Designing Your Life

How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

By: Bill Burnett, Dave Evans

Narrated by: Bill Burnett, Dave Evans

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

At last, a book that shows you how to build - design - a life you can thrive in at any age or stage.

Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home - at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve.

In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create lives that are both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of whom or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Bill Burnett & Dale Evans (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"An empowering book based on their popular class of the same name at Stanford University.... Perhaps the book's most important lesson is that the only failure is settling for a life that makes one unhappy. With useful fact-finding exercises, an empathetic tone, and sensible advice, this book will easily earn a place among career-finding classics." (Publishers Weekly)

"Both authors narrate this helpful audio with the same refreshing tone that's embodied in their conversational advice on making your life great. They speak with the natural cadences of experienced professors who care about their students and feel confident about their material...this empowering audio will motivate many listeners to create lives that line up better with who they are." (AudioFile)

Practical ways to get unstuck for my next act!

I’m sneaking up on 60 yrs old and — in too many ways for my own comfort — stuck, stuck, STUCK! This book is exactly the focusing force I need to pull together a bunch of random ideas running around in my head and turn them into reasonable, sustainable ACTION. I feel like I just stumbled upon a couple of expert guides as I was bumbling about in a jungle. And now...to get started — in a whole new way, with much more productive tools than I’ve been using. (Oh, and I loved this so much I also bought the Kindle book so I can go back and do the exercises more easily. I almost NEVER do that!)

Done rightly, this is the only book one may need

Where does Designing Your Life rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I am still not fully done with all exercises, but I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to introspect inwardly and find out what truly matters. This is the first book I have read which suggests not to set long term goals but to approach goals as prototypes/iterations which one needs to improvise on.

What other book might you compare Designing Your Life to and why?

None

Have you listened to any of Bill Burnett and Dave Evans ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Good book, so so narrators

It was a little hard focusing on the narrators voices. They sounded a little depressing to me. Their tone is too monotonous and sounds like they are sad.

Different but great!

A very different perspective on how to create a fulfilling life. I enjoyed the writing style (not too dry or boring), and I'm sure this book will help me.

Narrators are FINE (don’t listen to the haters)

If you can listen to a professor leading a class, you can listen to these professors reading the book. They aren’t voice artists but the content of book is strong and I feel that hearing them read it adds to the experience. I feel like I’m taking their class at Stanford when I listen to the audiobook.

a must read!

this is book that at any age, any stage in you career, happy or not a must read and do the exercises!!!! it is life changing!

Book is a solid 8.5/10

The book is very good, especially if you like design, or think like a designer!

Life-changing book!

I am starting a life design group and can't wait to text out these principles.

very insightful a perspective shifting read

do yourself a favor and take the time to read this. truly a meditation of self reflection.

Excited to Design my Life

This book has inspired me to get moving - try stuff that I’ve been wanting to do, find a community that feeds me as a person, and challenge my problems/ unfulfilled spots with reframes and curiosity. I really appreciate the push to get unstuck and find MY way out from underneath all the “shoulds”.