for yourself in the life quotient.
Most people who take Lifebook do see a tangible improvement, though some users have noted that their life quotient actually went down. That’s surprising!
But, I like to think that it points to the authenticity of the course. Sometimes things don’t work for everyone, and that’s okay.
Print that book!
Jon and Missy Butcher recommend that you turn that PDF lifebook into a paper-and-ink, physical manuscript. When you print out your lifebook, it becomes a very tangible plan for your life, further reinforcing its significance.
You can put it in a 3-ring binder like I did, have it spiral bound, or get it bound professionally. It’s entirely up to you.
How it helped me
The main way Lifebook has helped me is by giving me direction. I’ve always had plenty of dreams and ambitions for my life, but no real way of reaching them.
I see my lifebook as a sort of manual for my life now, which I still go back to and update as I continue to grow as a person.
And since finishing the program, I have a lot more clarity around my beliefs and feelings which makes it easier to focus on achieving what I want – less scatterbrain moments, more time to get on with the good life!
Which areas has it helped me the most?
Some areas, like the parenting lessons, weren’t as relevant to my life as say my work, health and fitness, and relationship goals. Taking the Lifebook course has helped me focus on:
- Doubling down on my work with The Expert Editor (the website you’re on now), because of the satisfaction it gives me and also for financial security.
- Committing to daily exercise and to cut out the less healthy parts of my lifestyle (less healthy = they were bad for me!)
- Improving my relationships with the people I really care about.
Even so, having to complete all parts of the course, I felt like I gained an all-around improved understanding of how each aspect contributes to a balanced lifestyle.
Now, that’s not to say I don’t still have days where motivation is low and I faff around without much productivity – who doesn’t? But having my lifebook as a constant reminder means those days happen less and less.
What do you get when you sign up for Lifebook?
When you sign up for Lifebook, you get:
- The six-week lifebook curriculum, which includes 2 lessons a week, plus weekly coaching calls with the Butchers.
- High-quality lifebook templates for each of the 12 life areas, allowing you to seamlessly create a 100+ page lifebook without complicated formatting.
- Pre and post-course assessments, showing you how you’ve improved your life quotient over 6 weeks.
- Access to the Lifebook Mindvalley tribe — an active e-community of fellow learners. It’s a great way to get answers to questions you might have about your lifebook (and it’s also a good space to show off your hard work once you’re finished!)
- Multiple ways of course access including browser, tablet, and mobile phone
- Jon Butcher’s lifebook! This way, you can see what a lifebook looks like when constructed by the master himself.
Again, if you complete the book and the course within the time frame, you can apply for a rebate, thus making the course free.
Think of all the amazing self-improvement content you could get… for free!
The pros and cons
After taking the six-week Lifebook course, there were a lot of things I liked, as well as a few things I thought could be improved. Let me break them down for you.
Pros
Jon and Missy Butcher created a unique course that’s unlike most of what Mindvalley has to offer. Here’s what I liked most about Lifebook.
- The book. A lot of Mindvalley courses are built around listening to videos and doing some journaling. They’re great for introspection, but often fall short in the “call-to-action” department. Lifebook doesn’t suffer from that. Instead, the entire course is built around making a real thing. A book! By the end of the course, you’ve created your own plan for your life. The concept is unique on Mindvalley and a really refreshing take on the self-help mindset.
- The 12 areas of life. I liked that Lifebook was broken down into 12 separate areas. It made the course feel more well-rounded and less about chasing a narrow definition of success. I believe that everyone has at least one area of their life they could improve, so having such a wide curriculum made for a pleasant learning experience.
- The assessments. I liked that these tools gave you a baseline for your life and then measured your improvement six weeks later. Seeing your life quotient rise (or fall) gave the course greater meaning.
- The rebate. The course *can* be free! You just have to complete it and apply for your rebate in time. If you do that correctly, you get a personalized life plan along with 6 coaching calls for zero dollars.
The cons
Not every single element of a course is a winner. There were a few things I wished that Jon and Missy would improve.
- The life quotient. I liked the quiz. But I didn’t understand the measurements behind the “life quotient.” There’s a vague-ish graph that shows how a population’s scores are distributed, but it was unclear who these people were or how the scores were calculated. Again, I liked seeing the progress, but I wish this were made clearer.
- Infrequency of the live course. The course isn’t offered all the time (as Jon and Missy are very busy), which means that you have to time the course correctly. Otherwise, all the coaching calls are going to be pre-recorded, which isn’t as exciting to me.
Is Lifebook a scam?
I’ve seen this question floating around about Lifebook and Mindvalley courses a lot. Is lifebook a scam? Is Mindvalley a scam?
Listen: Lifebook is going to give you the tools, templates, and coaching to design a physical plan to build yourself a better life. That is true. I’ve taken the course.
What is additionally true is that if you complete the course on time you can have your money refunded.
That doesn’t feel like a scam to me.
However, it’s also true that some of the material on Mindvalley isn’t necessarily groundbreaking and some of it isn’t grounded in measurable evidence.
You just need to know that going into these courses. Mindvalley produces high-luster self-improvement content for a premium.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Here are the answers to the questions which are being asked online about Lifebook.
What is Lifebook about?
Lifebook is a six-week course on Mindvalley taught by Jon and Missy Butcher. They work with you to help you create your own, 100-page book that maps out your goals and the type of life you want to live.
How much does it cost?
The course fee is $500. However, if you complete your own lifebook, you can get a rebate for the course itself. In short, the class can be free.
Is Lifebook worth the money?
For me, the course was absolutely worth the $500. Although nothing magic has happened in my life since I completed it, I feel more confident and assured of my choices. This is not even taking into account the potential refund on offer.
Is the refund legit?
Yes. If you create your own lifebook, you will get a refund. The catch is that you need to complete your lifebook in its entirety, and apply for your rebate while the class is still in session.
How long is the course?
Lifebook is a six-week course, comprising 21 lessons. It requires around 3-6 hours a week of work.
Who is Lifebook right for?
Lifebook is a great choice for anyone who wants a step-by-step, personalised game plan for living the type of life they truly want.
Who is it not right for?
If you’re not into self-improvement courses, you probably won’t like LifeBook. At its heart, it’s a self-improvement course filled with self-improvement terminology and theories.
Lifebook review verdict: Is it worth it?
After completing Lifebook by Jon and Missy Butcher on Mindvalley, I have to say that Lifebook is worth it for certain people.
You’re going to get a lot out of Lifebook if you’re looking for a self-help project that has a specific, achievable goal.
It’s a great course that helps you organize your life and orient your future. I particularly enjoyed the templates for the 12 life categories which help you craft your own, unique, 100-page lifebook.
When you factor in that Lifebook can be completely free if you complete the course and request your rebate within the timeframe, the course becomes even more worth it, as you gain your own personalized lifeplan for no money.
That’s an awesome deal. It was completely worth it for me.