A gem amid self-help dross… The authors make the case that design skills such as reframing, prototyping and brainstorming can help us make better career and life choices, or undo bad choices before they do more harm. One idea: keep a diary noting how much you enjoy each task — and think about how to do more of the tasks you love

You’re going to learn how to find a fulfilling career. You’re going to learn how to better navigate life’s big-moment decisions and kill your “wicked problems” dead… Design thinking, as rendered in the book, is about treating life in a more improvisational way. It’s a welcome counterbalance to the data-driven, engineering mind-set gripping the culture. Follow Mr. Burnett’s and Mr. Evans’s teachings, and the anxiety-ridden process of decision making suddenly seems more playful. Their method is experiential and accepts that failure is part of the process

Their philosophy is that by applying a Silicon Valley-tested design approach, we can all build lives that will suit us better – regardless of our age… I sketched my own plans, which unearthed dreams I’d never really articulated, or hadn’t thought about in over a decade. I drew an alternative life, in which I would work with photographers at a gallery or an art publisher. The process gave me an ego boost – maybe I’m not a one-trick pony – and filled me with a sense of possibility that reminded me of being a kid

Life has questions. They have answers

A Designing Your Life class has become one of Silicon Valley’s most popular courses… Two academic studies have now proved its ability to cut anxiety on the career front and help people each their goals whatever their age… Crucially, your life is not a problem to be solved. It’s an experience, and the fun comes from designing it