January Book Review
Designing Your Life
I came across Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans after receiving a recommendation during our big Women's Empowerment Summit in March 2024 (and stay tuned—our next summit is just around the corner, so keep an eye on your inbox).
This book is a must-read for anyone looking to rethink how they approach life and work. It's about more than just finding happiness—it's about designing a life that's meaningful, fulfilling, and full of possibilities.
My Biggest Takeaways:
About Life: You don’t have to settle for just one “perfect” life. In fact, the beauty of life is that we have the freedom to explore multiple paths—each with its own potential for success and fulfillment. Life isn’t a black-and-white issue of right or wrong, as we’re often led to believe.
About Work: Stop searching for the “perfect” job. Instead, shift your focus to exploring multiple opportunities. The key here is abundance, not limitation. This mindset opens up a world of potential. No more feeling trapped by one path—life is full of doors waiting to be opened.
And here's the best part: there are no wrong choices. Every experience is simply a new opportunity to learn, grow, and pivot. It’s a mindset of freedom. Can you feel it?
A Designer’s Mindset: The authors encourage you to approach your life like a designer. What does this mean? It means treating your career, relationships, and even your hobbies as prototypes. Try things out, test different approaches, and pay attention to what you love and what drains you.
For example, if you're feeling burnt out at work, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to switch careers. Maybe it’s just a certain aspect of your job that needs to change. Small adjustments can lead to big improvements. It’s about experimenting, not committing to one rigid path.
Two Key Exercises I Recommend:
1. The Life Dashboard:
In Designing Your Life, the authors encourage you to evaluate your life across four key spheres, which represent areas of fulfillment and balance:
Work: How engaged and fulfilled are you in your professional life? Does it align with your values and skills?
Play: Are you allowing yourself time for fun and creativity? Are you exploring new hobbies?
Love: Are you nurturing relationships with those that matter most—family, friends, community?
Health: How well are you taking care of your physical, mental, and emotional well-being?
Then, create a "dashboard" and rate your satisfaction in each area on a scale of 1 to 10. This will help you identify which areas need attention and where you can make small changes to bring more balance into your life.
2. The Good Life Journal:
This is a simple but powerful exercise for discovering what really energizes you. Here's how to do it:
Record Your Daily Activities: Track everything you do throughout the day—work, meals, social time, hobbies, relaxation, etc.
Rate Your Energy Levels: For each activity, mark whether it boosts your energy (+), keeps you neutral (0), or drains you (–).
Note Engagement and Flow: Pay attention to activities that put you in a state of “flow” (where you lose track of time because you're so immersed). These are the activities you’re truly passionate about.
Reflect Weekly: At the end of the week, review your journal. Which activities brought you joy or drained you? Which ones felt like a waste of time? Where did you experience flow?
Ask yourself:
What activities made me feel energized and joyful?
What can I do to design my life so I can experience more of those moments?
Does It Feel Like a Lot of Work?
I get it—it might seem like a lot of effort. But trust me, it’s worth it. No matter how fast you’re moving, if you’re heading in the wrong direction, it doesn’t matter how quickly you get there. Taking time to reflect, experiment, and design your life can lead you to a path that feels authentic, joyful, and full of purpose.
Let’s find our direction, follow our passions, and create a life that’s not just good, but great. Sounds like a perfect way to kick off a new year, doesn’t it?
Book review by Angelina Platika
Career Club DK Advisory Board Member
Connect with her here.
