You are 22 (or 32), and you are staring at the ceiling at 3 AM. The internal monologue is running on a loop:
- “Did I pick the right major?”
- “Should I quit my job?”
- “Why does everyone else on Instagram seem to have it figured out?”
In psychology, this is called Analysis Paralysis. In UX (User Experience) Design, it’s called a “Wicked Problem”, a problem with no clear answer, shifting requirements, and high stakes.
Your life is the ultimate Wicked Problem. And the mistake most of us make is trying to solve it like an Engineer (searching for the one correct data point) rather than like a Designer (building a solution that works for now).
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, founders of the Stanford Life Design Lab, revolutionized career counseling by proving that the same principles used to design the iPhone can be used to design a human life.
Here is how to apply Design Thinking to your career in 5 steps.
Phase 1: Empathize (The “Good Time” Journal)
A UX designer never starts building an app without understanding the user. You are the user of your own life. But strangely, you probably don’t know what you want. You think you want a high salary. But when you get it, you might be miserable.
Stop guessing. Start tracking. For two weeks, keep a “Good Time Journal.” At the end of every day, log your activities and rate them on two scales:
- Engagement: When did time fly? (Flow State).
- Energy: Did this activity drain your battery or charge it?
Why this works: According to research from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Flow” is the highest state of human performance. If your journal shows that you enter “Flow” when you are organizing data, but you feel drained when you are pitching to clients, you have data. You aren’t a Salesperson; you’re an Ops Manager. (Related: The “Saturday Morning Test” in our Guide for the Confused).
Phase 2: Define (Reframing “Gravity Problems”)
In design, you can’t solve a problem you can’t influence. If a designer says, “I want to design a phone that never runs out of battery,” that is impossible. That is a physics problem. In Life Design, we call these Gravity Problems.
- Gravity Problem: “I can’t be a doctor because medical school costs $300,000 and I have no money.”
- Reframed Problem: “I want to help heal people, but I need to do it without incurring six-figure debt.”
The Strategy: Accept Gravity Problems. You cannot change the economy. You cannot change the fact that High Application Volumes exist. Reframe the problem to something actionable.
- Old: “Employers hate me.”
- Reframe: “My current resume isn’t passing the ATS filter. I need to optimize it.”
Phase 3: Ideate (The “Odyssey Plans”)
Most people have one plan (Plan A). If it fails, they panic. Designers never have one idea. They have 50. To break the fear of making the “wrong” choice, you need to create Three Odyssey Plans for the next 5 years of your life.
- Life One (The Current Path): What happens if you stay in your current trajectory? You get promoted, you buy the Honda Civic, you retire at 65.
- Life Two (The Pivot): What happens if your industry (e.g., Journalism) disappears tomorrow? What would you do? (e.g., Become a PR Crisis Manager).
- Life Three (The Wildcard): What would you do if money and judgment were not factors? (e.g., Open a surf school in Portugal).
Why this works: Psychologists call this “Counterfactual Thinking.” By visualizing multiple futures, you realize your current path isn’t a cage; it’s just one option. It lowers the stakes.
Phase 4: Prototype (The Coffee Chat)
This is the most critical step. If you think you want to be a Graphic Designer, do not quit your job and pay $40,000 for a Master’s degree. That is a massive, expensive bet. Designers don’t bet; they prototype.
A prototype is a low-resolution version of the future.
- The Conversation Prototype: Find a Graphic Designer on LinkedIn. Ask for a 15-minute Informational Interview. Ask them: “What is the worst part of your job?” If they say “dealing with client revisions at 10 PM,” and you hate conflict, you just saved yourself $40,000.
- The Experience Prototype: Do a freelance gig on Upwork. Do it for one weekend.
As Harvard Business Review notes, we learn who we are by doing, not by thinking.
Phase 5: Test and Iterate
You will fail. You will prototype a career in Marketing, try it for 6 months, and realize you hate spreadsheets. That is a successful test. In the Age of Automation, the only failed career is the one that stays static.
Design Thinking creates a loop: Try -> Fail -> Reframe -> Try Again.
You Are Never “Done”
The biggest lie of your 20s is that there is a “finish line” where you figure it all out. Apple didn’t design the iPhone 1 and say, “Perfect, we’re done.” They built the iPhone 3, then the 4, then the 15. You are a product in constant development. Stop trying to find the “Right Answer.” Start designing your next prototype.
