DESIGNING MEANING, PURPOSE AND JOY INTO YOUR LIFE
Finding a solution to an essential problem
Imagine a blank piece of paper. On it, you sketch out your career goals for today, your family hopes for tomorrow and your retirement dreams for the future. You’re designing your life. As instructors of one of Stanford University’s most popular elective courses, called Designing Your Life, professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans have nearly a decade of experience helping university students answer life’s big questions: How do I find a job I love? Can I balance a career and a family? What is my passion? In their new book, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, the professors share how to not be a slimy networker, how to find a mentor and how to design a balanced, happy life. The Star spoke with co-author Evans by phone from his home in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Who would benefit from reading this book?
Everybody. “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” The three times peo- ple ask this the question in a big way are when you’re just entering the workforce, somewhere in the middle when you’re in your life but not sure if it’s what you really want, and boomers thinking, “What’s the encore?”
Why is your Stanford class so popular?
University teaches a lot about topics, but it doesn’t teach you what to do with your life. The class took off because everyone has the problem and they need a solution.
What does it mean to design one’s life?
To bring intention and clarity to (questions of) “How am I living? How am I spending my time?” Figuring out, “Who am I? What do I believe? What am I doing?” — and finding a way to have those line up, so the life you’re living is joyful and energized and meaningful and productive. Too many people wake up going, “Ugh, I think I can get through it today.” That’s a very undesigned life.
Are millennials asking different questions compared with past generations?
Are the questions fundamentally different? No — but the intensity is. Research has shown that the millennial generation is the most purpose-minded we’ve seen in somewhere between 70 and 100 years. They’re not willing to put up with traditional ideas of, “Well, wait your turn and you’ll get there eventually.” What millennials are doing is being more demanding.
What is networking and what is networking not?
Networking is not a slimy abuse of other people’s time to simply get ahead. But that’s what a lot of people think. That’s not what it is. Networking is simply asking people for directions. When you don’t know where you’re going, you ask the locals. Not saying, “Hey, give me a job.”
What if someone does want a job? Isn’t it disingenuous to not say, “I want a job”?
Not disingenuous, but (that direct approach) may not be effective. The best way to ask for the job is to ask for the story. The best way to find opportunities is to be in the conversation. Sit down with someone and ask — “Hey, what’s it like to be a journalist?” After a while say, “What might be involved in me becoming a member of this organization?”