We all want fun and rewarding careers and personal lives. But, we never really learn how to achieve our life goals in college. Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Stanford professors and co-authors of “Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life,” invented a college course to change just that.

Three Takeaways 

• Burnett and Evans noticed that a lot of their students came into class having dysfunctional beliefs. For example, students often think that their major will define the rest of their lives, and that happiness only comes from success. Debunking these problematic beliefs is part of the “Designing Your Life” curriculum.
• The professors explain that we’re all “making it up as we go along.” They say that having a job in finance or social work or tech doesn’t mean you have to stay in that sector forever. Indeed, if you want to make a career change, they offer a roadmap to help you do that.
• There are a lot of different aspects involved in building your best life. The simplified version? Get curious, talk to people in different fields, learn about the nuances of their jobs, and take baby steps towards your next goal.

More reading 

• Burnett and Evan’s website on the Designing Your Life course
• A New York Times article on Burnett and Evans’ class
• Fast Company named the course Stanford’s most popular class in 2015