In 2021, I came across a book which completely changed the way I thought about career planning: “Designing your life: how to build a well-lived, joyful life,” by Bill Burnet and Dave Evans.
Many of the ideas are not new career ideas, however, the authors introduce the idea of using design thinking as part of career exploration and planning.
One of the core ideas of design thinking is that there is more than one, and likely many, good ways to solve a problem. Design thinking has a solution focused, action-oriented approach i.e. you identify many possible solutions but also test them out in the real world as part of the process.
I would recommend this approach to someone who is in the career exploration phase, trying to identify the path they would like to take, or someone who for various reasons, needs to embark on a new path.
The process can be done on your own in a self-reflective way or with a friend or career coach. It includes five stages:
Empathise: Empathise with where you are at. What are you experiencing? What difficulties are you facing? What questions do you have?
Define: Define the nature of your circumstance or ‘problem’.
Ideate: Brainstorm ideas and solutions. The activity that Burnett and Evans recommend for this phase starts with drawing mind maps about seemingly ridiculous topics, and branching out from the inner words using free association, perhaps a word that just makes you think of another word, not a word that has a linked relationship or meaning.
Prototype: In their model, prototyping is the process of drawing out a plan; they recommend five years. It can be in pictures, words, any format you like to get your ideas down into a tangible form. They also suggest doing multiple plans, recognising that you may gather more ideas from some of the more farfetched plans, that you might like to then incorporate into the main plan you progress with.
Test: The final stage is to test your ideas, and they recommend both conversational tests and experiential tests. This might be setting up a chat with someone who is working in a field you are interested in. Or, if you were considering future study, seeing if there is the chance for you to ‘try it on’ by sitting in on a few lectures.
References
Burnett, B., & Evans, D. (2016). Designing your life : how to build a well-lived, joyful life. (First edition.). Alfred A. Knopf. https://designingyour.life/books-designing-life-original-book/
Lin-Stephens, S. (2024). What is design thinking? (Course materials). HWSS2240 Practices in Career Design. RMIT University. Retrieved from https://rmit.instructure.com/courses/128008/pages/module-2-design-thinking?module_item_id=6433027
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