Designing Your Life: A designer's take on life

11 May '25

I recently received a copy of Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life. It is a book written by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans on how people can organise their lives through journalling and design thinking. It is so highly acclaimed such that there is a course offered on Designing Your Life in Stanford University, the same university where the authors teach. After having read the book, I would like to share some insights / impressions which I have gained from reading the book.

The first insight which I gained is that life does not always have to follow a series of well-laid plans. Following a designer's approach to life means seeing it as a process of trying things out and improving them step by step. It is quite an interesting take on life's plans. How many of us have been paralysed by inaction because of the fear of the unknown?

“Life designers see the adventure in whatever life they are currently and living into.” - pg. 179

The second insight which stood out to me was the idea of reframing problems. The authors used the example of reframing job search from one of finding a job to one of understanding job roles and getting offers. That way, it shifts the frame from one of 'pressure' to one of understanding and learning.

There is also the concept of anchor ⚓️ problems, which are problems that are so 'heavy', just like an anchor, that there is nothing much which can be done. An example would be the current trade war problem. As we can do nothing about it, we can reframe the problem to one which can be managed.

The book offers a set of useful tools that can be used by both students and adults to design / plan their lives. In my opinion, is a book that is worth reading. I would give it ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️. Give it a read. You never know what you might gain from it.