Fulfilment is a dead end. But you can be fully alive.
For decades, Bill Burnett and I have been teaching design thinking and life design at Stanford and beyond. Along the way, we noticed a pattern: even after people improved their lives, many still told us, “I don’t feel fulfilled.”
Fulfilment — which Abraham Maslow defined as “becoming all that one can be” — is a dead end because all of us contain more aliveness than just one lifetime will let us express. You can’t become all that you could be because you’re bigger than a lifetime. So the idea that one job, one role, or one version of yourself can express it all — is a dead end, so don’t get stuck on it.
The better goal —one that is totally doable — is to be fully alive.
That’s why Bill and I wrote our new book: How to Live a Meaningful Life — coming February 3rd.
The book offers a practical, evidence-based path into meaning:
The four places where meaning is most reliably found: wonder, coherency, flow, and community.
The five design mindsets that help you get there: wonder, availability, radical acceptance, being fully engaged & calmly detached, and creating your world.
Simple tools and exercises (like Put on Your Wonder Glasses) that you can try right away.
This is a book for everyone — students, parents, professionals, and second-half of life seekers. Meaning is both timeless and timely, and now is the moment to design your way into it.
You can preorder your copy here.
