Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life Hardcover – 20 September 2016

Excellent book for creating a fulfilling career and life .. the roadmaps given are simple and elegant, very easy to understand, thank you 😊

Excellent book.

Ok

Very nice

Overrated and disappointing. Perhaps needs something more apt for the UK but even then I’m not too sure. It’s pribably good for a teen. Well branded and great on line support. If you see someone who has NEVER self-reflected then this would be a dream so I’m perhaps my expectations were too high. So may regift it.

This book is a good introduction to applying design thinking to life planning, with an emphasis on careers. The content below includes my interpretation of the book's chapters and key ideas. It is my intent that the review kindles your interest and spurs you on to buy the book.Chapter 1. Start Where You AreThe authors advise readers to accept what you can't change, avoiding so-called "gravity problems," which, by their very nature, cannot be changed.Chapter 2. Building a CompassThis chapter discusses one's Workview (the reason one works) and Lifeview (areas that give life meaning), and encourage readers to align the two to form a Life Compass.Chapter 3. WayfindingThe book defines Wayfinding as figuring out where to go when the destination is not known. The authors emphasize engagement and energy in finding one's way in work and in life.Chapter 4. Getting UnstuckIn this chapter, the book reviews the use of Mind Maps to generate new ideas.Chapter 5. Design Your LivesThe book encourages readers to develop (at least) 3 potential "Lives" and assess them.Chapter 6. PrototypingIn this chapter, the authors encourage testing the potential lives through informational interviews and other techniques to try out the lives in a non-committal way.Chapter 7. How Not to Get a JobChapter 8. Designing Your Dream JobChapters 7 and 8 were disappointing, offering obvious advice such as, "pursue as many job offers as you can," and showed little knowledge or awareness of the today's job search process.Chapter 9. Choosing HappinessThe chapter encourages people to embracing the choices we make, rather than agonizing over them. It especially recommends paying attention to the Basal Ganglia (the ancient base brain) to monitor personal feelings toward potential choices.Chapter 10. Failure ImmunityThe authors recommend learning from one's mistakes, to become "immune" to the sadness of failure.Chapter 11. Building a TeamHere, the authors encourage the reader to engage others toward one's life path.Overall, I found the book interesting with useful elements.The book would be improved by removing chapters 7 and 8, and in their place, adding more examples of people going through life designs and the challenges facing them, especially those wishing to change careers. Recommended for people interested in applying design thinking toward career development.

Durch eine Youtuberin wurde ich auf das Buch aufmerksam (Cheyenne Barton), und die Leseprobe überzeugte ebenfalls. Doch im Verlauf des Lesens stellte sich heraus, dass der Titel des Buches leider recht irreführend ist. Zwischendurch ging es gut voran, und ich konnte den Übungen auch einiges abgewinnen. Aber ca. ab dem 1. Drittel des Buches ging es nicht mehr um das Leben, das designt werden sollte, sondern nur noch um die Arbeit. Das ist an sich nicht schlimm, und bestimmt wird das auch einige Leser ansprechen, die sich mit dieser Thematik auseinandersetzen wollen. Aber wenn man sich "Designing your life" als Titel vornimmt, dann sollte es auch um die verschiedenen Lebensbereiche gehen, nicht nur um einen einzigen.Wer also auf der Suche nach Möglichkeiten ist, seine Sicht auf die Arbeit zu verändern oder allgemein eine andere Richtung sucht, die er mit seiner Arbeit einschlagen kann, ist bei diesem Buch genau richtig. Alle, die mehr als nur diesen Bereich verändern wollen, würden hier leider - wie ich- enttäuscht werden.

Personally, expected more elaborated and interesting techniques. Found the book too simplistic and expected more value, that honestly, I couldn't find, but maybe someone will. Just for a person like me that thinks a lot about life and that is looking for answers in other places as well, the book can feel quite repetitive and without added value.

I'm not one to sit back and contemplate life, but this book does help if you're looking for direction on your next move. It helps you stop and think and hopefully find a direction that will make you happy and fulfilled. Worth the read.