Designing Your Life: An In-Depth Guide to Designing a Life That Fits

the greatest value of this book is not to tell you: <<

what career you should choose.

<< >> address a deeper problem:

When a person doesn't know what they should do, what should they do?

these are two completely different issues.

many people, when lost in life, enter a state of endless reflection:

What exactly do I like?

What is the true meaning of my life?

Did I pick the wrong major?

should I resign?

is there a career that suits me better, but I haven't found one yet? <<

the results and thinking about it for a year, there was still no answer.

the answer given by "Designing Your Life" is very important: <<

confused, you shouldn't keep thinking more, but rather experiment.

this may be one of the most memorable principles in the entire book.

many people subconsciously have a hypothesis: <<

there is a career in the world that suits me best.

<< >> for example: <<

• doctor <<
• programmer <<
• designer <<
• entrepreneur <<
• teacher <<
• investors <<
• writer

one of them is the "real me."

So our task became:

Finding that correct answer.

This causes enormous psychological pressure.

Because it means:

If you choose wrong even once,

your life could be ruined.

But the author proposes a completely different viewpoint

A person usually does not have:

The only correct life.

It is more likely that there exist:

Many types of lives that can be lived quite well.

For example, one who likes:

• Research
• Writing
• Helping others
• Freedom
• Knowledge

Person of.

He may become:

University professor.

May also become:

Science journalist.

May also become:

Consultant.

May also run an knowledge-based website.

May also start an educational venture.

May also write books.

There may be a dozen or even dozens of combinations.

Therefore, the real question is not:

Which one is the real me?

But:

Which life versions are worth me trying?

This is the first major shift in the entire way of thinking.

Traditional planning is similar to construction engineering:

First, set a goal.

Then make a route plan.

Then execute it.

For example:

Work at 25

Become a manager at 30

Buy a house at 35

Become a director at 40

Retire at 50

The problem is:

The real world is extremely complex.

You don’t know:

• Whether the industry will change;
• Whether the company will go bankrupt;
• Whether AI will change your career;
• Whether your own interests will change;
• Whether your family situation will change;
• Whether there will be unexpected opportunities;
• Whether new countries, cities, or industries will attract you.

Therefore, a thirty-year plan is often an illusion.

Design thinking has a different logic

Designers usually don’t say:

Let me design the perfect product in the world in one go.

They usually:

① Identify the problem

↓

② Propose several possible solutions

↓

③ Quickly make prototypes

↓

④ Let real users test

↓

⑤ Get feedback

↓

⑥ Make modifications

↓

⑦Test Again

Life can be like this too.

Therefore:

Plan your life

Becomes:

Design your life.

This is the root of the whole book's thinking.

Burnett has long taught product design, so essentially this book is:

Design Thinking → Life Design

The author particularly emphasizes several designer mindsets.

Roughly it can be understood as:

Curiosity

Don't rush to judge.

Ask:

What happens if I try?

Action-oriented

Don't just keep analyzing forever.

Do a small experiment.

Reframe problems

Sometimes the real problem is not that the answer can't be found,

But:

you asked the wrong question.

Stay aware of the process

Keep observing:

• What works?
• What doesn’t work?
• What did I learn?

Collaborate with others

Life design is not done by one person in a room.

Interaction with others itself is an exploration tool.

Later you will see, this is extremely important.

Why do many people's life plans fail?

Because we don't start planning from the actual situation, but from:

the kind of person I want to be

we start planning.

For example:

In reality, a person:

• doesn't like competition;
• doesn't like socializing;
• doesn't like selling;
• has a very low risk tolerance;

but sees entrepreneurs being very successful, so thinks:

I want to start a business.

The first thing to do here is not a business plan.

But:

Understand what state you are actually in right now.

The book has a very practical way of thinking:

Observe several important areas.

Roughly, it can be understood as:

Health

Not just the body.

It also includes:

• mental state;
• sleep;
• emotions;
• energy.

Work

Includes:

• career;
• learning;
• creation;
• meaningful labor.

Entertainment

Things done purely for joy.

Note:

Not:

For making money.

Not:

For self-improvement.

Not:

For exercise.

But:

Because of love.

Many adults have almost lost this part.

Love / Relationships

Includes:

• Family;
• Partner;
• Friends;
• Community.

An interesting question is:

If each of the four areas is 100 points,

how much do you have now?

For example:

You will soon realize:

Life problems are often not just one sentence:

I am unhappy.

But a specific system is out of balance.

The hardest thing for people to handle is:

Vague dissatisfaction.

For example:

My life isn’t quite right.

This is unsolvable.

But if it becomes:

Work 40 points.

Further break it down:

Why?

You may find:

The salary is good.

Colleagues are good.

But:

The work itself gives no sense of involvement at all.

Then the real question may not be:

Should I resign?

But:

How do I find work content that gives me a sense of involvement?

The question suddenly becomes manageable.

This is a part of the book that is easily overlooked but actually very important.

The author asks you to consider two questions.

Workview: Why do you work?

It is not asking:

What work do you do?

But:

What does work mean to you?

The possible answers can be completely different.

For example, A:

Work is mainly to earn money so I can live the life I want.

B：

Work is creating value.

C：

Work is proving my ability.

D：

Work is helping others.

E：

Work is part of my identity.

There is no single correct answer.

Further asking:

What makes life worth living?

Some people may value:

• Family;
• Freedom;
• Achievement;
• Wealth;
• Exploration;
• Religion;
• Knowledge;
• creation;
• Serving others.

The author emphasizes a concept:

Coherence — consistency.

In other words:

Is your way of working basically consistent with what you consider a valuable life?

For example:

A person's Lifeview is:

Family and freedom are the most important.

But their work:

• 80 hours a week;
• Frequent business trips;
• Working on weekends as well;

Then even with a high annual salary, long-term conflict is likely.

Conversely:

A person places great importance on:

Achievement, competition, influence.

But chooses extremely repetitive work for "stability."

They may also be unhappy.

This is a very important correction this book makes to modern career views.

We often hear a phrase:

Follow your passion.

Find your passion.

And then pursue it.

It sounds very nice.

The problem is:

Many people do not even know what their passion is.

Especially around the age of 20.

Even at 30 or 40, they may still not know.

Thus, "finding passion" instead becomes a source of stress:

Why does everyone else have dreams, but I don't?

The author's viewpoint is more realistic

In many cases, it's not:

Passion → Career

But:

Experience → Skill → Engagement → Meaning → Passion

In other words:

Passion is oftensomething you create。

not something you discover in advance.

For example

A college student said:

I don't know what I like.

Traditional advice:

Think carefully about your passions.

Designing Your Life：

Try five different jobs.

For example:

• One day at a consulting firm;
• One day at a startup;
• One day at an NGO;
• One day in data analysis;
• One day as a product manager.

Then observe:

Which job makes you:

• Lose track of time?
• Want to continue?
• Feel more energized?

Realistic feedback is much more reliable than imagination.

The author uses a very interesting idea:

Wayfinding。

Roughly similar to navigation in sailing:

Constantly finding direction based on real-world cues.

Life has no GPS.

It's hard for you to input:

The life most suitable for me.

And then get a route.

But life will constantly give you signals.

The two most important signals are:

Engagement

Engagement.

Energy

Energy.

Recall the past month.

When do you:

Look at the time and realize two hours have passed?

For example:

• Writing programs;
• Making PPTs;
• Chatting with clients;
• Analyzing data;
• Fixing things;
• Looking up information;
• Teaching others;
• Cooking;
• Writing articles.

This state is very close to what psychology calls:

Flow.

This usually indicates:

The activity matches your skill set or interests.

This is even more important than 'like or dislike.'

<< >> for example: <<

Some people are very good at meetings.

But every time after a meeting:

They are exhausted.

Some people have good technical skills,

But after coding for a day:

Their spirit is drained.

On the contrary:

Discussing business models with others for two hours:

The more they talk, the more excited they get.

This kind of signal is very worth observing.

The author suggests recording your daily activities.

I highly recommend it.

It can be simplified as:

Record continuously for two or three weeks.

You might see for the first time:

What kind of work you truly like.

For example, MBTI tells you:

You are an INTJ.

So you start looking for:

What jobs are suitable for INTJs?

The problem is:

The work environment is extremely complex.

Two positions both called "Product Manager":

At one company, the work may be:

• Meetings;
• Coordination;
• Communication.

At another company, it may be:

• Data;
• Strategy;
• Product analysis.

The differences are very large.

And behavior records directly tell you:

Which actual activities give you energy.

This is first-hand data.

The author provides a set of observation frameworks.

It can be understood as breaking down an activity from several angles.

Activities

What exactly are you doing?

Environments

Where are you?

Office?

Cafe?

Outdoors?

Quiet environment?

Interactions

Who are you interacting with?

Alone?

One-on-one?

Team?

Strangers?

Objects

What are you using?

Computer?

Data?

Tools?

Text?

Machines?

Users

Who are you serving with your work?

Clients?

Students?

Patients?

Companies?

Consumers?

This method is very important.

Because many people mistakenly conclude:

I like photography.

Actually, what you might like is not photography.

But:

Explore the city alone + observe the environment + create works.

This way, your potential career is far beyond just being a photographer.

Reframing：

Redefining the problem.

Sometimes people get stuck because the problem itself cannot be solved.

For example:

How can I make my boss a good boss?

The problem is:

You cannot control your boss.

Therefore, this is not a good design problem.

It can be changed to:

How can I reduce this boss’s impact on my life?

Suddenly, solutions increase:

• Change department;
• Change company;
• Change cooperation method;
• Reduce contact;
• Increase bargaining power;
• Find a new job.

This is a concept especially worth remembering in this book.

Some so-called problems are actually like:

Gravity.

You don’t like it,

but you cannot change it.

For example:

I am already 45, and I wish I could go back to 25 and choose my major again.

This is not a problem.

This is a reality condition.

What is a real problem?

A good design problem must have:

Actionability.

For example:

Problem of errors:

Why don't I have a wealthy family?

Change to:

Without family capital, how can I increase my income and assets?

Problem of errors:

Why has the AI era arrived?

Change to:

Which abilities will become more valuable in the AI era?

The former creates anxiety.

The latter creates action.

Because in reality, much of people's suffering comes from:

repeatedly thinking about variables they cannot change.

<< >> for example: <<

• Age;
• Family background;
• Educational history;
• Time already spent;
• Career choices already made.

Design Thinking asks you:

What can still be designed now?

This is actually a very pragmatic way of thinking.

Another core principle of life design:

Increase choices, rather than immediately choosing.

Many people say:

I don't know what my next job should be.

Then they start fixating on one answer.

Design Thinking, on the other hand:

First generate:

20 answers.

Don't rush to judge.

Because the human brain has a very serious problem:

premature closure

Stopping the search too early.

For example:

You don't like your current job.

The first idea in my mind:

Open a coffee shop.

So I started researching coffee shops.

But in reality, there might also be:

• Freelance;
• Switch to sales;
• Change company;
• Change industry;
• Create websites;
• Consulting;
• Training;
• Work abroad;
• E-commerce;
• Internal job transfer within the company.

If you do not generate a wide range of options,

you are very likely to:

perform deep optimization on a randomly chosen option.

This is very risky.

The book uses mind maps to help generate options.

For example, write in the center:

"I like traveling."

Expand outward:

Travel →

Culture

→History

→Cuisine

→Hotels

→Airlines

→Photography

→Content Creation

→International Business

→Language

Then continue to expand:

Hotel →

Operations

→Investment

→Marketing

→Consulting

→OTA

→Hotel Technology

Suddenly you will realize:

"Liking travel" does not mean:

Becoming a travel blogger.

It could lead to dozens of career paths.

This is one of the most valuable tools in the whole book.

The author lets you design:

Three completely different five-year futures.

Note:

Not Plan A + Plan B backup.

But:

Three lives all worth serious consideration.

Assume:

Continuing the current main direction.

What will the next five years look like?

For example:

Currently a programmer.

May become:

programmer <<

→Senior Engineer

→Tech Lead

→Technical Manager.

Assume the first path suddenly disappears.

For example:

If this industry disappears tomorrow, what should I do?

A programmer might design:

Data consulting.

Product management.

AI entrepreneurship.

Technical training.

Assume:

Money, social evaluation, and status pressure are temporarily not an issue.

What would you do?

Some people might write:

• Open a restaurant;
• Live in South America;
• Write history books;
• Open a diving shop;
• Make documentaries;
• Study animals;
• Be a teacher.

The focus is not:

Resigning tomorrow to do it.

But to discover:

The interests suppressed by you.

Because if you only design one life,

The brain will automatically generate:

This is the correct answer.

Once you do three,

Your psychological state will change:

Life can have many versions.

This can reduce:

Choice anxiety.

Suppose your three versions are:

A：

Entering a big company to reach management.

B：

Becoming a consulting advisor.

C：

Open your own store.

You may find that three versions appear together:

Autonomy.

This indicates that what is truly important may not be the industry,

But:

but that you want strong autonomy.

Or all three versions:

International travel.

Then the real need may be:

An international lifestyle.

This is more important than the job title.

People often think what they want is:

A position.

Actually, what you may really want is:

• Freedom;
• Status;
• Money;
• creation;
• Social connections;
• Influence;
• Stability;
• Exploration.

A position is just one way to achieve these needs.

So don’t just ask:

What do I want to do?

Also ask:

Behind that career, what do I really want to get?

If I were to choose the single most important word from the entire book,

I would probably choose:

A product designer does not directly produce a million units.

But:

First, make a very cheap prototype.

See how users respond.

Life is the same.

For example, someone thinks:

I want to open a restaurant.

Then:

Quit their job.

Borrow money.

Rent a store.

Renovate.

Invest about $92,000.

Half a year later they realize:

They like cooking, but really hate running a restaurant.

Huge loss.

First, make a low-cost prototype.

For example:

Step one:

Talk with three restaurant owners.

Step two:

Help at a friend's restaurant for a day.

Step three:

Part-time on weekends for a month.

Step four:

Do a small-scale pop-up.

Step five:

Then consider opening a real store.

This is:

Prototype Experience

Prototype experience.

You don't necessarily have to do it yourself.

You can first find:

People who are already living in that future.

For example, you want to become:

Hotel manager.

Don't just Google:

What is a hotel manager like?

Directly talk to three hotel managers:

How do you spend a day?

What is the most painful part of the job?

What is the happiest part?

What kind of people are not suitable?

How does income grow?

If you had to choose again, would you do it?

This kind of information is extremely valuable.

Assume you are considering:

• Consulting;
• IT；
• Real estate;
• Finance;
• Sales.

Traditional method:

Read 100 articles online.

Designing Your Life：

Find separately:

3 real practitioners.

15 people.

Talk for 30 minutes.

Might be better than:

Watch 100 hours of career introduction

is more effective.

Because what you get is:

real-world data.

This is where many people misuse it.

Mistake:

I want to be a product manager, so I need to find evidence that being a product manager suits me.

Correct:

I don't know if a product manager is suitable for me, so I want to experiment.

The purpose of a prototype is not:

validation

But:

learning。

For example:

After experiencing the consulting industry, you find:

I hate frequent business trips.

This is not a failure.

But a very successful experiment.

Because you may have spent only:

Two days.

To avoid:

Two years of a wrong career.

It can be understood as:

Using low-cost experiments to reduce high-cost mistakes.

Assume:

Direct career change cost = 2 years.

While one career interview cost = 1 hour.

If 20 interviews can avoid one wrong career change,

The return is extremely high.

Another very realistic point in the career part of this book is:

Many job opportunities are not generated through:

See job posting → Submit resume → Interview

This simple process.

A large number of opportunities come from:

• Friends;
• Former colleagues;
• Industry connections;
• Informational interviews;
• Weak tie networks;
• People who are introduced.

So the author highly values:

Interpersonal networks.

Networking is not:

Knowing rich people.

Nor is it:

Flattering others.

The author prefers to understand it as:

Entering an ecosystem you are interested in.

For example, if you want to enter the robotics industry.

You can:

• Attend conferences;
• Attend Meetups;
• Talk to engineers;
• Reach out to startups;
• Participate in projects;
• Go to exhibitions;
• Join communities.

Gradually move from:

People outside the industry

Becomes:

To a node within this network.

But:

How did you enter this industry?

What do you mainly do every day?

If you were starting over now, how would you enter?

These questions carry little pressure.

But they often naturally generate:

• Information;
• Contacts;
• Recommendations;
• Opportunities.

Because the real professional world is:

a network of relationships + a network of information.

Many opportunities, before they are officially public,

are already circulating within circles.

Therefore, life design emphasizes:

radical collaboration。

Do not design your life alone.

When you have multiple good options,

a new problem arises:

Which one to choose?

Many people think:

As long as you gather more information,

In the end, it can be 100% certain.

The author believes this is often unrealistic.

Because major life decisions usually involve:

uncertainty that cannot be eliminated.

For example:

Company A and Company B,

you can never know in advance:

• which boss is better;
• which team will change;
• which company will have better future development;
• what you will like three years from now.

But:

and then making a choice after having enough information, and then committing.

This is a very mature way of thinking about decision-making.

can summarize the methods in the book as:

①Create choices

Generate options。

②Narrow down choices

Reduce options。

③Choose

Choose。

④Let go of other choices

Let go。

The fourth step is very important.

For example, after choosing Company A:

Every day looking at Company B employees on LinkedIn:

Is B better?

After choosing Tokyo:

Constantly thinking:

Would I be more successful if I went to Shanghai?

After getting married:

Continuing to fantasize:

Is there someone more suitable?

This can be understood in psychology as:

counterfactual thinking

Continuously constructing parallel worlds.

Not because:

Those paths are necessarily bad.

But because:

Life cannot experience all possibilities at once.

Mature choices include:

Accepting opportunity costs.

The real problem in life is not:

Whether there is an optimal solution?

But:

But whether you are willing to commit to a good enough solution.

Because any life includes:

• Gaining;
• Give up.

This is a point I strongly agree with in this book.

Suppose three professions:

Which one is the best?

There is no single answer.

Because essentially, this is:

A multi-objective optimization problem.

And in life, various indicators often conflict with each other.

Higher income may mean:

Less freedom.

Higher stability may mean:

Slower growth.

More risk may mean:

Higher danger.

So the ultimate question becomes:

Which price are you willing to pay?

The book also has a very important theme:

How not to be destroyed by failure.

The worldview of designers is completely different from the exam world.

Exams:

Mistake = Failure.

Design:

Mistake = Data.

If a prototype fails,

it means:

you discovered that a plan doesn’t work.

This is very valuable information.

Some failures are just:

operational mistakes

For example:

forgetting to submit an application.

The process should be corrected.

Some belong to:

inherent weaknesses

For example:

you may never be a particularly extroverted person.

They can be managed, rather than fantasized to be completely eliminated.

And some are:

growth opportunities

For example:

no one buys your startup product.

You can study:

• Was the positioning wrong?
• Was the customer wrong?
• Was the pricing wrong?
• Was the channel wrong?

This kind of failure can be transformed into learning.

If a person thinks:

failure proves I lack ability.

He will reduce attempts.

Reducing attempts →

reduces feedback →

learning speed decreases →

it becomes increasingly difficult to find the right direction.

But if one thinks:

failure is an experimental result.

He will continue to try.

So it forms:

Try

→ Feedback

→ Learn

→ Adjust

→ Better try.

This is a completely different life growth curve.

Many things in life are:

Information that cannot be obtained through pure thinking.

<< >> for example: <<

Can you become a salesperson?

You can think for 100 hours.

But the amount of information from one real sales experience may be more.

Do you prefer living in Tokyo or Bangkok?

You can watch 1000 videos.

But actually living there for one month:

The answer is completely different.

It does not say:

Do not think.

But:

Do not use thinking to solve problems that must be solved through experience.

This is a very important distinction.

Suppose a 28-year-old person:

Currently works as an administrative staff in an ordinary company.

Salary is average.

Not disliked, but also not liked.

He says:

I do not know what I really want to do.

The traditional route might be:

Take a career test.

Look at career rankings.

Keep thinking.

Designing Your Life route

Step one

Record activities for three weeks.

Discover:

Organize Excel:

So-so.

Write reports:

Dislike it.

Negotiate with suppliers:

Very engaged.

Help new employees:

Very energized.

Step two

Analysis.

You may find:

Personal Preferences:

Interpersonal Interaction + Problem Solving + Negotiation.

Step 3

Generate Careers.

Possibilities:

• B2B Sales;
• Procurement;
• Headhunting;
• Customer Success;
• Consulting;
• Real estate;
• Business Development.

Step 4

Talk to people in each industry.

Step 5

Participate in relevant projects.

Step 6

Try internal transfers or side jobs.

Step 7

Decide based on feedback.

This is called:

Design your life.

Not:

Guessing life.

Many people ask:

Am I suitable for starting a business?

This is actually a terrible question.

Because "starting a business" includes dozens of different states.

A better experiment:

Prototype 1

Sell something once.

Prototype 2

Make a small website.

Prototype 3

Try to find 10 customers.

Prototype 4

Run a weekend project.

If even:

Finding the first customer

Is extremely unpleasant,

That might indicate certain forms of entrepreneurship are not suitable for you.

On the contrary:

You find yourself:

Getting more excited the more you find customers, solve problems, and design products.

This is a very valuable signal.

For example, a person wants to:

Live in Thailand.

Traditional method:

Repeatedly watch YouTube.

Watch others say:

Living costs in Bangkok are low.

And then fantasize that you will definitely enjoy it.

Design thinking

Don't move permanently immediately.

First:

Prototype

Live for 1 month.

Then test:

• Work efficiency;
• Social connections;
• Healthcare;
• Transportation;
• Climate;
• Diet;
• Degree of loneliness;
• Visa;
• Actual living costs.

This way:

Dream

Becomes:

Data.

Many people understand life decisions as:

irreversible decision

Irreversible decisions.

In fact, the vast majority are not.

For example:

Changing jobs.

Can change again.

Cities.

Can move again.

Industries.

Can switch again.

Entrepreneurship.

Can stop.

Learning.

Can start again.

But people, because:

What if I choose wrong?

Do not take action.

Designing Your Life reminds us:

Many choices are actually:

reversible experiments。

Reversible experiments.

This will greatly reduce psychological stress.

Many self-help books imply a philosophy:

There is a true self inside your body.

Your task is:

to uncover it.

Designing Your Life is closer to:

The self is continuously formed through action.

You are not:

finding yourself.

But to a certain extent:

creating yourself.

This is a very significant philosophical difference.

A person's professional identity usually is not:

suddenly awakened one day.

But:

Trying something

↓

gaining a little ability

↓

receiving others' recognition

↓

forming identity

↓

investing more

↓

shaping professional identity.

Therefore:

Am I this kind of person?

Most of the time, this is the wrong question.

A better question is:

Am I willing to try to become this kind of person?

For example:

A person studied law for 6 years.

Finally discovered:

Dislikes lawyers.

He might think:

I've studied for so long, I can't give up now.

This is typical:

Sunk Cost Fallacy — the fallacy of sunk costs.

Past investments cannot determine the future.

The real question should be:

Starting today, which path is more worthwhile for the next 10 years?

Of course, in reality:

Education, debt, and family all impose constraints.

So it’s not about:

Starting over completely.

But:

But about how to gradually redesign.

This is especially important.

Many people, after reading similar self-help books, tend to think:

I want to pursue my dream, I’ll quit tomorrow!

This is actually opposite to the spirit of this book.

Design thinking tends to:

Test first, then commit.

For example:

Want to be a photographer?

Start taking orders on weekends.

Want to start a business?

First find customers.

Want to be a writer?

Write consistently for six months first.

Want to live abroad?

Try short-term residence first.

It seems this book encourages exploration.

In fact, the methodology is very rational:

Small bets in exchange for big information.

You can view life exploration as:

Option Value

Option value.

You spend very little cost:

To obtain a future choice.

Don’t lightly bet 1 million yuan to verify a hypothesis that can be verified with 10,000 yuan.

Similarly:

Don’t spend:

Three years earning a degree,

Just to confirm:

Whether you like that industry.

It’s better to first:

Talk to three practitioners.

It doesn’t tell you:

Having money equals a good life.

Nor does it tell you:

Doing what you love is a good life.

It emphasizes more:

Coherence

What you believe.

What you do.

How you live.

Among these three:

There is basic consistency.

For example:

A person values most:

• Family;
• Time freedom;
• Physical health.

But for identity and income:

In the long term:

• 80-hour workweek;
• Cannot spend time with children;
• Chronic lack of sleep.

From the perspective of social standards:

Successful.

From his Lifeview perspective:

Possibly a failure.

What a person truly values greatly:

• Achievement;
• creation;
• Competition;
• Influence.

Yet because others tell him:

Ease is most important.

He chooses a life with no challenge at all.

It may not necessarily be happy.

Thus, there is no universal formula for life.

It does not say:

As long as you are happy, that’s enough.

Nor does it say:

Just work hard, that’s enough.

It genuinely asks:

What kind of system do you want to build?

And then approach it gradually through experiments.

Cal Newport emphasizes:

Do not blindly pursue passion; first build rare skills.

《Designing Your Life》：

When uncertain about the direction, discover worthwhile directions through experiments.

Combining the two is very powerful.

It can be understood as:

Designing Your Life solves:

Where to go?

So Good They Can't Ignore You solves:

How to become stronger after getting there?

David Epstein's "Range" emphasizes:

In many complex fields, extensive early exploration is not wasted.

Designing Your Life provides:

How to explore.

Both oppose:

Deciding your life direction at age 18.

"Atomic Habits" solves:

After knowing what you want to do, how to keep acting.

"Designing Your Life" solves:

What to do if you have no idea what you want?

Therefore, they are at different stages.

It can be understood as:

Life Design → Finding direction

Atomic Habits → Building systems

The core of "Make It Stick" is:

How to truly learn and remember knowledge.

Life Design is more like:

How to choose a life direction that is worth learning and investing in.

One solution:

Learning efficiency.

One solution:

Learning direction.

This book is especially suitable for the following types of people.

① Around 20 years old, unsure about career direction

Don't force yourself to find:

A lifelong mission.

You should:

Increase experience.

② Feeling something is wrong after working for a few years

Don't immediately ask:

Should I resign?

Analyze first:

Exactly what is wrong.

③ People who want to change careers

Don't:

Old industry → directly jump to a new industry.

Prototype first.

④ People who want to start a business

Don't quit first.

Test first:

Whether customers exist.

⑤ People in their 30s, 40s, 50s who are replanning their lives

Particularly important points in the book:

Life can be redesigned multiple times.

There is no rule:

That it can only be designed once at 20.

Understanding its limitations is equally important.

Designing life sounds very free.

But in reality:

A person may have:

• A mortgage;
• Children;
• Parents;
• Medical needs;
• Visa restrictions;
• Debt.

In this case:

Exploring what one likes

is very costly.

So ordinary people had better add a principle:

Exploration must comply with cash flow security.

Before designing life, first clarify:

Cost of living

Minimum amount per month?

Safety reserve

How many months of cash?

Income bottom line

Cannot be lower than how much?

Risk tolerance

How long can failures be tolerated?

Then design.

You might test and find:

You really enjoy writing poetry.

But that does not mean:

Writing poetry can become a full-time profession.

Therefore, career design is best to meet three conditions:

I am willing to do it

*

I can do it well

*

The market is willing to pay

The greater the overlap of the three,

the stronger the career sustainability.

For example:

You go to a coffee shop to experience one day.

Feel:

Very interesting.

But actually running a coffee shop is:

• Getting up early every day;
• Hiring people;
• Scheduling;
• Rent;
• Inventory;
• Complaints;
• Taxes;
• Profit margins.

A one-day experience cannot fully represent long-term life.

So Prototypes should:

Gradually increase realism.

For example, if you want to open a restaurant:

Level 1

Talk with the owner.

↓

Level 2

Observe for a day.

↓

Level 3

Part-time work.

↓

Level 4

Pop-up store.

↓

Level 5

Small-scale operation.

↓

Level 6

Actually open a store.

The further you go:

The higher the cost.

But the better the quality of information.

This is a method I highly recommend.

<< >> for example: <<

Having children.

Certain marriage decisions.

Certain large investments.

Certain major medical decisions.

These cannot be fully prototyped.

At this time, Design Thinking can only help with:

Collecting information, simulating scenarios, interviewing real experiencers.

But it cannot eliminate:

Irreversibility.

This is also a potential danger.

If a person continuously:

Prototype → Prototype → Prototype

May become:

Never commits.

Tries photography today.

Tries entrepreneurship tomorrow.

Tries programming the day after tomorrow.

Five years later:

They will achieve nothing.

Therefore, life needs two stages:

Exploration

Exploration.

Exploitation

Utilization and deepening.

After finding a good direction,

One must start:

Long-term investment.

Exploration is not the purpose of life; the purpose of exploration is to find something worth long-term investment.

When a direction already:

• Has interest;
• Has ability;
• Has market;
• Has growth;
• Fits lifestyle;

Then one should:

Start digging deeper.

Otherwise, it will become:

"Choice Addiction."

Transform it into a practical operating system by following these steps.

Rate four areas:

Then ask:

Which area needs design the most?

About one page is enough.

Answer:

• Why work?
• How important is money?
• How important is achievement?
• Is work the core of life?
• What should work provide?

Answer:

• What kind of life is worth living?
• What really matters to me?
• How to prioritize money, freedom, family, experiences, contribution?
• If I look back at 80, what do I want to have happened?

Ask:

Does my current life align with these values?

Record continuously for three weeks:

Engagement

0–5。

Energy

−3 to +3.

Not looking for:

I like sales.

Rather, be more specific:

I like discussing complex problems one-on-one with smart clients.

This kind of description is valuable.

Do not judge.

For example:

• Industry;
• Position;
• City;
• Entrepreneurship;
• Side job;
• learning;
• Project.

Design separately:

Life A

Continue the current path.

Life B

Completely switch to a different path.

Life C

If social evaluation and money temporarily did not limit me.

For example:

All three plans have:

• Internationalization;
• Autonomy;
• learning;
• Business.

Then these possibilities might be:

Your core design variables.

Each route at least:

3 Conversations

With real practitioners.

1 Experience

Actual experience.

Priority selection:

High information value + low cost + reversible.

Do not ask:

Did I fail?

Ask:

What did I learn?

For each Odyssey Plan, it is recommended to add the following scores:

This will make Life Design more realistic.

Ask:

Will this path increase my future choices or reduce them?

For example:

Learning AI + Sales + English,

may increase many future options.

But entering extremely narrow and declining industry positions,

may decrease future options.

Especially in youth, one should pay attention to:

Making oneself have more choice in the future.

A more reasonable approach is to look for:

High learning density + transferable skills + high-quality network + good industry growth

work.

Because it can provide the future:

more Odyssey Plans.

Ultimately, the whole method can be condensed into:

Observe yourself

↓

Define the problem

↓

Generate multiple possibilities

↓

Design small experiments

↓

Enter the real world

↓

Get feedback

↓

Update your self-understanding

↓

Redesign

↓

Gradually invest

↓

Redesign according to life changes

It does not have a true sense of:

completion.

But:

Planning means:

I already know the destination.

Designing means:

I need to constantly discover the destination.

This difference is actually the whole book.

The most worth keeping long-term is:

1. There is no single correct life.
2. Do not wait to discover passion; many passions come after action.
3. When you don't know what you like, observe your sense of engagement and energy.
4. Do not try to solve the 'gravity problem.'
5. Add plans when stuck, rather than analyze a plan harder.
6. Always be ready with multiple future versions.
7. Do low-cost prototypes as much as possible before major decisions.
8. Real experiences are more reliable than fantasies.
9. Failures should produce information.
10. Once a choice is made, you must invest in it, rather than always comparing parallel lives.

Even if you forget most of it in a few years, remembering the following three points is enough.

First:

You don't need to find the one correct life.

This can solve a lot of life anxiety.

Second:

Answers that cannot be obtained through thinking must be obtained through experiments.

This can solve a lot of career confusion.

Third:

Test on a small scale first, then invest on a large scale.

This can avoid a lot of expensive life mistakes.

On the surface:

It talks about:

How to find a job.

In reality:

It teaches:

How a person should act when the future cannot be predicted.

Traditional thinking requires:

Decide first, act later.

But in life, many things are precisely:

You can only be certain after taking action.

So a truly mature strategy is not:

Eliminate all uncertainty.

But:

In uncertainty, continuously acquire information through low-risk experiments.

This already goes beyond career planning.

It can be applied to:

• Work;
• Entrepreneurship;
• Relocation;
• learning;
• Relationships;
• Lifestyle;
• Side job;
• Interests;
• Retirement planning.

If you roughly divide life planning books into two categories:

One tells you:

What kind of life you should have.

The other tells you:

How to discover the life that suits you yourself.

'Designing Your Life' obviously belongs to the latter.

And this is also its most valuable aspect.

It does not attempt to give everyone a single unified answer:

Find your passion.

Entrepreneurship.

Pursue wealth.

Pursue freedom.

Do meaningful work.

What it truly provides is a set of:

Therefore, this book is better viewed as:

An experimental approach to life, not a life answer.

What it teaches you is not:

Who I want to become?

But to rewrite this huge, anxiety-inducing question into:

What small experiment can I do next to better understand who I want to become?

This change seems small, but in fact, it is a change in the entire way of thinking.

Because the first question may make a person think for five years.

The second question may make them:

Start acting tomorrow.

And many life answers

Ultimately are not figured out by thinking.

They are discovered by living.