Designing Your Life

Designing Your Life

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated” (Confucius)

When I opened the first page of this book a few weeks ago, I immediately thought about my local library. There is a long shelf there dedicated to “Self-Help” and “Popular Psychology”. A few titles come to mind. “Power”, “Think & Grow Rich”, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, “The Happiness Project” and the slightly more explicit “You are a Badass”. Another book for this quite crowded section of my local library?

Luckily, not the case. The biography of the authors – Bill Burnett, formerly leading Apple’s PowerBook product line and Dave Evans, co-founder of Electronic Arts – and the context – the Life Design Lab at Stanford University – make this book quite different from the ones mentioned above.

The whole premise of the book is that several “Dysfunctional Beliefs” are driving people’s lives. We all are convinced they are true but, in reality, they are a pure reflection of our social norms. As Society forced us to adapt our behaviour according to those beliefs, Unhappiness is the final destination for many of us.

Classic example of “Dysfunctional Belief” is the equation “Success = Happiness”. 

The authors highlight that there are many people out there, who are highly skilled at doing things that they do not find particularly fulfilling. Nevertheless, as they invested so much time and energy to learn those skills that have made them successful, they feel trapped.

Therefore, they suggest applying very practical – and, mostly, common sense more that revolutionary – tips to “avoid this life trap”. Every situation is different and many cases are showed and discussed. However, what I found interesting is the “no frills/design-led” philosophy permeating the whole book.

It is journey made of very clear and defining moments like “Start Where You Are”, “Wayfinding”, “Prototyping”, “Design Your Dream Job”, “Failure Immunity” and, as the logical final step, “A Well-Designed Life”. You can even find the template of a “Five-Years Plan of Your Own Life” inspired – I suspect – by what in business usually called MRP (“Mid-Range Plan”), the classic 5-years business development plan.

Briefly, the authors’ no-nonsense approach makes this book unique. No hyperbolic promises of happiness, no vision of achieving the personal and professional “Nirvana”, just practical and easy ideas to apply to our life. Therefore, if you are into “self-help” and you are looking for an honest and straightforward advice, this is the book for you.

“Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking” (Marcus Aurelius)


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