Designing Your Life
by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
Key Concepts
Dysfunctional Beliefs
Identify and reframe limiting beliefs about career and life possibilities.
Odyssey Plans
Create three vastly different 5-year life plans to explore diverse futures.
Prototyping
Test life ideas through small, low-risk experiments and conversations.
Build Your Compass
Define your Workview and Lifeview to guide your decision-making.
Wayfinding
Use engagement and energy to navigate your path forward, rather than rigid goals.
Action Items
Actively reframe problems as design challenges with multiple solutions.
Brainstorm three distinct 5-year 'Odyssey Plans' to broaden your future vision.
Conduct small, low-risk 'prototypes' like informational interviews or mini-projects to test ideas.
Keep a 'Good Time Journal' to identify activities that energize and engage you.
Build a 'Life Compass' by articulating your Workview and Lifeview.
Core Thesis
Apply design thinking principles to intentionally build a life you love, rather than waiting for it to happen.
Mindset Shift
Life design shifts from finding 'the one right answer' to iteratively prototyping and building multiple fulfilling lives.