0:00:15.206,0:00:16.344
Hello, everyone.

0:00:16.344,0:00:18.275
I'm here to help you design your life.

0:00:18.275,0:00:21.235
We're going to use[br]the technique of design thinking.

0:00:21.235,0:00:24.703
Design thinking is something[br]we've been working on at the d.School

0:00:24.703,0:00:27.105
and in the School of Engineering[br]for over 50 years,

0:00:27.105,0:00:30.724
and it's an innovation methodology,[br]works on products, works on services.

0:00:30.724,0:00:34.964
But I think the most interesting[br]design problem is your life!

0:00:34.964,0:00:37.044
So that's what we're going to talk about.

0:00:37.545,0:00:41.755
I want to just make sure everybody knows:[br]this is my buddy Dave Evans, his face.

0:00:41.755,0:00:44.264
Dave and I are the co-authors of the book,

0:00:44.264,0:00:49.602
and he is the guy who helped me co-found[br]the Life Design Lab at Stanford.

0:00:49.834,0:00:52.385
So what do we do in the Life Design Lab?

0:00:52.385,0:00:54.744
Well, we teach the class[br]that helps to figure out

0:00:54.744,0:00:56.694
what you want to be when you grow up.

0:00:57.243,0:00:59.466
Now, I'm going to give you[br]the first reframe.

0:00:59.466,0:01:00.694
Designers love reframes.

0:01:00.694,0:01:04.836
How many of you hope you never grow up[br]and lose that child-like curiosity

0:01:04.836,0:01:07.056
that drives everything you do?

0:01:07.056,0:01:09.454
Raise your hand. Right![br]Who wants to grow up?

0:01:09.454,0:01:13.236
I mean, we've been talking about curiosity[br]in almost every one of these talks.

0:01:13.236,0:01:14.922
And so I'd like to reframe this as:

0:01:14.922,0:01:17.382
we say we teach the class[br]that helps you figure out

0:01:17.382,0:01:19.943
what you want to grow into next,

0:01:19.943,0:01:24.059
as this life of yours,[br]this amazing design of yours, unfolds.

0:01:24.462,0:01:27.813
So, design thinking is what we teach

0:01:27.813,0:01:30.814
and it's a set of mindsets,[br]it's how designers think.

0:01:31.054,0:01:33.883
You know, we've been taught[br]probably in the university

0:01:33.883,0:01:36.753
to be so skeptical realists, rationalists,

0:01:36.753,0:01:40.713
but that's not very useful as a mindset[br]when you're trying to do something new,

0:01:40.713,0:01:42.842
something no one's ever done before.

0:01:42.842,0:01:46.924
So we say you start with curiosity and you[br]lean into what you're curious about.

0:01:46.924,0:01:49.350
We say you reframe problems[br]because most of the time

0:01:49.350,0:01:51.607
we find people are working[br]on the wrong problems

0:01:51.607,0:01:55.058
and they have a wonderful solution[br]to something that doesn't work anyway.

0:01:55.058,0:01:57.688
So, what's the point[br]of working on the wrong thing?

0:01:57.688,0:01:59.068
We say radical collaboration

0:01:59.068,0:02:01.708
because the answer's out[br]in the world with other people.

0:02:01.708,0:02:04.354
That's where your experience[br]of your life will be.

0:02:04.571,0:02:06.341
We want to be mindful of our process.

0:02:06.341,0:02:09.538
There are times in the design process[br]when you want lots of ideas,

0:02:09.538,0:02:13.100
and there are times when you really want[br]to converge test some things,

0:02:13.100,0:02:15.519
prototype some things,[br]you want to be good at that.

0:02:15.519,0:02:17.558
And the other is biased action.

0:02:17.558,0:02:20.048
Now, you know, I'll say that we think

0:02:20.048,0:02:24.629
no plan for your life will survive[br]first contact with reality.

0:02:24.629,0:02:25.797
(Laughter)

0:02:25.797,0:02:29.599
Reality has the tendency to throw little[br]things at us that we weren't expecting,

0:02:29.599,0:02:31.369
sometimes good things, sometimes bad.

0:02:31.369,0:02:35.290
So we say: just have[br]a biased action, try stuff.

0:02:36.519,0:02:38.109
Why? Why did we start this class?

0:02:38.109,0:02:41.158
I've been in office hours for a long,[br]long time with my students.

0:02:41.158,0:02:43.531
I've been teaching here[br]for a while. Dave as well.

0:02:43.531,0:02:47.668
He was teaching over that community[br]college, in Berkeley, for a while.

0:02:47.668,0:02:48.818
(Laughter)

0:02:48.818,0:02:49.909
And -

0:02:51.671,0:02:55.017
I'm sorry, I'm sorry,[br]it's a Stanford TEDx.

0:02:55.017,0:02:56.978
But we notice that people get stuck.

0:02:56.978,0:02:59.789
People really get stuck[br]and then they don't know what to do

0:02:59.789,0:03:02.800
and they don't seem to have any tools[br]for getting unstuck.

0:03:02.800,0:03:04.379
Designers get stuck all the time.

0:03:04.379,0:03:05.779
I signed up to be a designer,

0:03:05.779,0:03:09.469
which means I'm going to work[br]on something I've never done, every day,

0:03:09.469,0:03:12.595
and I get stuck and unstuck,[br]stuck and unstuck, all the time.

0:03:12.595,0:03:16.459
We also noticed as we went out and talked[br]to folks who are not just our students,

0:03:16.459,0:03:18.891
but people in mid-career[br]and encore careers,

0:03:18.891,0:03:21.638
that people have a bunch of beliefs

0:03:21.638,0:03:24.179
which psychologists label[br]"dysfunctional beliefs,"

0:03:24.179,0:03:27.217
things they believe that are true[br]that actually aren't true,

0:03:27.217,0:03:28.387
and it holds them back.

0:03:28.557,0:03:29.818
I'll give you three.

0:03:30.008,0:03:32.996
First one is: "What's your passion?

0:03:32.996,0:03:35.840
Tell me your passion and I'll tell you[br]what you need to do."

0:03:36.100,0:03:39.048
Now, if you actually have[br]one of these things, these passions -

0:03:39.048,0:03:41.050
you knew at two you wanted to be a doctor,

0:03:41.050,0:03:44.006
you knew at seven you wanted[br]to be a clown at Cirque du Soleil,

0:03:44.006,0:03:46.663
and now you are one, that's awesome.

0:03:46.663,0:03:49.123
But we're a sort of research space[br]here at Stanford,

0:03:49.123,0:03:51.893
so we went over to the[br]Center for the Study of Adolescence,

0:03:51.893,0:03:54.381
which by the way now goes up to 27 -

0:03:54.381,0:03:55.492
(Laughter)

0:03:55.672,0:03:58.703
and met with Bill Damon,[br]one of our colleagues, a fantastic guy.

0:03:58.703,0:04:02.250
He studied this question and it turns out[br]less than 20% of the people

0:04:02.250,0:04:05.381
have any one single[br]identifiable passion in their lives.

0:04:05.381,0:04:08.641
We hate a methodology which says,[br]"OK, come to the front of the line.

0:04:08.641,0:04:10.963
You have a passion?[br]Oh, you don't? Oh, I'm sorry.

0:04:10.963,0:04:13.870
When you have one, come on back[br]and we'll help you with that."

0:04:13.870,0:04:17.873
It's terrible, eight out of 10 people say,[br]"I have lots of things I'm interested in."

0:04:17.873,0:04:22.653
So this is not an organizing principle[br]for your search or your design.

0:04:22.653,0:04:26.722
The second one is, "Well,[br]you should know by now, right?

0:04:26.722,0:04:28.714
Don't you know where you're going?

0:04:28.714,0:04:30.992
If you don't know, you're late."

0:04:30.992,0:04:32.093
(Laughter)

0:04:32.513,0:04:34.423
Now, what are you late for, exactly?

0:04:34.423,0:04:35.391
I'm not quite sure.

0:04:35.391,0:04:40.063
But you know, there's a meta-narrative[br]in the culture and when I was growing up:

0:04:40.063,0:04:42.754
by 25, you're supposed[br]to maybe have a relationship,

0:04:42.754,0:04:45.943
maybe have gotten married[br]and started to get the family together.

0:04:45.943,0:04:48.354
When I talk to my millennial[br]students, they'll say,

0:04:48.354,0:04:51.584
"Oh, that's got to be[br]like 30 or something,"

0:04:51.584,0:04:54.453
because they can't imagine,[br]anything past, like, 22,

0:04:54.453,0:04:56.174
but 30 is a long way out.

0:04:56.174,0:05:01.213
But we know that now these people[br]are forming their lives much more fluidly,

0:05:01.213,0:05:06.961
they are staying in a lot more dynamic[br]motion between about 22 and 35,

0:05:06.961,0:05:11.213
and so this notion that you're late[br]is really kind of like,

0:05:11.213,0:05:13.774
"Well, you should have[br]figured this out by now."

0:05:13.774,0:05:16.394
Dave and I don't "should" on anybody.

0:05:16.394,0:05:19.191
In the book or in the class,[br]we don't believe in "should."

0:05:19.191,0:05:21.581
We just think, "Alright,[br]you are whatever you are.

0:05:21.581,0:05:24.784
Let's start from where you are.[br]You're not late for anything."

0:05:24.784,0:05:27.058
But the one we really don't like is:

0:05:27.544,0:05:31.233
"Are you being the best[br]possible version of you?"

0:05:31.233,0:05:32.322
(Laughter)

0:05:32.502,0:05:34.681
"I mean, because you're not settling

0:05:34.681,0:05:37.863
for something that's less than the best,[br]because this is Stanford.

0:05:37.863,0:05:40.002
Obviously we all[br]are going to be the best."

0:05:40.002,0:05:42.578
Well, this implies that, one,[br]there's a singular best;

0:05:42.578,0:05:46.233
two, that it's a linear thing,[br]and life is anything but linear;

0:05:46.233,0:05:51.063
and three, it kind of comes[br]from this business notion,

0:05:51.063,0:05:52.997
there's an old business saying,

0:05:52.997,0:05:55.912
"Good is the enemy of better,[br]better is the enemy of best,"

0:05:55.912,0:05:58.501
and you always want to do[br]your best in business.

0:05:58.501,0:06:02.464
But if there isn't one singular best,[br]then our reframe is,

0:06:02.464,0:06:08.033
"The unattainable best is the enemy[br]of all the available betters,

0:06:08.033,0:06:11.275
because there are many, many versions[br]of you that you could play out,

0:06:11.275,0:06:15.074
all of which would result[br]in a well-designed life."

0:06:15.074,0:06:18.031
So I'm going to give you three ideas[br]from design thinking -

0:06:18.031,0:06:20.712
five ideas, excuse me -[br]That says five, doesn't it? Yeah.

0:06:20.712,0:06:22.775
Five ideas from design thinking.

0:06:23.063,0:06:25.882
And people who've read the book[br]or taken the class

0:06:25.882,0:06:27.520
have written back to us and said,

0:06:27.520,0:06:30.372
"Hey, these were the most useful,[br]these were the most doable,

0:06:30.372,0:06:31.714
they were the most helpful."

0:06:31.714,0:06:34.847
And we're human-centered designers,[br]so we want to be helpful.

0:06:35.162,0:06:38.141
The first one is this notion[br]of connecting the dots.

0:06:38.141,0:06:42.063
The number one reason people take[br]our class and we hear read the book

0:06:42.063,0:06:45.662
is they say, "You know,[br]I want my life to be meaningful,

0:06:45.662,0:06:48.982
I want it to be purposeful,[br]I want it to add up to something."

0:06:48.982,0:06:52.805
So, we looked in the positive psychology[br]literature and in the design literature,

0:06:52.805,0:06:54.464
and it turns out

0:06:55.027,0:06:58.777
that there's who you are,[br]there's what you believe

0:06:58.777,0:07:00.756
and there's what you do in the world,

0:07:00.756,0:07:03.577
and if you can make a connection[br]between these three things,

0:07:03.577,0:07:06.287
if you can make that a coherent story,

0:07:06.287,0:07:09.266
you will experience[br]your life as meaningful.

0:07:09.266,0:07:12.857
The increase in meaning-making[br]comes from connecting the dots.

0:07:12.857,0:07:14.077
So we do two things.

0:07:14.077,0:07:17.689
We ask people: "Write a work view.[br]What's your theory of work?

0:07:17.689,0:07:21.358
Not the job you want,[br]but why do you work? What's it for?

0:07:21.358,0:07:23.430
What's work in service of?"

0:07:23.739,0:07:27.701
Once you have that, 250 words, then -[br]this one's a little harder to get short,

0:07:27.701,0:07:31.618
"What's the meaning of life?[br]What's the big picture? Why are you here?

0:07:31.618,0:07:35.187
What is your faith[br]or your view of the world?"

0:07:35.187,0:07:38.798
When you can connect your life view[br]and your work view together,

0:07:38.798,0:07:40.056
in a coherent way,

0:07:40.056,0:07:43.135
you start to experience[br]your life as meaningful.

0:07:43.135,0:07:44.764
That's the idea number one.

0:07:45.127,0:07:48.217
Idea number two: people get stuck

0:07:48.217,0:07:52.040
and you've got to be careful[br]because we can reframe almost anything,

0:07:52.040,0:07:55.389
but there's a class of problems[br]that people get stuck on

0:07:55.389,0:07:57.378
that are really, really bad problems.

0:07:57.378,0:07:59.168
We call them gravity problems.

0:07:59.168,0:08:02.471
Essentially, they're something[br]you cannot change.

0:08:03.769,0:08:06.057
Now, I know you have a friend

0:08:06.057,0:08:08.896
and you've been having coffee[br]with this friend for a while,

0:08:08.896,0:08:10.207
and they're stuck.

0:08:10.207,0:08:12.748
They don't like their boss,[br]their partner, their job,

0:08:12.748,0:08:14.617
there's something that they don't like.

0:08:14.617,0:08:18.009
But nothing's happening, right?[br]Nothing's happening with them.

0:08:18.206,0:08:19.867
If Dave were here he'd say, "Look,

0:08:19.867,0:08:23.398
you can't solve a problem[br]you're not willing to have."

0:08:23.668,0:08:26.170
You can't solve a problem[br]you're not willing to have,

0:08:26.170,0:08:28.899
so if you've got a gravity problem

0:08:28.899,0:08:31.286
and you're simply[br]not willing to work on it,

0:08:31.286,0:08:33.784
then it's just[br]a circumstance in your life.

0:08:33.784,0:08:38.636
And the only thing we know to do[br]with gravity problems is to accept.

0:08:38.636,0:08:41.229
In the design thinking chart,[br]you start with empathy,

0:08:41.229,0:08:44.148
then you redefine the problem,[br]you come up with lots of ideas,

0:08:44.148,0:08:45.976
then you prototype and test things,

0:08:45.976,0:08:49.429
but that only works if it's a problem[br]you're willing to work on.

0:08:49.429,0:08:53.312
The first thing to do is accept and once[br]you've accepted this as gravity problem -

0:08:53.312,0:08:54.655
"I can't change it.

0:08:55.178,0:08:57.342
You know, this is a company,

0:08:57.342,0:09:01.508
the company is a family-run company[br]and the name of the founder is on the door

0:09:01.508,0:09:04.437
and if you're not in the family,[br]you can't be the president."

0:09:04.787,0:09:06.747
You're right, you can't!

0:09:07.197,0:09:09.747
So, now you have to decide[br]what you want to do.

0:09:09.747,0:09:12.488
Is that a circumstance[br]that you can reframe and work in,

0:09:12.488,0:09:14.321
or do you need to do something else?

0:09:14.321,0:09:16.379
So be really careful[br]about gravity problems

0:09:16.379,0:09:20.057
because they're pernicious[br]and they really get in the way.

0:09:20.472,0:09:22.824
But back to this idea of multiples,

0:09:22.824,0:09:26.252
I do a little thought experiment[br]with my students,

0:09:26.252,0:09:27.470
and I say, you know,

0:09:27.470,0:09:29.972
"The physicists up in SLAC[br]have kind of demonstrated

0:09:29.972,0:09:32.633
this multiverse thing might be real."

0:09:32.642,0:09:35.703
You've heard of this, that there are[br]multiple parallel universes,

0:09:35.703,0:09:37.643
one right next to each other.

0:09:38.393,0:09:40.632
And say, "We'll do a thought experiment.

0:09:40.632,0:09:43.611
Let's say you could live[br]in all the multiverses simultaneously,

0:09:43.611,0:09:47.811
and not only that, but you'd know about[br]your life in each one of these instances.

0:09:47.811,0:09:51.842
So, you could go back[br]and be the ballerina,

0:09:51.842,0:09:56.544
and the scientist, and the CPA,[br]and whatever else you wanted to be.

0:09:56.544,0:09:58.623
You could have all[br]these lives in parallel."

0:09:58.623,0:10:02.112
When I ask them, "How many lives are you?[br]How many lives would you want?",

0:10:02.112,0:10:04.650
I get answers from three to 10,000.

0:10:06.260,0:10:09.755
But, you know, we've sort of done[br]the average: it's about 7,5.

0:10:09.755,0:10:14.314
Most people think they have about 7,5[br]really good lives that they could live.

0:10:14.314,0:10:16.790
And here's the deal: you only get one.

0:10:17.640,0:10:20.293
But it turns out it's not[br]what you don't choose,

0:10:20.293,0:10:22.860
it's what you choose in life[br]that makes you happy.

0:10:23.152,0:10:25.244
Nevertheless, we reframed this and we say,

0:10:25.244,0:10:28.711
"Great, there's more lives[br]than one in you.

0:10:28.711,0:10:32.633
So let's go on an odyssey,[br]and let's really figure out those lives!"

0:10:32.633,0:10:35.541
And we ask people to do some design.

0:10:35.541,0:10:38.292
And the "ideate" bubble,[br]it's about having lot's of ideas.

0:10:38.292,0:10:40.006
So we say, "Let's have some ideas.

0:10:40.006,0:10:42.673
We'll ideate your future,[br]but you can't ideate just one.

0:10:42.673,0:10:44.372
You have to ideate three."

0:10:44.372,0:10:46.981
Now, there's some research[br]from the School of Education

0:10:46.981,0:10:50.302
that says if you start with three ideas[br]and you brainstorm from there,

0:10:50.302,0:10:52.223
you've got a much wider range of ideas,

0:10:52.223,0:10:54.254
the ideas are more generative

0:10:54.254,0:10:58.241
and they lead to better[br]solutions to the problem

0:10:58.241,0:11:01.382
rather than just starting with one[br]and then brainstorming forward.

0:11:01.382,0:11:04.362
So we always do threes;[br]there's something magical about threes.

0:11:04.362,0:11:08.148
We have people do three lives,[br]and it's transformational.

0:11:08.841,0:11:11.542
We give them this little rubric.

0:11:11.542,0:11:13.252
One: "The thing you're doing,

0:11:13.252,0:11:16.562
the thing you're doing right now,[br]whatever your career is, just do it.

0:11:16.562,0:11:20.243
And you're going to do it for five years[br]and it's going to come out great."

0:11:20.243,0:11:22.512
I mean, in design,[br]we're sort of values-neutral,

0:11:22.512,0:11:26.302
except for one thing: we never[br]design anything to make it worse, right?

0:11:26.302,0:11:29.178
I have been on some teams[br]that made some pretty bad products,

0:11:29.178,0:11:32.243
but we weren't trying to,[br]we were trying to make it better.

0:11:32.243,0:11:35.151
So, thing one: your life, make it better.

0:11:35.884,0:11:38.354
And also put in the bucket list stuff:

0:11:38.354,0:11:40.413
you want to go to Paris,[br]to the Galapagos -

0:11:41.103,0:11:42.522
the guy with the ice thing -

0:11:42.522,0:11:46.880
before it's all under water[br]and we can't see it anymore.

0:11:46.880,0:11:49.742
So, that's plan one: your life goes great.

0:11:49.742,0:11:51.169
Plan two:

0:11:51.763,0:11:54.812
I'm really sorry to tell you,[br]but the robots and the AI stuff -

0:11:54.812,0:11:57.421
that job doesn't exist anymore,[br]the robots are doing it.

0:11:57.421,0:11:59.321
We don't need you to do that anymore.

0:11:59.501,0:12:01.104
Now, what are going to do?

0:12:01.304,0:12:05.313
So what do you do if the thing[br]that you've got goes away?

0:12:05.313,0:12:08.941
And you know, everybody's got[br]a side hustle or something they can do

0:12:08.941,0:12:10.974
to make that work.

0:12:10.974,0:12:13.863
And three is: what's your wild-card plan?

0:12:13.863,0:12:17.641
What would you do if you didn't have[br]to worry about money? You've got enough.

0:12:17.641,0:12:20.152
You're not fabulously wealthy,[br]but you've got enough.

0:12:20.152,0:12:23.656
And what would you do[br]if you knew no one would laugh?

0:12:24.252,0:12:26.870
My students come in[br]for my office hours a lot of times,

0:12:26.870,0:12:28.371
and they'll say something like,

0:12:28.371,0:12:32.173
"Well, what I really want to do is this,[br]but I can't just hear people saying,

0:12:32.173,0:12:34.851
'You didn't go to Stanford[br]to do that, did you?'"

0:12:34.851,0:12:36.061
(Laughter)

0:12:36.061,0:12:38.072
Because somehow, if you went to Stanford,

0:12:38.072,0:12:41.682
you have to do some of the amazing things[br]the past speakers have been doing.

0:12:41.682,0:12:44.383
"But what would you do[br]if you had enough money

0:12:44.383,0:12:47.127
and you didn't care what people thought?

0:12:48.232,0:12:52.776
Anything from,[br]'I'm going to go study butterflies'

0:12:52.776,0:12:57.281
to, 'I want to be a bartender,[br]you know, in Belize.' What would you do?"

0:12:57.281,0:12:58.926
And people have those three plans.

0:12:58.926,0:13:01.615
Now what happens when[br]they do this is, one, they realize,

0:13:01.615,0:13:03.656
"Oh my gosh, I could[br]actually have imagined

0:13:03.656,0:13:06.659
my three completely parallel lives[br]are all pretty interesting."

0:13:06.659,0:13:10.479
Two, they rarely go become a bartender,[br]you know, in Belize.

0:13:10.479,0:13:13.457
But a lot of times, the things[br]that come up in the other plans

0:13:13.457,0:13:16.917
were things that they left behind somehow.

0:13:16.917,0:13:20.291
In the business of life,[br]they forgot about those things.

0:13:20.587,0:13:23.255
And so they bring them back[br]and put them in plan one,

0:13:23.255,0:13:25.136
then they make their lives even better.

0:13:25.136,0:13:27.057
Sometimes they do pivot,

0:13:27.057,0:13:29.898
but mostly they just use this[br]as a method of ideating

0:13:29.898,0:13:33.334
all the possible wonderful ways[br]they could have a life.

0:13:33.859,0:13:37.027
Now, you could start executing that,

0:13:37.027,0:13:41.300
but in our model, the thing you do after[br]you have ideas is you build a prototype.

0:13:41.775,0:13:45.277
We have met people who've quit their job[br]and suddenly done something else,

0:13:45.277,0:13:47.705
It hardly ever works.

0:13:47.705,0:13:50.887
You kind of have to sneak up on it,[br]because in our model,

0:13:50.887,0:13:55.132
we want to set the bar really low,[br]try stuff, have some success, do it again.

0:13:55.476,0:13:58.346
So when we say "prototype,"[br]in our language,

0:13:58.346,0:14:01.806
what we mean is a way to ask[br]an interesting question,

0:14:01.806,0:14:04.117
"What would it be like if I tried this?",

0:14:04.117,0:14:06.339
a way to expose the assumptions,

0:14:06.339,0:14:07.827
"Is this even the thing I want

0:14:07.827,0:14:11.416
or is that just something[br]I remember I wanted when I was 20?"

0:14:11.985,0:14:14.078
I've got to go out[br]in the world and do this,

0:14:14.078,0:14:17.766
so I'm going to get others involved[br]in prototyping my life,

0:14:17.766,0:14:21.527
and I'm going to sneak up on the future,

0:14:21.527,0:14:24.119
because I don't if this is[br]exactly what I want.

0:14:25.255,0:14:28.247
There's two kinds[br]of life-design prototypes

0:14:28.247,0:14:30.707
and what we call prototype conversation.

0:14:30.707,0:14:33.164
You know, William Gibson,[br]the science-fiction writer

0:14:33.164,0:14:34.179
has a famous quote:

0:14:34.179,0:14:37.563
"The future is already here.[br]It's just unevenly distributed."

0:14:37.905,0:14:40.549
So, there is someone[br]who's a bartender in Ibiza.

0:14:40.549,0:14:44.618
He's been doing it for years, I could go[br]meet him and have a conversation,

0:14:44.618,0:14:45.706
he or she.

0:14:45.706,0:14:49.117
Somebody else is doing[br]something else I'm interested in.

0:14:49.117,0:14:53.127
All of these people are out there,[br]they're living in my future, today.

0:14:53.127,0:14:55.006
They're doing what I want to do, today.

0:14:55.006,0:14:56.900
And if I have a conversation with them,

0:14:56.900,0:15:00.066
I just ask for their story[br]and everybody will tell you their story.

0:15:00.066,0:15:02.775
If you buy them a cup of coffee,[br]they tell you the story.

0:15:02.775,0:15:05.158
If I hear something[br]in the story that rings in me -

0:15:05.158,0:15:07.434
We have this thing[br]we call narrative resonance:

0:15:07.434,0:15:11.136
when I hear a story that's kind of like[br]my story, something happens,

0:15:11.136,0:15:15.283
and I can identify that[br]as a potential way of moving forward.

0:15:15.283,0:15:17.867
The other one is a prototype experience.

0:15:17.867,0:15:19.726
Dave and I were working with a woman,

0:15:19.726,0:15:23.165
sort of mid-career in her 40s[br]and a very successful tech executive,

0:15:23.165,0:15:25.756
but wanted to move from[br]money-making to meaning-making,

0:15:25.756,0:15:27.305
to do something more meaningful,

0:15:27.305,0:15:30.186
thinking of going back to school,[br]getting an MA in education,

0:15:30.186,0:15:31.886
working with kids.

0:15:31.886,0:15:35.407
But she's like, "You know, I don't know,[br]I'm 45, going back to school.

0:15:35.407,0:15:36.843
It's not going to work.

0:15:36.843,0:15:38.818
And then I heard about these millennials.

0:15:38.818,0:15:41.381
They're kind of mean[br]and they don't like old people."

0:15:41.381,0:15:42.397
(Laughter)

0:15:42.397,0:15:43.985
What am I going to do, Bill?"

0:15:43.985,0:15:46.646
I said, "Well, you just have[br]to go try this, you know.

0:15:46.646,0:15:49.007
It turns out we sent her[br]to a seminar class

0:15:49.007,0:15:50.907
and to a large lecture-hall class,

0:15:50.907,0:15:53.807
and by the way, you just[br]put on a T-shirt that says "Stanford"

0:15:53.807,0:15:55.837
and you walk into a class, nobody knows.

0:15:55.837,0:15:59.336
She wasn't registered, but you know,[br]she went and she went to the classes

0:15:59.336,0:16:02.266
and she came back and said,[br]"You know what? It was fantastic!

0:16:02.266,0:16:05.267
I walked into the lecture hall,[br]I sat down, my body was on fire!

0:16:05.267,0:16:08.708
It was interesting, I was so interested[br]in the way the lecture was going.

0:16:08.708,0:16:10.296
And then I met these millennials.

0:16:10.296,0:16:12.563
It turned out they're[br]pretty interesting people!

0:16:12.563,0:16:14.516
I've set up three[br]prototype conversations.

0:16:14.516,0:16:18.657
And they think I'm interesting because[br]I'm coming back to school and I'm 45."

0:16:18.657,0:16:22.045
So she had a felt experience,[br]because we are more than just our brains.

0:16:22.045,0:16:24.626
She had a felt experience[br]that this might work for her.

0:16:24.626,0:16:27.885
So these are two ways[br]you can prototype your way forward.

0:16:28.695,0:16:30.045
The last idea:

0:16:30.045,0:16:32.347
you want to make a good decision well.

0:16:32.687,0:16:36.245
So many people make choices[br]and they're not happy with their choices

0:16:36.245,0:16:41.376
because they don't really know[br]how do they know what they know, right?

0:16:41.376,0:16:44.828
It's a hard thing, particularly in our[br]days when we have so many choices.

0:16:44.828,0:16:46.057
So we have a process.

0:16:46.057,0:16:48.801
Again it comes from[br]the positive psychology guys.

0:16:48.984,0:16:50.268
Gather and create options.

0:16:50.268,0:16:53.719
Once you get good at design you're[br]really good at coming up with options.

0:16:53.719,0:16:57.006
You've got narrow those down[br]to a working list that you can work with.

0:16:57.006,0:16:59.358
Then, you make the choice[br]to make a good choice,

0:16:59.358,0:17:02.189
and then of course you agonize[br]that you did the wrong thing.

0:17:02.189,0:17:03.118
(Laughter)

0:17:03.118,0:17:05.901
All my students have what is called[br]FOMO, fear missing out,

0:17:05.901,0:17:07.818
"What if I didn't pick the right thing."

0:17:07.818,0:17:11.607
Someone came into my office and said,[br]"I'll declare three majors and two minors"

0:17:11.607,0:17:15.059
and I said, "Do you plan[br]on being here for a few years?

0:17:15.059,0:17:16.755
It's not going to happen, right?"

0:17:16.755,0:17:20.091
So we don't say that; we say[br]you want to let go and move on,

0:17:20.091,0:17:23.295
and all these have[br]some psychological basis in them.

0:17:23.295,0:17:24.568
Let me tell you about it.

0:17:24.568,0:17:27.010
Once you get good at gathering[br]and creating ideas,

0:17:27.010,0:17:30.078
you also want to make sure[br]you leave room for the lucky ideas,

0:17:30.078,0:17:31.864
the serendipitous ideas.

0:17:31.864,0:17:33.359
This is a guy named Tony Hsieh.

0:17:33.359,0:17:36.737
He was the CEO at Zappos,[br]he sold it to Amazon.

0:17:36.737,0:17:40.458
But before you became an employee[br]at Zappos you had to take a test,

0:17:40.458,0:17:42.508
and the test was, "Are you lucky?"

0:17:42.508,0:17:45.428
One, two or three: "I'm not very lucky,[br]and I'm not sure why."

0:17:45.428,0:17:49.230
Seven, eight, nine, ten, "I'm very lucky,[br]great things happen to me all the time,

0:17:49.230,0:17:50.539
I'm not sure why."

0:17:51.130,0:17:53.360
He wouldn't hire anybody[br]who was not lucky.

0:17:53.360,0:17:54.356
(Laughter)

0:17:54.356,0:17:57.057
I think it's probably illegal,[br]but it was based on -

0:17:57.057,0:17:58.007
(Laughter)

0:17:58.007,0:18:01.728
but it was based on a piece of research[br]where psychologists did the same thing,

0:18:01.728,0:18:03.548
"Rate yourself from lucky to unlucky."

0:18:03.548,0:18:07.039
And then they had people read[br]the front section of the New York Times,

0:18:07.039,0:18:09.399
30 pages, lots of articles.

0:18:09.399,0:18:11.698
And the graduate students said,

0:18:11.698,0:18:13.316
"Please count the number of -"

0:18:13.316,0:18:16.377
either headlines or photographs,[br]depending on the test.

0:18:16.377,0:18:20.518
"And when you get the whole thing read[br]and you count the number of photographs,

0:18:20.518,0:18:22.137
just tell the person at the end."

0:18:22.137,0:18:24.971
And if you got the[br]right number, you'd get $100.

0:18:26.300,0:18:27.639
Of course you all know

0:18:27.639,0:18:31.588
when a graduate student tells you what the[br]experiment is that's not the experiment.

0:18:31.588,0:18:34.337
So, inside this thing[br]that looked like the New York Times,

0:18:34.337,0:18:35.806
30 pages, front page,

0:18:35.806,0:18:38.648
inside all the stories were[br]little pieces of text that said,

0:18:38.648,0:18:42.935
"If you read this, the experiment's over.[br]Collect an extra $ 150."

0:18:43.678,0:18:48.736
People who rated themselves as unlucky[br]by and large got the right answer,

0:18:48.736,0:18:50.626
36 headlines, whatever it was,

0:18:50.626,0:18:52.278
got the $ 100.

0:18:52.278,0:18:56.748
People who rated themselves as lucky -[br]seven, eight, nine or ten -

0:18:56.748,0:19:01.477
80% of the time noticed the text[br]and got the extra $150.

0:19:01.477,0:19:02.897
It's not about being lucky.

0:19:02.897,0:19:05.136
It's about paying attention[br]to what you're doing

0:19:05.136,0:19:08.829
and keeping your peripheral vision open[br]because it's in your peripheral vision

0:19:08.829,0:19:11.373
that those interesting[br]opportunities show up, right,

0:19:11.373,0:19:13.245
that you were not expecting.

0:19:13.245,0:19:15.153
So you want to get good at being lucky.

0:19:15.153,0:19:17.241
Narrowing down. This is quite simple.

0:19:17.881,0:19:21.731
If you have too many choices, you go into[br]what psychologists call choice overload,

0:19:21.731,0:19:24.353
and then you have essentially no choices.

0:19:24.353,0:19:27.342
Here's the experiment.[br]This was done at Stanford.

0:19:27.782,0:19:30.322
You walk into a grocery store[br]and there's a nice lady.

0:19:30.322,0:19:33.793
She's got a table and on the table,[br]she has six jams,

0:19:33.793,0:19:37.172
and you come over try the jams[br]to have a sample, buy some jam.

0:19:37.172,0:19:40.991
Six jams; about 30 people[br]who would go by pick a jam,

0:19:40.991,0:19:42.504
or stop and test something,

0:19:42.504,0:19:45.621
and about a third[br]of those actually buy a jam.

0:19:46.262,0:19:47.432
That's the baseline.

0:19:47.432,0:19:49.970
Next week, you walk in, 24 jams:

0:19:51.200,0:19:55.282
jalapeño, strawberry, banana,[br]whatever; all sorts of jams.

0:19:55.282,0:19:56.532
Well, guess what happens?

0:19:56.532,0:19:58.882
Twice as many people stop,[br]look at all these jams,

0:19:58.882,0:20:00.470
it's so interesting.

0:20:00.732,0:20:02.532
Three percent of the people buy them.

0:20:02.532,0:20:03.563
(Laughter)

0:20:03.563,0:20:06.434
When you have too many choices,[br]you have no choice.

0:20:06.953,0:20:09.233
What do you do when you have[br]too many choices?

0:20:09.233,0:20:10.993
Just cross off a bunch of choices.

0:20:10.993,0:20:13.955
Psychologists tells us we can't handle[br]more than five to seven.

0:20:13.955,0:20:15.483
I'd say it's five.

0:20:15.483,0:20:18.374
If you've got a bunch of choices,[br]cross them all off,

0:20:18.374,0:20:20.884
just pick the five and then[br]make your decision there.

0:20:20.884,0:20:25.254
"Oh my God! What if I pick the wrong ones?[br]What if I cross off the wrong ones?"

0:20:25.254,0:20:26.262
Right?

0:20:26.262,0:20:29.432
Well, you won't, because it's[br]the pizza or Chinese food thing.

0:20:29.432,0:20:32.802
You're at the office and everybody says,[br]"Let's go out to lunch today."

0:20:32.802,0:20:36.482
"Sounds great. What do you want to do?[br]Pizza or Chinese food?" "I don't care."

0:20:36.482,0:20:41.272
In the elevator on their way down,[br]someone says, "Let's get Chinese food."

0:20:41.682,0:20:43.340
Then you go, "No, I want pizza."

0:20:43.340,0:20:44.428
(Laughter)

0:20:45.922,0:20:51.024
You won't decide how you feel about[br]the decision till the decision's made.

0:20:51.024,0:20:54.322
That's a piece of research that's[br]been done again and again and again.

0:20:54.322,0:20:55.463
So just cross them off.

0:20:55.463,0:20:56.941
If you cross off the wrong one,

0:20:56.941,0:21:00.651
you'll have a feeling somewhere in your[br]stomach that you did the wrong thing.

0:21:00.651,0:21:03.131
Choosing - this is about[br]that feeling in your stomach.

0:21:03.131,0:21:07.992
You cannot choose well if you choose[br]only from your rational mind.

0:21:09.282,0:21:12.394
This is Dan Goleman, who wrote[br]the book on emotional intelligence.

0:21:12.394,0:21:15.133
He does a lot of research on this,[br]a lot of brain science.

0:21:15.133,0:21:16.533
There's a part of your brain,

0:21:16.533,0:21:19.005
way down in the base brain,[br]the basal ganglia,

0:21:19.005,0:21:21.360
that summarizes emotional[br]decisions for you.

0:21:21.360,0:21:24.571
I did something, got good emotional[br]response from that: good, check.

0:21:24.571,0:21:27.575
I did something and had a little bad[br]emotional response to that.

0:21:27.575,0:21:30.107
It summarizes all of the emotions[br]that you have felt

0:21:30.107,0:21:33.794
and how your decisions were valenced[br]positive or negative an emotion.

0:21:33.794,0:21:37.342
The problem with that part of your brain[br]is that it's so early in the brain

0:21:37.342,0:21:39.833
it doesn't talk to the part[br]of your brain that talks.

0:21:39.833,0:21:42.871
There's no connection[br]to the prefrontal cortex or anything else.

0:21:42.871,0:21:45.803
It's only connected to your GI tract[br]and your limbic system.

0:21:45.803,0:21:49.490
So, it gives you information[br]through felt sensations,

0:21:49.490,0:21:50.942
a "gut feeling."

0:21:50.942,0:21:53.921
Without that, you can't make[br]good decisions.

0:21:54.350,0:21:56.193
And then the letting go and moving on.

0:21:56.193,0:22:00.523
This was the hardest part for me,[br]but this is also the work of Dan Gilbert,

0:22:00.523,0:22:02.966
who is a distinguished[br]scientist at Harvard,

0:22:02.966,0:22:06.823
despite the fact that he's doing[br]insurance commercials now.

0:22:06.823,0:22:11.857
And he's been studying decision-making[br]and how do you make yourself happy.

0:22:11.857,0:22:15.434
So, you walk in another[br]psychology experiment.

0:22:17.004,0:22:21.286
The postdoc has got five Monet prints,[br]five pictures from Monet,

0:22:21.286,0:22:23.069
and you rank them from best to least,

0:22:23.069,0:22:25.660
"I like this one the most,[br]I like this one the least,"

0:22:25.660,0:22:26.969
number one and number five.

0:22:26.969,0:22:29.012
"Thank you very much,[br]the experiment's over.

0:22:29.012,0:22:31.256
Oh, by the way, as you're[br]walking out, you know,

0:22:31.256,0:22:34.408
I kind of screwed up and I bought[br]too many of number two and three.

0:22:34.408,0:22:36.887
So if you want to take one home[br]you can just have it.

0:22:36.887,0:22:39.437
Two conditions: in one case,[br]take it home and have it,

0:22:39.437,0:22:42.336
but don't bring it back[br]because I'm kind of embarrassed and -

0:22:42.336,0:22:44.496
Just keep it, you can't exchange it.

0:22:44.496,0:22:46.449
Second condition: I've got lots of these.

0:22:46.449,0:22:48.267
If you don't like the one you picked,

0:22:48.267,0:22:51.057
you can swap it back[br]and pick another one."

0:22:51.057,0:22:55.024
And of course everybody picks number two.[br]It's a little better than number three.

0:22:55.328,0:22:57.495
We bring people back in[br]a week later and say,

0:22:57.495,0:23:00.477
"Re-rank the stimuli.[br]Which one do you like now?"

0:23:00.477,0:23:04.027
The people who were allowed to change[br]their mind don't like their painting,

0:23:04.027,0:23:05.287
they don't like the print,

0:23:05.287,0:23:08.895
they don't like the other one anymore,[br]they don't like any of them anymore.

0:23:08.895,0:23:10.923
In fact, they don't like the whole process

0:23:10.923,0:23:13.647
and they have destroyed[br]their opportunity to be happy.

0:23:13.647,0:23:14.727
(Laughter)

0:23:15.257,0:23:19.555
The people who were told, "You pick it,[br]it's yours, you can't return it"

0:23:19.555,0:23:22.977
love their print, they typically[br]rank it as number one

0:23:22.977,0:23:25.448
and think the rest of them suck.

0:23:25.448,0:23:26.547
(Laughter)

0:23:26.697,0:23:29.979
If you make decisions reversible,

0:23:30.406,0:23:34.476
your chance of being happy[br]goes down like 60 or 70 percent.

0:23:34.476,0:23:38.464
So, let go and move on,[br]make the decision reversible.

0:23:38.464,0:23:41.943
And by the way, as a designer,[br]that's no problem,

0:23:41.943,0:23:44.816
because you're really good[br]at generating options,

0:23:45.194,0:23:47.174
you're great at ideation,

0:23:47.174,0:23:49.962
you're really good at prototyping[br]to get data in the world

0:23:49.962,0:23:52.743
to see of that world will be[br]the world you want to live in,

0:23:52.743,0:23:54.837
so you have no fear of missing out.

0:23:54.837,0:24:00.666
It's just a process, a mindful process:[br]collect, reduce, decide, move on.

0:24:00.666,0:24:02.811
That's how you make yourself happy.

0:24:03.514,0:24:04.580
So,

0:24:04.994,0:24:06.824
the five ideas:

0:24:06.824,0:24:10.305
Connecting the dots to find meaning[br]through work and life views.

0:24:10.305,0:24:13.985
Stay away from gravity problems because[br]I can't fix those and neither can you;

0:24:13.985,0:24:16.423
reframe those to something[br]that is workable.

0:24:16.423,0:24:19.308
Do three plans, never one,[br]always do three of everything,

0:24:19.308,0:24:22.064
three ideations for any[br]of the problems you're working on

0:24:22.064,0:24:26.374
to make sure that you've covered not just[br]the ideas that you had when you started,

0:24:26.374,0:24:28.933
but all the other ideas that are possible.

0:24:28.933,0:24:33.072
Prototype everything in your life[br]before you jump in and try it.

0:24:33.072,0:24:37.531
And choose well; there's no point[br]in making a good choice poorly.

0:24:37.531,0:24:43.040
Choose well and you will find[br]that things in your life are much easier.

0:24:43.040,0:24:45.221
And you can do this, we know you can,

0:24:45.221,0:24:47.231
because thousands[br]of students have done it.

0:24:47.231,0:24:49.260
Two PhD studies[br]have been done in the class

0:24:49.260,0:24:52.501
that demonstrated higher self-efficacy,[br]lower dysfunctional beliefs.

0:24:52.501,0:24:56.489
It's a fascinating process to watch people[br]who don't think of themselves as creative

0:24:56.489,0:24:58.490
go through this class and walk out saying,

0:24:58.490,0:25:00.631
"You know what?[br]I'm a pretty creative person!"

0:25:00.631,0:25:02.781
what David Kelly calls[br]"creative confidence."

0:25:02.781,0:25:05.930
So, we know you can do it,[br]thank you very much.

0:25:05.930,0:25:07.321
It's simple:

0:25:07.321,0:25:09.181
get curious,

0:25:09.181,0:25:10.529
talk to people

0:25:10.529,0:25:11.880
and try stuff,

0:25:11.880,0:25:14.452
and you will design[br]a well-lived and joyful life.

0:25:14.452,0:25:15.751
Thank you.

0:25:15.751,0:25:17.669
(Applause) (Cheers)