Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

Bill Burnett · Dave Evans

Sep 2016 · Sold by Knopf

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times

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.

Ratings and reviews

I believe we live in an artisan economy (for the middle class anyway). I know there is controversy to that belief and I understand those objections but it's what I believe. This book applies concepts in "art" to your life, mostly your career, but also to other aspects of your life as well, that your life is constantly being sculpted and then broken down, a work in progress. I got it on interlibrary loan and proceeded to buy it for reference. The section were he describes your career goal being to not land your dream job but rather to get as many job offers as possible (and continue to get them) gives you motive to have a different set of preferable problems rather than the problems you are used to (I am not relevant in the market, I'm stuck, I'm burn out). It's worth a read and worth a buy.

I thought I was stuck. I wondered about past decisions, never being satisfied because I might not have chosen the "right" life for myself. This book gave me practical advice and exercises to help me realize that there is no such thing as the right life, just the live I chose. And I chose pretty well! This book gave me next steps to keep designing my life forward and to help my teenaged children make more informed choices to help them design their lives! Thank you for this book!!

I have a fair number of psychology courses under my belt from my college days and some good readings since, but this work is excellent. I sent a copy to each of my adult children. I think one of the secrets is that it is born from another discipline so has a new and fresh prospective. I highly recommend this read. Blake Bailey atty.

About the author

BILL BURNETT is the executive director of the Design Program at Stanford.

DAVE EVANS is an adjunct lecturer in the Product Design Program at Stanford, a management consultant, and a co-founder of Electronic Arts

www.designingyour.life