Have you been designing your life, or have you let someone else do it for you? Thanks to Daniel Pink, I was reminded about the Odyssey Plan – a life design exercise created by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, authors of Designing Your Life. It challenges you to map out three radically different five-year life paths:
Plan 1: The Life You’re Already Living (or Planning to Live)
This is your current trajectory, your status quo, and what you will do if nothing changes. Ask yourself if this is what you really want and whether you are on autopilot.
Plan 2: The Life You’d Live If Plan 1 Vanished
What if the current path (Plan 1) was no longer an option? What would you do instead? You can’t not make a living. You can’t do nothing. What would you do?
Plan 3: The Wild Card
What would you do if money and status didn’t matter? If you knew you could make a decent living at it and you knew no one would laugh at you or think less of you for doing it – what would you do?
Each plan includes: A 5-year timeline, personal and professional goals, how this life aligns with your values and a dashboard (Energy levels, engagement, feasibility, and how much it excites you.)
The purpose isn’t to pick one plan and follow it blindly. It’s to explore what’s possible, what’s really in your heart, and to build a more intentional life. Planning is just the first step, you must be biased to action, and go out and try what you want to try.
(Screenshot from Stanford’s YouTube video featuring Bill Burnett)