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Stanford Life Design Lab

@stanford.lifedesign

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Using design tools to help people build tangible and hopeful futures

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We treat life's biggest moments like binary decisions. Stay or go. This career or that one. Now or never.

But that's not how a well-designed life is actually built. It's built on:
→ A conversation that opened a door
→ A project you tried on the side
→ A month you said yes to something small
→ A question you stayed curious about long enough to get an honest answer Not one big decision.

Many small experiments. Each one teaching you something the previous one couldn't.

What's the smallest experiment you could run this week? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #prototype #designyourlife #smallexperiments #decisions #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

Engineers solve problems by figuring them out in advance. Designers solve them by trying things.

Dave Evans says your life is a wicked problem, which means you can't engineer it. You have to design it. Get out of your head. Get into the world. Try things. See what happens.

That's not recklessness. That's the method.

What would you try if you stopped trying to figure it out first? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #billburnett #wickedproblem #prototype #designyourlife #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

It doesn't always feel like progress. Some weeks it feels like you're going in circles.

Like the same questions keep coming back. Like you're not moving fast enough.

But here's what's actually happening:
Every prototype teaches you something.
Every honest conversation gets you closer.
Every moment you chose curiosity over certainty, that was data.

The life you want isn't waiting for you to figure it out. It's being built. Right now.

One experiment at a time. Keep going. 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #possibility #keepgoing #designyourlife #onestepatatime #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

"I've already invested so much. I can't leave now."

This is the sunk cost trap. The time or identity you've already invested is gone.

It doesn't grow back if you stay. The only question: what do you want with what you have NOW?

Staying in a life you've outgrown isn't loyalty.

Updating your design is respect for how much you've grown.

Swipe for the full reframe 👉

What are you staying in because of what you put in, not because of where it's taking you? 👇

#sunkcost #lifedesign #stanford #permission #letgo #designyourlife #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

Feeling stuck in your career?

You've probably been treating it as a career problem.

Something to fix. Something to solve. Something to optimize your way out of.

But careers don't get fixed. They get designed. And design works differently.

It doesn't start with the answer. It starts with the right question.

Not: "How do I fix my career?"
But: "What is this situation trying to tell me about what I actually need?"

#lifedesign #stanford #career #permission #designthinking #careerpivot #lifedesignlab

That's a design problem.

And design problems have design solutions.

What question have you been avoiding asking yourself? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #career #permission #designthinking #careerpivot #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

You don't need 6 months to know if a career change is right.

You need 30 days and the right experiments.

Week 1: Have 3 prototype conversations
Week 2: Experience the work directly
Week 3: Debrief honestly
Week 4: Decide what to prototype next

Most career pivots: a series of 30-day experiments.
Not a single leap.

Swipe for the full 4-week plan 👉

What would your first 30 days look like? 👇

#careerpivot #lifedesign #stanford #30days #prototype #careerchange #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

We keep waiting for the meaningful moment.

The breakthrough. The big decision.

The thing we'll tell the story about later.
But that's not where meaning lives. Meaning lives in:

→ The conversation you gave your full attention to
→ The work you did because it mattered, not because it was assigned
→ The problem you stayed curious about past the easy answer
→ The ordinary Tuesday that somehow felt like yours Meaning isn't found in big moments.

It's built in small ones. Consistently.

Intentionally. Over time.

What small moment this week felt meaningful? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #meaning #possibility #smallmoments #intentionalliving #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

"Follow your passion."

Bill Burnett thinks it's one of the most destructive ideas anyone talks about.

Here's why:
Less than 20% of people actually know their passion and know how to fulfill it.
Most people don't find their passion.
They work their way into it. And your major?
Ten years out, less than 20% of people are doing anything related to it.

Your generation will have at least two completely different careers, maybe three. So wherever you are right now, you are here.

And from here, you don't need a plan. You need a prototype. An internship. A shadow day. A side project. Living in the world of people already doing what you think you want to do. That's how you figure it out. 👇

What could you prototype this month?

#lifedesign #stanford #billburnett #passionmyth #prototype #wayfinding #permission #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

Every chapter ends.

Here's how to design the next one before it designs itself.
1. Name the transition — be specific
2. Take inventory of what you know now
3. Write 3 versions of what's next
4. Identify the smallest prototype for each
5. Choose the one that excites you — and scares you a little

Swipe for the full framework 👉

What chapter are you currently designing? 👇

#nextchapter #lifedesign #stanford #transition #prototype #designyourlife #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

You keep waiting to feel ready. Ready to start. Ready to pivot. Ready to try the thing.

But the version of you that has it figured out?

They didn't wait until they were ready. They started. They got data. They iterated. They figured it out by doing, not by waiting.

Readiness is a feeling. And feelings follow action, not the other way around.

What have you been waiting to feel ready for? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #permission #ready #startbeforeyoureready #designyourlife #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

Bill Burnett says he can teach you design thinking in one sentence.

Get curious. Talk to people. Try stuff. That's it. Not a framework.

Not a 5-step process. Not a personality assessment. Curiosity about a person, an idea, a field, that curiosity will lead you to the next step.

Every time. What are you curious about right now? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #billburnett #designthinking #getcurious #talktopeople #trystuff #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign

We've been told to find our purpose. To search for meaning. To discover what we were "meant to do."

As if it's sitting somewhere — already formed — just waiting to be uncovered. It's not. Meaning isn't found. It's built. Through the work you choose to do.
Through the people you choose to serve. Through the prototypes you run, the conversations you have, the questions you stay curious about.

You don't find a meaningful life. You design one. What are you building right now that feels like it matters? 👇

#lifedesign #stanford #meaning #possibility #purpose #designyourlife #lifedesignlab by @stanford.lifedesign