Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work

by Bill Burnett

Now write down three things that will help you start moving in the direction of your preferred Maker Mix. Now go out and try a couple of your prototypes and then redo your Maker Mix Board. Did you successfully move one of the sliders? Did something unexpected happen? How did it “sound”? Is life easier to dance to now? Are you starting to realize that you need more expression in your life (after all, you are a creative person, aren’t you)? Are you being really clear on how important money is to you (not as much as you thought!)? And are you staying vigilant about identifying any hedonic treadmills embedded in your answers? Tip: The negative aspects of hedonic treadmills are most often associated with the accumulation of money, so be careful with that track. Check in with yourself and update this simple Maker Mix Board every once in a while, or anytime you think your life coherency might be slipping a little. It is easy to get out of tune in our hyper-busy modern work world. Socrates’s “examined life” (you know, the one worth living) requires periodic checkups—the money/impact/expression Maker Mix is another good way to answer the question “How’s it going?” MAP YOUR ROLE EXERCISE IMPACT MAP WORKSHEET List 4–6 roles (past, present, and possible future). A “job” might have several possible roles, each with a distinct place on the map. Locate the roles on the map. Reflect: What do you notice? What insights does this generate? What questions does this surface? 1. List four to si...