How to use design thinking to create a happier life for yourself

Dysfunctional people, who are stuck in an old belief pattern will say things like:

• We must know our passion.
• We should know what to do by the time we are out of college.
• We should keep optimizing to be at our best.

All of these belief patterns assume that life is a linear, logical process, which it is definitely not.

We all want life to be meaningful and purposeful. When we connect the dots of life, trying to find out who we are, what we believe and what we do, our life story, however crooked, begins to take shape.

We can jot down our life views, our work life views, our relationships, and try to experience life in the way it gives us meaning.

Gravity problems are the things that you cannot change. You cannot do anything but accept gravity, and some problems are just there, whether we acknowledge them or not.

A work through or a work around strategy is required to handle a gravity problem.

An Odyssey plan or a rubric is when you have to ask certain questions with different sets of base standards, omitting certain parameters or constraints and imagining the result. It generates many ideas out of one idea.

Imagining different life designs and the outcome can trigger new ideas that didn’t exist before due to mental constraints.

We can use new learning experiences to build a prototype of what we need in our minds. It can be a prototype conversation or experience.

Example: If we want to know how something works, we can intern there for a week to get hands-on knowledge with real-world experience.

Likewise, If we have a feeling of uncertainty and doubt about how something works, we can check it out as a demo, and find more in-depth details for the same.

• We need to make the right choice, as with every choice there is lost opportunity (called opportunity cost) and a time, energy and resource commitment.
• Making the perfect choice is arduous and will consume a lot of time, while still not feeling satisfactory, due to regret, second guesses and even Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) where we need to check and understand everything that is happening around us.
• A good enough choice which is not changeable will make you happier and relaxed.