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

by Bill Burnett

The way to cut the anchor loose and get free again is to reframe the problem and brainstorm alternatives. If we do the reframing steps outlined above, we’ll quickly discover that “buy a boat” is a single solution to a problem that can be solved in many ways.

When you open up a problem with a reframe, it opens up lots of possibilities (Best Doable Options) that you can prototype.

Examining the question quickly reveals that Chelsea is assuming that getting one of the almost extinct director promotions is the only way to be happy at her company. Again, Chelsea has embedded one solution into her problem and is anchored. Does she really just want to get promoted, or is she bored and looking for a new challenge at work? If it’s the latter, we can draft a reframe like: “How can Chelsea find a different role in the company that will help her learn new skills and maybe grow her career in the process?”

What we’ve learned over the years of working with people is that anchor problems are often about fear. Rather than trying something new and maybe failing, it is sometimes more comfortable to hold on to our familiar, impossible-to-solve problem—our anchor.

Gravity Problems: We also tend to get mired in what we call “gravity problems.” In our travels we come across gravity problems all the time. John really wants to be a poet, but poets just don’t make enough money to live on in our culture. How can John make a good living as a poet? Francis has been out of work for five years raising her children. Everyone tells her that there is bias against people who been out of work, and it’s going to be much harder for her to get a job. How does Francis avoid that unfair bias?

This is an “accept first” gravity problem because there’s no there there (just like there’s no there there in trying to repeal the law of gravity). Once we accept the problem, we are free to ask John what he really wants, and it’s obvious—to write poetry. That, in turn, can be reframed as having the opportunity to write poetry and perform poetry and to do as much as he can with poetry, thereby maximizing his expression, without worrying about how poetry is going to make money. So a good reframe for John might be: “I’m curious, how might I discover how poets enjoy and sustain their art while making a living doing other things?”

John could also reframe this poetry/money problem another way by saying, “How can I learn to live on what I’d make working only ten hours a week so I can be an almost-full-time poet?”

He works three months a year, to make about 10 percent of what his friends make, and takes the other nine to travel and do all the things that “rich” people say they are going to do but don’t have time for. He considers himself wealthy. John could take this approach and become the “rich poet” he’s always dreamed of being. It’s just a matter of lowering his need for money below his 10 percent income target. It is really about understanding what you want, and how far you are willing to go for it.

If you get confused about the difference between anchor and gravity problems, remember that with an anchor you are stuck on a solution, and with gravity you are stuck on a non-problem. And by this definition, gravity and anchor problems aren’t really “problems” (i.e., actionable challenges) at all. They’re either circumstances or unattainable solutions masquerading as problems, and in so doing they are keeping you stuck.

Try Stuff THE MINIMUM ACTIONABLE PROBLEM (MAP) TOOLKIT Let’s practice taking a look at our problems, a real problem in our work and/or our life, and see if we can remove the drama and cut the problem down to size. Let’s take a stab at coming up with our MAP. 1. Pick a problem that you would like to work on. It could be a problem that you are having at work, like the “feedback problem” we talked about, or even one of Gottman’s “perpetual problems” from your relationship. But make sure it’s a real problem, and one that you’ve been stuck on for a while. 2. Write the problem down, as clearly as you can. Writing it out will help you understand the “frame” that is implicit in the way you state the problem. 3. First, examine the problem for any biases, embedded solutions, drama, or emotional components. This is challenging, because we often do not see our own biases. To do this well requires radical honesty, a healthy dose of Accept, and maybe the help of a friend. 4. If you are struggling to state the problem objectively, ask a friend to help. Read them your problem statement and ask them to help you detect biases, embedded solutions, drama, or emotional components. Let them help you find a couple of MAPs. 5. Once you have a few ideas about how to reframe your problem into a MAP, put your more objective, nonbiased reframe in the form of a How might we…or a How might I…statement. 6. Once you have a few MAPed problems, brainstorm (maybe with your friend again) at least three diffe...

Best Doable Option (BDO) Exercise 1. Pick a problem that you want to work on or something that you are actually working on and would like to find a good solution to. 2. Brainstorm at least five solutions to the problem as you currently understand it. 3. Examine the options you’ve brainstormed and sort them into BTO and BDO categories 4. Now eliminate your BTOs and focus on your BDOs. Resolve to have a bias to action, pick one, and execute it. 5. Ask yourself, How do I feel? Remind yourself that, with that decision behind you, you now have more time to devote to other things. With that decision behind you (and be sure to separate the quality of the decision from the quality of the outcome), you are now free to tackle whatever is next. Go ahead and MAP your problems and tackle your BDOs. Once you get used to handling your problems this way, you should discover that you have more time for the good stuff and are spending less time mulling over problems that do not deserve the attention.

Dysfunctional Belief: I can’t possibly do all this work, and I’m overwhelmed. Reframe: I chose my way into this and I can design my way out.

Having made those decisions about work, they then made a list of all the things they had to do, things they would not compromise on, like being around to raise their children. They made a list of things they could delegate to someone, things that were not that important, like cooking, doing the laundry, mowing the lawn, and cleaning the house. They calculated that if they didn’t do these things, they would have enough time for each other and for their kids. They would have enough time for the important stuff. There was just one problem: They didn’t have the money to delegate these tasks to someone else.

Hyper-Overwhelm—a Special Case The last flavor of overwhelm is a special case, and you usually find it in new organizations or start-ups. We call it “Hyper-Overwhelm.”

Old story: “Oh my gosh, I’ve got too much to do,” or, “Oh my gosh, here comes another meeting I can barely fit in,” and then, “I blew it,” or, “I can’t do this.” New story: “Wow, I’m fortunate to finally get to realize my goal of making a difference in higher education and in students’ lives. It may feel tough sometimes, but this won’t last forever, and it’s what I wanted all my life, and although I’m really busy now, I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Overwhelm happens to all of us at one time or another. Our message by now should be clear—overwhelm can be managed, and it is a temporary condition of your job and your life. You are the designer and you are in control.

Try Stuff GETTING OVER OVERWHELM 1. Overwhelmed (Y/N)? Ask yourself if you feel continually overwhelmed—do you have this problem or was it just one tough week? If yes, continue. If no, go play Frisbee or walk the dog—you deserve it. 2. Burned Out (Y/N)? Check if you’re actually burned out or overwhelmed by reviewing the burnout indicator questions. If you think you are headed for burnout, put the book down and immediately find yourself a therapist specializing in burnout and get good support. If not burned out, continue. 3. Pick Your Flavor of Overwhelm: Hydra, Happy, or Hyper. Review the characteristics of Hydra, Happy, and Hyper-Overwhelm. Decide which description best fits your circumstances and start designing your way out. 4. Hydra and Happy—Implementation a. Less Is More List: Make your Less Is More List of things to drop, delegate, or renegotiate. Notice that implementing this is quite different in Happy versus Hydra Overwhelm, but the goal is the same—something has to go. Make a list. b. The Boss or Colleague Giving Plan: If you’re in Hydra, you’ll have to renegotiate some relief, most likely starting with your boss. Figure out what your top Less Is More items are and the best pitch you can come up with to get your boss on board, then arrange that negotiation meeting. If you’re in Happy, you’ll likely be able to delegate to colleagues (who, if you remembered to pick tasty things to give away, will be easy to find), so plan what to hand off and to whom. Then plan th...

Dysfunctional Belief: I don’t like my job, and I don’t know what to do. Reframe: You have the power to reframe and redesign any situation and any job.

The final step in moving more toward a growth mind-set is to ask yourself, What can I learn today? Can I reframe the challenges of my to-do list around the objectives of learning and growth? And can I use what I learn in the service of others—can I be a teacher today? (By the way, great teachers are always great storytellers.) Learning, growing, and sharing your experiences are great ways to reinforce a growth mind-set.

Angela Duckworth, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, has developed a way of measuring grit, and you can take the Grit Scale test here: angeladuckworth.com/​grit-scale.

Although people obviously have varying natural abilities, it turns out, according to Duckworth’s research, that talent, IQ, and natural ability have almost zero correlation to success under difficult conditions. It is the ability to persevere that separates the successful from those who quit.

There are four factors that Duckworth calls “the psychological assets that mature paragons of grit have in common.”

Everything starts with enjoying what you do. To persevere, you need to be intrinsically interested in your subject (more on intrinsic motivation coming up). We’d add the designer’s mind-set of curiosity, a potential precursor to interest, to this asset. 2. Next comes the capacity to practice. You must devote yourself to the kind of deliberate and well-informed practice that leads to mastery. And you must practice, every day, every week, every year—there is no end to practice—it is an end in and of itself. 3. Third is purpose. You have to believe that your work matters to something and someone greater than yourself. 4. And, finally, you have to be a hopeful person. Hope is what keeps you going even when things get tough and your plans aren’t working. Hope is related to optimism and a deeper sense that your mission is ultimately possible.

Cultivating your curiosity and interests, practicing hard to become a master at your craft or subject, defining your purpose in something greater than yourself, and remaining hopeful will lead to an increase in your grit and your ability to accomplish what you set out to do. Sounds a lot like the mind-sets of a great job and life designer. Research shows that working on this every day is a much better use of your time than viewing cat videos or watching the clock or complaining about your job. Okay, maybe there’s not official research correlating cat-video-watching to grit cultivation, but if there were, trust us when we tell you that grit would win every single time.

Dysfunctional Belief: I’m not happy in my job, and I have no idea how to make it better. Reframe: I recognize my intrinsic motivations and I know how to increase my autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

At the end of the workday, we are the one responsible for making our job feel challenging and

In his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Dan Pink describes some strange results from the psychology of motivation as revealed by self-determination theory. …human motivation seemed to operate by laws that ran counter to what most scientists and citizens believed…we [thought we] knew what got people going. Rewards—especially cold, hard cash—intensified interest and enhanced performance. [However, what the self-determination theory psychologists found] was almost the opposite. When money is used as an external reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity…Human beings…have an inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capacities, to explore, and to learn.

In other words, humans will do things because they are just interesting.

When you pay people for tasks that utilize the intrinsic reward system, their performance actually goes down. That’s the weird paradox.

Autonomy, at its most basic, is the need to control our own life. It’s a human drive and an innate psychological need.

Relatedness is about connecting to your people and your community. We develop and sustain our relatedness by engaging with our fellow workers, collaborating well on projects, and being empathetic to the needs of those we work with and work for.

We had to learn to live together, and hunt together, in order to survive. As we evolved, the best survival strategy was to form strong family and tribal groups. This intrinsic need for relatedness shows up at work, too.

In contrast, being isolated in a matrix of sterile cubicles, working all by yourself, on tasks that have no obvious connection to the mission of the team, tribe, or company is not a healthy work environment and is not likely to be where you do your best work. Increasing your relatedness will increase your happiness—at work and in life.

And, by the way, the groundbreaking portable computer that they made, the WorkSlate, was a complete business failure. The company shut down the WorkSlate division about a year after the launch. No one on that project got rich, and no one can point to the success of the product as the reason for the way they feel today. It was about the people and the journey—it always is.

Competence is just what it sounds like. We all want to be good at what we do. Some of us even want to be the best at what we do. We develop our competency by (and there is an element of grit in this one) practicing our craft until we have achieved what others would call mastery, and then going on to “out-master” ourselves through even more concerted practice.

To do work well, we need to develop our skills, and if we’re developing skills we truly care about, we will be driven to improve our competence. In contrast, if we are not engaged in our job, then we really don’t care about improving, much less mastering, the skills required to do the job well.

It wasn’t that much fun, initially. He felt clumsy, and he was getting more criticism than affirmation—which no one really enjoys. But he was committed (some grit is involved) and he truly believed that good speaking wasn’t genetic and could be learned (he had a growth mind-set). And it worked.

When there’s a gap between your skills and your job’s requirements, make it an opportunity to grow. It takes a lot of work, but on the other side are terrific benefits for you and those you work with and serve.

Bill is still an introvert, so after teaching all day he’s happy…and exhausted. The best thing for Bill to do after a day in the front of the classroom is to go home and take a nap. By contrast, Dave is an extrovert. So after a day of teaching, Dave wants to ride his bike for two hours to blow off the extra energy, and then keep his wife up late, telling her stories about class. Bill and Dave both love teaching and have worked hard to build a high level of competence in it, but they still experience it in different and personal ways. When pushing your competency to attain true mastery at something, it’s personal—you have to make it your own and do it in a way that fits you.

We don’t believe in the idea that if you know your passion, you know what to do with your life. Passion—a kind of self-organizing singular drive toward an objective—is rare. And the research shows that passion is generally something that emerges in response to working hard in an area of interest. Therefore, you may not know your passion for years. We’ve noticed that when a true passion does surface early in life, it happens more often than not in people who are drawn to a life in the arts. Dancers, singers, designers, and creatives of all stripes have a higher percentage of “start with your passion” motivation than most.

Don’t be concerned that you are not yet passionate about your work. Passion may take time to form. To build on the process of passion-building, stay curious and pay attention to what attracts you.

There are a few key indicators that something will not lead to your passion: • You are getting bored with the tasks you do as part of your job. • You are not willing to “stay late” on any of your projects. • You are not working to perfect the skills it takes to be really good. • You are not keeping up with what is going on in your field. • You are not curious about what others in your profession are doing.

Our advice is to concentrate on designing a job you love, right now—which includes one that maximizes your growth mind-set, builds up your grit, and pays attention to your internal and intrinsic motivators—and the odds are good that you will find your passion in it.

Try Stuff Here’s a simple checklist that you can use to calibrate where you’re at when it comes to creating a meaningful job and work that matters. Fill in the questionnaire with different jobs—current and past. Don’t forget, you might have a “job” that you do not get paid for. Fill out a checklist for that job as well—you might learn something about where meaning and passion come from in your life. Job description: Rate whether you mostly agree (yes) or mostly disagree (no) with the following statements about the job listed above. QUESTIONNAIRE 1—I enjoy almost every day at this job. ☐ YES ☐ NO 2—This job is one of the stepping-stones in my career, and I want to do a good job in order to have better opportunities in the future. ☐ YES ☐ NO 3—I am more interested in this job than I was when I started. ☐ YES ☐ NO 4—I think I might be moving toward or potentially have found my calling with this job. ☐ YES ☐ NO 5—I enjoy learning new things on this job, almost every day. ☐ YES ☐ NO 6—Setbacks at work don’t discourage me. I don’t give up easily. ☐ YES ☐ NO 7—I like setting personal and professional goals, and I use this job to accomplish my goals. ☐ YES ☐ NO 8—I have the autonomy to do this job the way that I think is best. ☐ YES ☐ NO 9—I enjoy collaborating with my peers at this job. It is one of the best parts of this job. ☐ YES ☐ NO 10—I’m working hard to get better and better at this job. Someday I hope to master all the elements of this job, move on to the next level, and ...

Dysfunctional Belief: I do not understand how things work at my job; it’s all about the office politics. Reframe: I can learn how to succeed by learning how to manage influence, authority, and power.

There’s no way to get what you want unless you understand how power and influence work within your company. You must get political. While some changes can be made easily because you control the circumstances, others involve people with more authority than you, and that’s where politics becomes important.

A decision caused the change. Directly. So, ask yourself, What is required at work to make a decision? It’s not time, or luck, or good looks. It’s authority. To make a change happen, you need to be the person who has that authority.

Influence equals having an impact on the authoritarians who are making decisions that cause changes to occur. At the core of it, the true definition of politics is the wielding of influence.

Authority is the power to make decisions. Influence is a form of power that acts upon authority. Now for a little 2x2 model: In the Influence and Authority chart on this page, you can have a lot of authority or not much, or you can have a lot of influence or not much.

Looking at the chart, this means we have roughly four kinds of people in every organization. We have influential authoritarians (IA), we have non-influential authoritarians (NIA), we have influential non-authoritarians (INA), and the non-influential non-authoritarians (NINA).