Designing Your Life Quotes

“Dysfunctional Belief: Happiness is having it all. Reframe: Happiness is letting go of what you don’t need.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“For most people, passion comes after they try something, discover they like it, and develop mastery - not before. To put it more succinctly: passion is the result of a good life design, not the cause.”
― William Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“Living coherently doesn't mean everything is in perfect order all the time. It means you are living in alignment with your values and have not sacrificed your integrity along the way.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, where you think you are going, what job or career you have had or think you should have. You are not too late, and you’re not too early.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Our minds are generally lazy and like to get rid of problems as quickly as possible, so they surround first ideas with a lot of positive chemicals to make us “fall in love” with them. Do not fall in love with your first idea.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“A coherent life is one lived in such a way that you can clearly connect the dots between three things: who you are, what you believe, what you are doing.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“You can't know where you're going until you know where you are.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“A well-designed life is a life that is generative—it is constantly creative, productive, changing, evolving, and there is always the possibility of surprise. You get out of it more than you put in. There is a lot more than “lather, rinse, repeat” in a well-designed life.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“That’s why you start where you are. Not where you wish you were. Not where you hope you are. Not where you think you should be. But right where you are.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“As a life designer, you need to embrace two philosophies: 1. You choose better when you have lots of good ideas to choose from. 2. You never choose your first solution to any problem.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Many people operate under the dysfunctional belief that they just need to find out what they are passionate about. Once they know their passion, everything else will somehow magically fall into place. We hate this idea for one very good reason: most people don’t know their passion.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“You can’t change employers’ perceptions. Instead of changing how they think, how about working on changing how you appear to them?”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Dysfunctional Belief: To be happy, I have to make the right choice. Reframe: There is no right choice—only good choosing.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“When you finally get down to making a choice from your narrowed-down list of alternatives, and you’ve cognitively evaluated the issues, and emotionally and meditatively contemplated the alternatives, it may be time to grok it. To grok a choice, you don’t think about it—you become it. Let’s say you’ve got three alternatives. Pick any one of them and stop thinking about it. Choose to think for the next one to three days that you are the person who has made the decision to pick Alternative A.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Decision making is stressful, so the best time to prepare for good choosing is when there’s no choice at stake. That’s when you can invest in your emotional intelligence and spiritual maturity so that those muscles are strong and trained when it’s decision or game time. The best time to get ready for step three is months or years before the choosing. That means the best time is right now—today is the best day to start making that investment.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Dysfunctional Belief: I should already know where I’m going. Reframe: You can’t know where you are going until you know where you are.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“These are all gravity problems—meaning they are not real problems. Why? Because in life design, if it’s not actionable, it’s not a problem. Let’s repeat that. If it’s not actionable, it’s not a problem. It’s a situation, a circumstance, a fact of life. It may be a drag (so to speak), but, like gravity, it’s not a problem that can be solved. Here”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“We are always growing from the present into the future, and therefore always changing. With each change comes a new design. Life is not an outcome; it’s more like a dance.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“We believe that people actually need to take time to develop a passion. And the research shows that, for most people, passion comes after they try something, discover they like it, and develop mastery—not before. To put it more succinctly: passion is the result of a good life design, not the cause.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“You can imagine a career and a life that don't exist; you can build that future you, and as a result your life will change.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“It's worth emphasizing that failures and hardships are a part of every life, even the well-designed ones.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“We also tend to get mired in what we call gravity problems. “I’ve got this big problem and I don’t know what to do about it.” “Oh, wow, Jane, what’s the problem?” “It’s gravity.” “Gravity?” “Yeah—it’s making me crazy! I’m feeling heavier and heavier. I can’t get my bike up hills easily. It never leaves me. I don’t know what to do about it. Can you help me?” This”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Dysfunctional Belief: I’m stuck. Reframe: I’m never stuck, because I can always generate a lot of ideas.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“It’s unlikely that health, work, play, and love will divide neatly into four equal parts. But when life is really out of balance, there can be a problem.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

“Because in life design, if it’s not actionable, it’s not a problem. Let’s repeat that. If it’s not actionable, it’s not a problem. It’s a situation, a circumstance, a fact of life. It may be a drag (so to speak), but, like gravity, it’s not a problem that can be solved.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“In fact, in the United States, only 27 percent of college grads end up in a career related to their majors.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“That’s the problem with letting go—it’s more of an inaction than an action, and your brain just hates that, the same way nature abhors a vacuum. So the key to letting go is to move on and grab something else. Put your attention on something—not off something.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“哲學家詹姆斯·卡斯（James Carse）寫過一本有趣的書，叫《有限與無限的遊戲》（Finite and Infinite Game）。[18]卡斯說，我們生命中做的每一件事，幾乎都是有限或無限的遊戲。如果是有限的遊戲，我們會照規則走，以求獲勝。如果是無限的遊戲，我們會為了享受一直玩下去的樂趣，而實驗規則。化學拿A是有限的遊戲。學習世界由什麼組成、自己要如何在世上安身立命，則是無限的遊戲。指導兒子贏得拼字比賽是有限的遊戲。讓兒子相信你無條件愛他，則是無限的遊戲。生命同時充滿有限與無限的遊戲。（「遊戲」二字，不帶有「不重要」或「幼稚」的意涵。這裡所說的「遊戲」，只是我們如何在世上採取行動，以及我們多重視自己的行動。）每個人隨時隨地都在玩有限和無限的遊戲，沒有哪種遊戲比較好。”
― Bill Burnett, 做自己的生命設計師：史丹佛最夯的生涯規畫課，用「設計思考」重擬問題，打造全新生命藍圖

“Wayfinding is the ancient art of figuring out where you are going when you don’t actually know your destination.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

“Dysfunctional Belief: Work is not supposed to be enjoyable; that’s why they call it work. Reframe: Enjoyment is a guide to finding the right work for you.”
― Bill Burnett, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life