DESIGN YOUR LIFE

Be your own architect

BY Archana Law

There are people who make things happen, others who watch things happen and yet others who ask: ‘What happened?’ Similar to building a house, in life too, transferring one’s mental design to paper to the minutest detail works best!

Here are some practical strategies to help you design a life that aligns with your values, passions and aspirations. The concepts are followed by the steps you should take to make them a reality.

GUIDANCE Dr. Stephen Covey’s book titled ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ refers to the concept of the compass and clock to emphasise the need for balance while navigating life. The compass represents your principles, values and long-term vision like your true worth, which serves as a guide to make decisions and prioritise.

On the other hand, the clock represents your commitments, responsibilities and daily activities. It symbolises the finite amount of time you have each day and how you choose to allocate that time effectively.

Reflect on your values and principles by considering what matters most to you in life, and what you stand for and want to achieve.

Identify your specific goals in the various roles you play in life such as spouse, parent, professional, sibling, child, community member and so on.

Envision your ideal future across all aspects of your life including personal, professional and relationships. Imagine what success looks like for you in each area and how you’d feel once you achieved your goals.

Write down your mission statement based on your reflections and visualisation. It should encapsulate your core values, guiding principles and long-term goals.

Review, refine and live your mission every day by using it as a guiding compass to make decisions, set priorities, and take actions that align with your vision for a fulfilling and purposeful life.

ASSESSMENT The Wheel of Life is a popular self-assessment tool that’s used to evaluate and harmonise various aspects of an individual’s life – such as career, relationships, health, finances, personal growth and leisure.

Rate each area on a blank Wheel of Life diagram and label each section with one of the life areas you have identified. Then rate your level of satisfaction or fulfilment in each area on a scale from one (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied) and mark a point on each section of the wheel to represent your rating.

Connect the dots to create a visual representation of your Wheel of Life. This will reveal patterns and areas of imbalance or dissatisfaction.

Set specific and measurable goals, and prioritise each area according to its importance and urgency based on your analysis.

Create an action plan for achieving your SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound) goals in each area of your life. Consider what resources, support or skills you will need to accomplish your goals. And review and amend regularly.

LIFE DESIGN The book Designing Your Life by Stanford University’s Bill Burnett and Dave Evans offers a unique perspective on life design, combining the principles of design thinking with practical tools and exercises.

Nearly everything in our lives is a product of design. Viewed as a problem solving approach to create solutions and construct new environments, the authors believe that design thinking can be applied to our personal lives too. It will help us create a fulfilling and meaningful existence, regardless of age, background or career.

The big questions that need to be answered include the following…

Who do I want to be? What do I want my life to look like? How do I find a job that I’ll love and lead to a good life? Work-life balance: how can I make a difference in the world?

Understand the Four Prototypes framework – which comprises the work, life, play and love views – so you can create a fulfilling life that complements your personal and professional goals.

Reflect on where you are by rating your life on a scale from 0-10 for each area, and identify what’s going well, what is missing and why. This will begin a process of clarification to start mapping out a path.

Recognise your ‘gravity’ problems, which refer to circumstances that can’t be changed or you aren’t willing to change. Accept them and decide how to move forward by either reframing the circumstance and working with it or finding a way to work around it by doing something different.

Get past limiting beliefs, and identify and build alternative paths with mind mapping. The equation comes down to resourcefulness rather than a lack of options. Instead of the perfect idea to take action, brainstorm a few different options, evaluate their feasibility based on certain factors and select one to explore as a potential solution.

Life is too short to miss out on knowing what it’s like to operate at your highest level.