Anyone read Designing your Life?

[daijobu]

Who wants to discuss your impressions of Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dale Evans?

 

I just cited the book in advice to a student who is looking for an internship.  Their advice was to contact as many people as possible, using LinkedIn, and ask for what I used to call "informational interviews."  Come with genuine curiosity about a person's field, and good insightful questions about their work, how to get started in the field, etc.  But be prepared to contact many, many people before you find even one person who will respond.  While many of us want to help the next generation, many more are just too busy to entertain requests for more meetings.  But eventually with a great deal of persistence, you should be gradually building up your network of contacts in your field of interest, while learning more about the field, and perhaps even deciding it isn't right for you.  I was especially moved by the story of the person who loves to cook and thinks she wants to open a restaurant, only to find out too late that running a restaurant is entirely different from cooking from scratch.  

 

However, I wasn't so impressed with their dashboard-style analysis of one's life along 3 axes; I forget what they are now.  

 

I also respected the fact that designing your life for the better doesn't necessarily mean quitting your job and "following your passion."  It could mean making small changes to your job to maximize your enjoyment, or simply being more mindful of other areas of your life that are enjoyable.  I appreciated their recognition that quitting one's job in the service of pursuing happiness is not always a good idea.  

 

I'm hoping someone else has read this?  

[Hen]

I haven't, but it sounds good.  I like the part about not necessarily dumping your job or career to pursue a passion, sometimes it's not reasonable or won't work or will take time to build up.  I will have to look for this at the library, thanks...I have several teens who will need good advice :)