What Can You Make Now?

I've been reading Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. The book is nearly 10 years old, but after years of saying 'I should really read...' it finally made its way to my nightstand.

You may have guessed from the book's title that it's focused on well, designing your life. What's most interesting is that the authors aren't clinically trained, psychologists, or self-help gurus. Nope! Instead, their backgrounds are in product design and innovation. Ultimately, they are applying the principles of design thinking to teach us how to intentionally design a meaningful and fulfilling life.

So why did two product designers decide to write a book about life design? Well, they are part of the club that has one foot in industry and one foot in higher education. During their time as college professors, they realized, after hosting countless office hours, that their students were STUCK. Students sat across from them, trying to answer the question: What do I want to be when I grow up?

Still trying to figure that one out? Me too.

In a TED Talk, Bill Burnett said:

" One of the most interesting design problems is your life."

So, what's the solution?

The book shares practical steps for designing the life you want, but I wouldn’t do the process justice by trying to summarize it. Instead, I recommend that if you want the short version, you listen to the TED Talk or, if you have the time, give the book a read. Just be prepared to do some soul-searching. One of the first exercises includes a series of writing prompts meant to help you better understand who you are, what you believe, and what you do for work. Remember when I said I wouldn’t do the process justice? This is exactly what I meant.

Like most self-help books, reading Designing Your Life sent me down a wormhole of related content, and somehow I eventually found my way to the work of Dr. Martha Beck, a world-renowned life coach.

On an episode of the Mel Robbins podcast, Dr. Beck gave this advice:

"Shift the focus from what can I do now to what I can make now?"

She continued on to say, "The moment you ask, what can I make now, you will start making communities, you will start making art, you will start making pies, you will start making friends, you will start making things, because we are endlessly generative beings."

Stick with me, I'm about to connect the dots!

Bill Burnett, Dave Evans, and Dr. Beck are all pointing to the same idea: a fulfilling life isn’t something you figure out in your head; it’s something you create by making things.

Designers design, ideate, create, prototype, and test. They make stuff.

This realization made me question: what kind of stuff can I make that will make my life more fulfilling?

Well...

I can make sense of all the self-help content that I read and share it with others.

I can make time in my classroom to better prepare students for both work and life.

I can make it a priority to choose experiences over things.

I can make the intentional effort to reach out to my friends and family more often.

I can make ....

Do you see where I am going here?

When we lean into our natural ability to create, to make stuff, our everyday lives become more fulfilling, even while we’re still figuring out the bigger “what do I want to be when I grow up?” question.

It doesn't need to be all or nothing. It can just be...something.

What is something you can make now?

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Find one thing that brings you joy today.