Designing Your Life
How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
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4.4 • 7 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller
An inspiring and thought-provoking graduation gift: At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage
Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve.
In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.
"Designing Your Life walks readers through the process of building a satisfying, meaningful life by approaching the challenge the way a designer would. Experimentation. Wayfinding. Prototyping. Constant iteration. You should read the book. Everyone else will."
—Daniel Pink, bestselling author of Drive
“This [is] the career book of the next decade and . . . the go-to book that is read as a rite of passage whenever someone is ready to create a life they love.”
—David Kelley, Founder of IDEO
“An empowering book based on their popular class of the same name at Stanford University . . . Perhaps the book’s most important lesson is that the only failure is settling for a life that makes one unhappy. With useful fact-finding exercises, an empathetic tone, and sensible advice, this book will easily earn a place among career-finding classics.”
—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Burnett and Evans present an empowering book based on their popular class of the same name at Stanford University. At the center of their philosophy is the idea that people need a process a design to make any sort of significant life change. After encouraging readers to unflinchingly examine their own views of work and life, the authors advise readers to undertake "prototyping," a method for exploring new life directions in manageable and realistic ways. A key tool is creating a "Good Time Journal," an outline of the times when readers felt most engaged and energized. What their plan has no room for, however, is agonizing over paths not taken. "The fourth step in the process is to let go," the authors state. Perhaps the book's most important lesson is that the only failure is settling for a life that makes one unhappy. With useful fact-finding exercises, an empathetic tone, and sensible advice, this book will easily earn a place among career-finding classics.
Customer Reviews
Life changing
Luckily, the car radio was tuned to CBC, Canada's NPR. It was mid-broadcast of Tapestry's interview with one of the authors. That was at the beginning of the year.
I feel lucky because this was for a trip of less than a mile and the radio is usually off. Fortunately I was hooked by the time I reached my destination. Upon arrival I turned the ignition off, but not the radio. I remained in the car for another 20 minutes listening & taking notes - completely oblivious to winter outside as well as winter inside my barely warmed up car.
Once I figured out how to spell BURNETT, it was easy to source the podcast and listen to the whole segment. If you are on the fence between a SAMPLE and a BUY, I recommend cross-referencing CBC, Tapestry, & Burnett and having a listen. If you are not into podcasts you can stream it – CBC also links to a backgrounder from Fast Company.
I had preordered this version of the book (and do intend to get a hardcopy very soon), YET I haven't read the whole book yet. I'm confident I could write a six-star review, if that were possible, once I've read the entire book.
So yes, for a traditional review it would be premature. Why now? Vanity? Maybe. Doing this so-called review is "generative" – a term the authors use early on – consider that a tease to read at least the free sample. However, the catalyst that prompted me to start writing was the fact that I was just given the option to UPDATE this book.
The book was released on the 20th, and as I write it's the 30th. Very few publishers and authors actually bother with this feature - while I don't YET know what has changed, I do know it's changed for the better. That's worthy of some praise. Perhaps when I have the cast-in-wood version in front of me I'll be able to spot the "upgrades". Not why I'm getting a hardcopy; it's a Marshall-McLuhan the-medium-is-the-message thing. What? Same (initial) content; two different media; the medium influences how the message of the content is received. Simple really.
Tim Ferris, author of "4-hour" fame, is an exemplar of embracing UPDATING, and taking it to the next level. I want to applaud the authors of this book for increasing the value of the content over time. I want to make YOU, the reader, aware of this hidden benefit. Mission accomplished.
Authors (and the team at your publisher), keep up the great work! Readers, demand UPDATES. Let's make this the norm. Remember, the medium is the message.
Thanks all.
BWH