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Designing Your Life Summary

April 11, 2020 by Tom Goodwin

Designing Your Life applies the design process to the human lifestyle. Using techniques developed by the Stanford Life Design lab, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans explore how framing, ideation, wayfaring, prototyping and fast failure can help build a life that works for you.

Designing Your Life Summary

Designing Your Life is a practical application of design to human lifestyle choices.

Using a series of workshop techniques developed at Stanford, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans explore how the problem of deciding what to do with your life is actually fertile ground for design – and how the techniques and theories honed in the design process can be put to use to guide your path in life.

Below are some of the key insights from the book.

Key Insights 

  • Life is a ‘wicked problem’ as it resists attempts at resolution. This makes it one of the most interesting grounds for designers.
  • In life we have to start in the present as there is no point working with either the past or the future.
  • In life as in design, doing is a form of thinking as often we don’t know what solution will work until we are active in the moment (Bias for Action)
  • The technique of ‘framing’ helps us to transform Dysfunctional Beliefs into workable grounds for experimentation and curiosity.
  • In life as in design, it doesn’t matter where we end up as long as we are confident in the direction that our life is going (Wayfaring) 
  • We can look at our lives in terms of engagement and energy to determine which areas need work and which areas need further exploration.
  • In life as in design, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Most people have too many options and experience a paradox of choice.
  • In life as in design, it’s important not to fight reality by attempting to tackle a gravity problem.
  • In life as in design, we frequently mistake an emotional anchor as a fact which clouds our ability to imagine and design a better life or product.
  • We are both a human being and a human doing. We have to act in coherence with our beliefs and preferences in order to feel a sense of order and joy.
  • When analysing our lifestyle, pay particular attention to what areas bring about flow states.

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