Life planning & career planning can be challenging things to tackle, especially in uncertain times like these. Dave Evans, the co-author of Designing Your Life and the new book Designing your Work Life, explains how the principles of design thinking can give you an edge. Whether you’re anticipating a transition to a new chapter in life in retirement, creating a second career or making a savvy career change, “iterating your way forward” is the best way to explore new options.

Designing Your Life is one of the most impactful books I’ve ever read and the one I’ve most often given as a gift. It’s the best book on life planning and career planning in my view.

We talk about:

The story of how Designing Your Life came to be

The Principles of Design Thinking and how they can be applied to life planning and career planning using DYL

How Designing Your Life is used in different populations around the world today

How DYL is leverage by older adults in mid-life and later life

Why Reframing is a skill you’ll want to develop

How Prototyping works with a person instead of a product

What the new book Designing Your Work Life is about

How networking is done with a DYL mindset

Dave Evans’ advice for someone considering making a change in their life or career

Dave joins us from California.

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Note: We’re in challenging times. Investing some time in reflection and self-renewal is especially important now. These podcast episodes are offered now with that intention in mind. We hope you find them helpful and hope that you stay well.

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Bio

Dave Evans has worked in alternative energy, telecommunications, and high tech. As an early member of the advanced systems group that built the technology that became the Macintosh, he led the first computer mouse team and laser-printing projects, before leaving to co-found the software giant Electronic Arts.

After more than thirty years of executive leadership and management consulting in the high tech world, Evans realized that what he really wanted and needed to do was help people rediscover purpose in their jobs and lives. He joined Stanford’s Design Program, where he now co-teaches the incredibly popular Designing Your Life course, which helps undergraduates discover their paths after graduation.

In the book Designing Your Life, Evans and co-author Bill Burnett, Executive Director of Stanford’s Design School, bring these principles to a larger audience, proving it’s never too late to design a life you love through innovation and creative problem-solving. A dynamic and entertaining speaker, Evans teaches audiences of all ages that the same principles used to create amazing technology and products can also be used to design and build a life filled with purpose and joy that is constantly creative and productive.

 

He lectures around the country on design thinking and offers a popular e-course on the subject through Creative Live with Bill Burnett. From his travel around the country and meeting and hearing from thousands of people, Evans was inspired by the Designing Your Life community to compose a second toolkit with Burnett, this time specifically focused on work. Designing Your Work Life is full of tips, tricks, and tools for optimizing and “future-proofing” work.

 

Evans earned a Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford and a graduate diploma in Contemplative Spirituality from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He and his wife live in Santa Cruz and have five adult children, including three Stanford grads.

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For More on Dave Evans

Buy the new book Designing Your Work Life by Bill...