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Designing Your Life

How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

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Designing Your Life

Written by: Bill Burnett, Dave Evans
Narrated by: Bill Burnett, Dave Evans
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About this listen

#1 New York Times Bestseller

At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage

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.

Includes a bonus PDF of worksheets, journal exercises, illustrations, and more


"Designing Your Life walks readers through the process of building a satisfying, meaningful life by approaching the challenge the way a designer would. Experimentation. Wayfinding. Prototyping. Constant iteration. You should read the book. Everyone else will."
—Daniel Pink, bestselling author of Drive

“This [is] the career book of the next decade and . . . the go-to book that is read as a rite of passage whenever someone is ready to create a life they love.”
—David Kelley, Founder of IDEO

“An empowering book based on their popular class of the same name at Stanford University . . . Perhaps the book’s most important lesson is that the only failure is settling for a life that makes one unhappy. With useful fact-finding exercises, an empathetic tone, and sensible advice, this book will easily earn a place among career-finding classics.”
Publishers Weekly
Hygiene & Healthy Living Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success Business Inspiring Thought-Provoking Management Career Technology Self Help Career Change Career Development Career Growth Lifestyle Design

What the critics say

“Life has questions. They have answers…Learn how to find a fulfilling career…learn how to better navigate life’s big moment decisions and kill your ‘wicked problems dead.”
The New York Times

“The prototype for a happy life…Burnett and Evans show how to apply Stanford’s famous design principles to finding your place in the world, as a recent graduate or mid-career.”
—NPR’s Brian Lehrer

Designing Your Life walks readers through the process of building a satisfying, meaningful life by approaching the challenge the way a designer would. Experimentation. Wayfinding. Prototyping. Constant iteration. You should read the book. Everyone else will.”
—Daniel Pink, bestselling author of Drive

“This [is] the career book of the next decade and . . . the go-to book that is read as a rite of passage whenever someone is ready to create a life they love.”
—David Kelley, Founder of IDEO

“An empowering book based on their popular class of the same name at Stanford University . . . Perhaps the book’s most important lesson is that the only failure is settling for a life that makes one unhappy. With useful fact-finding exercises, an empathetic tone, and sensible advice, this book will easily earn a place among career-finding classics.”
Publishers Weekly
All stars
Most Relevant
Great way to view a path forward when stuck in an style of employment lull.

Prototype & Test.

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An engaging book, and a useful tool for anybody who wants to take stock of their life and move forward with purpose

Super Great!

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I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who feels as if they’re stuck or even just open to a fresh perspective on life’s journey!

Highly recommend!

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The narration is way below in effectiveness compared to other great audio books. Overall, a nice read. Exercises are good.

Good book. Not a good narration and voice.

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I loved the practical exercises that can help one realize different paths and what energizes them. I do wish they had more realistic examples for people who are much more lost and starting their journey without as much insight

Great book on how to get more out of life/career

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