Think like a designer! The Designing Your Life mindset for clarity, purpose, and action!
Designing Your Life offers an amazing toolbox of exercises and activities that will help you find more clarity and direction in your career and life. But there is one crucial component that you´ll need in place if you want to apply those changes to your career and life, and that is a supportive mindset!If your mindset is not on board, it will be hard to take action. You might face subconscious roadblocks. You might feel that you are moving forwad way too slowly, and you simply might not enjoy the journey. So let´s talk about the six Designing Your Life mindset principles and how you can use them to create a fulfilling career and life.How to think like a Designer? And why should you?
The DYL mindset is centered around the idea that to change your career and life effectively, you'll have to think like a designer. Designers work with what is, focus on the right problems, and build their way forward as they go. So instead of getting caught up in theory, they try things out, and instead of pondering over past or potential mistakes, they move into action to see how things will go.All these are things that will support you on your journey towards a fulfilling life and career.What are the Designing Your Life (DYL) mindset principles?
To create changes in your job and life with more ease, joy, and efficiency it makes sense to get familiar with (and apply) the Designing Your Life mindset principles. They are six key thoughts, all centered around the idea that creating a life and career on your terms is an ongoing process with many possible outcomes. So let's have a look at them.#1 Be curious
Everything starts with curiosity!Curiosity will allow you to explore your status quo and identify what's working for you and what's not. Curiosity will enable you to come up with new ideas and a plan of how to make it all happen. Curiosity is the driver for self-exploration and connecting to yourself on a deeper level. Curiosity will help you explore new options, and do things differently than before!Curiosity is one of my favorite tools in coaching because it allows you to see things from a different perspective, without judging, without immediately needing to change things.One thing that is crucial here is to allow a beginner's mind. This means letting go of how you think things should be and opening up to new ideas. Particularly when it comes to career change this can be challenging because it also means that to a certain extent you have to let go of how you have been doing things for a long time. You might have to let go of your expertise and the knowledge you´ve acquired and allow yourself to be a beginner again. A beginner´s mind will enable you to see the world with fresh, new eyes.#2 Try stuff
If you want to change your career and life you´ll have to try stuff. Only if you change things, things will change. And this goes for actions as much as for your way of thinking.This mindset principle expresses a lot of what Designing your Life is about: it´s not about executing perfectly, but trying things out. Approaching things as an experiment will remove a lot of the pressure of doing things “right” and encourage you to simply give things a go out to see what will happen.Moving into action can feel confronting because it catapults you into practice and challenges you to validate your ideas in real life. This is usually when all the doubts, fears, and hesitations show up. But once you start doing things, this step will be very liberating! You´ll realize that very rarely you can truly mess things up and will realize that it is you who is in charge of your life and that you can change things! An empowering feeling!#3 Focus on the right problem
Sometimes we encounter situations that are a real problem. This is part of life and there is not so much we can do about unchangeable circumstances. Therefore, Designing Your Life wants to encourage you to focus on the “right” problems. On the things you can influence, things that you can change.One example: if you can´t quit your job right now because you need to save money before executing this step, it doesn't make sense to ponder over that. A more resourceful move could be to focus on the things you can change in your current job, your current career, or your private life so you overall feel better until the situation has changed and you can leave your job.#4 Remember that it is a process
I love this mindset principle because it´s so simple and yet, so easy to forget and apply. Designing Your Life has a huge focus on seeing life and our decisions and actions as something ongoing. Life changes, we humans change, and you change.So there is no point in trying to find this perfect solution for the rest of your life. Searching for this one answer will keep you stuck and might not be valid or applicable anymore if you wait for too long before moving into action.Everything is a process so focus on taking one step after the other, come up with interesting and good enough ideas (not perfect!), and take it from there. With every step, you´ll learn, with every step you will gain new information that you can use, and with every step, you create a little more of the life you want to live. It´s never about the perfect solution, never about the one thing, but honoring that life is a process.#5 Ask for help
DYL promotes “radical collaborations”. The idea behind that is that you are not alone in this and can - and should - build a support network.This can be a mastermind, other people who have the same interests and aspirations, this can be a group program, and of course a coach too. The more you surround yourself with like-minded people the easier it will be to follow your dreams because you´ll realize you are not the only one who wants a change and has “crazy” ideas.This does not only apply to “official” support networks but to other forms of input too. If you are stuck on something you can´t figure out then ask an expert to help you, reach out to someone who has done what you want to do and ask if they can share their thoughts and tipps with you and hire someone who knows what they are doing if trying things by yourself did not give you the results you want. So ask for help, reach out to others, and get external input when you are at your wit´s end (or better: before that). You are not alone on your journey and there are plenty of people who will support you along your way - if you only ask!#6 Tell your story
Now this one is an interesting one because if you start to share your story, magic things can happen. You might meet this one person that can help you with your next move, you might learn the most interesting thing that expands your knowledge, and you might open doors and opportunities that you didn't know existed just because you shared your story.This mindset principle does not necessarily mean to tell everyone around you what you do or plan to do, but equally important, also to own your dreams, claim what you want in your life, and share this with the world.If you are an introvert like me, then this step can feel scary - so start small, share bits of what´s important to you, and practice with people you know. Take it step by step until things feel more natural.It´s worth voicing what matters to you because this is not only about honoring your dreams but also showing up for yourself and as the person you truly are.And now? How to put this all into action?
The question now is: how to put these things into action? How to practice thinking like a designer? And how to develop a supportive mindset? Here are three steps that can help you with that.Step 1: Observe how these mindset principles show up in your life
Do you notice that in some situations you already think like a designer? When? What do you do then? Or do detect that your mindset is not that supportive? Observing your thoughts and actions consciously is the first step to changing things.Step 2: Reflect on what the DYL mindset means to you
You´ve heard the six Designing Your Life mindset principles - but what do they actually mean to you? How do they translate into your life? What does “try stuff” or “tell your story” mean to you? What problems show up in your life and how could you practically reframe them so you work with them in a resourceful way? Step 3: Change - one thought, one action at a time
Strengthening your mindset takes time and some effort. Changing your mindset in the six different areas outlined in this article can be a bit much to start with. So a good way of starting this work might be to focus on one mindset principle at a time. Pick the one that resonates most with you, or you think could be most impactful for you. And then take one step after the other.Remember that developing a supportive mindset is an opportunity already to practice the Designing Your Life mindset principles. Observe what´s going on in your mind with curiosity, experiment with new ways of thinking and acting, focus on one step at a time you want to change, give yourself time and space to grow a new, stronger mindset, get support if you feel stuck, and adapt things when they are not working for you.A personal remark: mindset work can be complex
Before I close this article, there is something I want to mention.The DYL mindset principles are fantastic because they will put you in a very experimental and action-driven mindset. If you apply these mindset principles, you´ll feel encouraged to try things out, think less, and do more. All things that will help you not to get caught up in theory and preparation (hello, lovely overthinkers!), but apply real changes to your life.But it´s important to acknowledge that our mindset is more complex than those six thoughts. Our inner world is multi-layered, and the DYL mindset might not always be fully applicable (or right) for you, your life, and your life circumstances. We need to honor that.So yes, absolutely, reflect on the Designing Your Life mindset, use what feels supportive, challenge yourself at times to see if you can expand your thinking and acting, and make what you´ve read in this article your own. And keep in mind, that sometimes the most important work is not about taking action and moving forward but about focusing inwards, exploring what´s going on in your body, mind, and soul, and holding what is. Because this is a part of your journey too.Lots of love, Laura ————
Hey, I am Laura a certified Designing Your Life Coach, recruitment professional, podcaster, multi-passionate career changer, and business owner, In my Designing Your (Work) Life 1:1 Coaching series, I will help you to gain clarity about what you want in life and your career, equip you with the tools you need to create a fulfilling (work) life and move through challenges along the way. Because this is not only about a job but about what life you want to live! 🌿
