Designing Your Life: 8 key ideas
The core ideas of Designing Your Life, each in under a minute, written in our own words. Want the full depth? Get the book.
- IDEA 1 OF 8
Life can be designed
Burnett and Evans, who teach a popular course at Stanford, argue that the methods designers use to create products can help people plan their lives and careers.
They treat life as a design problem to explore.
- IDEA 2 OF 8
Compare views of work and life
The authors suggest writing a workview and a lifeview, short statements of what work and life mean to you.
Comparing them reveals whether they fit together. In their account, such a comparison shows where daily work and personal values pull in different directions.
- IDEA 3 OF 8
Track energy and engagement
The authors describe a Good Time Journal, noting which activities energise or drain a person.
Patterns guide choices. In their account, seeing which moments bring energy and which bring tiredness gives a person real evidence about what suits them.
- IDEA 4 OF 8
Imagine several futures
The authors describe Odyssey plans, sketching three very different possible lives for the next five years.
In their view, imagining several different paths shows that a single plan is never the only option.
- IDEA 5 OF 8
Test ideas with small steps
The authors suggest prototyping, such as talking to people in fields of interest, before committing.
In their account, a small trial gives real information about a path far more cheaply than a big leap, so decisions rest on experience instead of guesses.
- IDEA 6 OF 8
Reframe unhelpful beliefs
The authors challenge beliefs such as that there is one right passion to find.
In their view, such beliefs can hold people back, and replacing them with more useful ways of thinking can open up options.
- IDEA 7 OF 8
Choose and let go
The authors argue that after choosing, people should let go of alternatives to avoid regret.
In their view, dwelling on the options not taken drains energy and makes the chosen path feel less satisfying.
- IDEA 8 OF 8
Design is a mindset
The authors describe curiosity, action, reframing and collaboration as key mindsets.
In their view, these habits of mind help people approach big questions in a practical way. The authors see them as attitudes that can grow.
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