Lecture Notes: Designing Your Life

Introduction

• Speaker: Dave Evans, co-founder of the Stanford Life Design Lab
• Collaborator: Bill Burnett
• Establishment: Stanford Life Design Lab founded 10 years ago

Courses Offered

• Designing Your Life: For juniors and seniors
• Designing Your Stanford: For freshmen and sophomores
• Designing the Professional: For Master's, PhD students, and postdocs
• Reach: 15-20% of Stanford students

Purpose of Life Design Lab

• Mission: Apply design thinking to the problem of designing life at and after college
• Core Idea: Helping individuals figure out what they want to be as they continue to grow

Challenges Faced by Students

• Common Questions: "What are you going to do with your life after graduation?"
• Observations: Smart students are often unclear about their future

Dysfunctional Beliefs

• Belief in Passion: Majority of people aren't sure about their passion
• Being the Best You: Implies there's only one 'best' version of oneself, which isn't practical
• Reality: Individuals contain more aliveness than one lifetime can express

The Concept of Multiple Lives

• Gedanken Experiment: Imagining having multiple lives to explore different paths
• Reframing: There are multiple great versions of oneself

Designing Your Life Approach

• Key Idea: It's never too late to figure out your path
• Design Thinking: A method to help build your way forward by solving 'wicked problems'

Design Thinking Process

1. Understanding: Start with curiosity
2. Define: Establish a point of view
3. Ideate: Generate ideas
4. Prototype: Try things out
5. Test: Evaluate the results

Mindsets in Design Thinking

• Curiosity: Leads to exploring and trying new things
• Radical Collaboration: Engaging with others to gain new perspectives
• Reframing Problems: Looking at challenges in new ways
• Action-Oriented: Building and doing rather than just thinking

Simplified Approach

1. Get Curious: Follow interests and ask questions
2. Talk to People: Gather stories and learn from others
3. Try Stuff: Set low bars and engage through action

Example Story: Claudia

• Background: Spent 30 years focused on kids and job
• Curiosity Path: Led to involvement in mediation and women's issues
• Outcome: Became a national leader on homelessness after exploring interests

Conclusion

• Human-Centered Design: Focuses on what works for people; makes life more meaningful
• Goal: To help people live longer, joyful, and more humane lives
• Final Note: Emphasize human connection and continued personal growth