ClariT

Designing A Life That Works: OBSERVE

Tahera Khorakiwala

This piece is part of a ClariT series of essays that draws on the core ideas from Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. Their work introduces a design-thinking approach to life decisions, and in this series I explore those ideas through a coaching lens, turning them into practical reflections you can apply. These essays are not interpretations of the book rather than summaries. Each one stands alone, but they do progress and build creating a cycle. The best way to approach them is with curiosity. Pause where something resonates. Try the small step offered at the end. Let the ideas meet the reality of your own life.

Start Where You Are

Most of us try to make decisions from the future. We imagine where we should be by now, or what a “better” version of us would do. Yet life rarely unfolds from aspiration. It begins from reality. Honest, unpolished, imperfect reality.

Burnett and Evans describe four simple gauges: work, play, love and health. They call it a dashboard. I think of it as a quiet check-in. Not a performance review. Not a judgement. Just an honest look at how your life is working today.

You do not need long explanations. A score from zero to ten is often enough.
Where is there ease. Where is there friction.

This is not about blame. It is awareness. Awareness gives you clarity. Clarity opens your options.

For many people, the surprise is not the low scores. It is the realisation that they have been tolerating those scores for years. Not because they must. But because they stopped noticing.

A dashboard gives you a starting point. From here, you can design.

A question for you

Which area wants your attention. Not the area you should improve. The one that asks for care.

A small step

Choose one score you would like to shift by even one point. Ask yourself. What is the smallest action that would make that possible this week?

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