Saturday, March 28, 2015

Stanford's Most Popular Class: "Designing Your Life"

Stanford's Most Popular Class Isn't Computer Science--It's Something Much More Important | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
"Designing Your Life," a new and wildly popular course for Stanford juniors and seniors that is grounded in design thinking concepts and techniques. The course’s lessons gave him the perspective he needed to navigate decisions about life and work post graduation."

Standford: ME104B | Designing Your Life




"Here's what they learn: gratitude; generosity; self-awareness; adaptability
All reinforced by design thinking-based tools, from a daily gratitude journal to a deck of cards featuring problem-solving techniques. In lieu of a final exam—the class is pass/fail—
students present three radically different five-year plans to their peers.
Alumni say they still refer back their "odyssey plans"—a term that Evans coined—
and revise them as their lives and careers progress."

Stanford’s Dave Evans & Bill Burnett on Using Design Thinking to Address the “Wicked Problem” of Designing Your Life & Career | rethinked…*
  • "- PASSION IS A CAPACITY THAT CAN BE DEVELOPED, NOT AN INHERENT ATTRIBUTE - The research says that maybe only two or three out of ten people actually have a passion that they’ve identified, that they can work into. We believe that actually, passion turns out to be what you develop after you find the things that you enjoy doing."
  • - SHEDDING DYSFUNCTIONAL BELIEFS -
  • - COUNSEL VS. ADVICE -
  • - START WHERE YOU’RE AT -
  • - BIAS TO ACTION & REFRAMING THE PROBLEM -
  • - ON FIGURING OUT WHO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP -
  • - NAVIGATING VS. WAY-FINDING -
  • - COHERENCE -
  • - ENCORE CAREER -
  • - THE COURAGE TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF -
Designing Your Life: https://vimeo.com/worldviewstanford/review/94095385/a0cede2bbb
Creative Decision-Making: https://vimeo.com/worldviewstanford/review/95827194/3c6c71dcae


There is already a "matching" course on MIT :)

ideas, book: Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

"Disciplined Pursuit of Less is better than Undisciplined Pursuit of More"

Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (another Stanford graduate)
(DO) "LESS BUT BETTER"

Greg McKeown: Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - YouTube
Greg McKeown speaks on "Essentialism" - YouTube
Greg McKeown, "Essentialism" | Talks at Google - YouTube
LinkedIn Speaker Series: Greg McKeown - YouTube

problem: focus => success => more opportunities => less focus => less success

solution: "Just say NO, and say YES selectively to most important things"
to get space for real contributions.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less: Greg McKeown: 9780804137386: Amazon.com: Books
"The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done. It is not a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter."

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - HBR by Greg McKeown

www.washingtonspeakers.com/images/pdfs/Greg McKeown Interview Essentialism.pdf
"McKeown recalls a story about Paul Rand, who designed the NeXT logo for Steve Jobs in the late 80s. At first, Jobs asked him to bring in a few options for him to choose from, but Rand said: ‘No. What I will do is solve your problem for you. I will bring you a logo and you will pay me. It’s up to you whether you use it. If you want options, fine, but you can work with a different designer.’"

greg mckeown blog posts @ HBR

The One-Word Answer to Why Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Have Been So Successful - Greg McKeown

This is essentially the same idea from "First Things First" by Stephen Covey

Keeping It Simple | The Career Diplomat

Model of Essentialism
Source: Greg McKeown – The Model of Essentialism