WAYFINDING
Figure out where you are headed
Introduction > Know Yourself > Wayfinding > Ideation > Odyssey Plans > Life Prototypes
“Finding your passion isn’t just about careers and money. It’s about finding your authentic self. The one you’ve buried beneath other peoples needs.”
— Kristen Hannah, American Writer
“Wayfinding” is about figuring your way forward when you do not really know what your destination is. That is because life has not one, but many possible destinations. You cannot put the destination in Google Map and get step by step directions. You’ll just have to figure out where you currently are, be mindful of the clues in front of you, and use them to figure your way forward.
Two clues you can use to help you figure your way forward are “engagement” and “energy”.
Finding the Clues
Love/Play/Work/Health Dashboard
Use the Love-Play-Work-Health worksheet to reflect on these four areas of your life.
Mark (from zero to full) where you think you are for each gauge.
Write a few sentences on how you are doing in the four areas.
Ask yourself, “Do I have a design problem that I want to work on in any of these 4 areas?”
Love
People need love for a life that’s meaningful. Love comes to us in different ways from parents, spouse, family, friends, lovers, classmates, colleagues, and many other sources. It is the sense of connection you have to other people.
Play
Play is about doing activities that bring you joy. It can include any individual or organized activities. If it’s done “for the joy of it”, it is considered play. Competitive activities done to achieve, to advance, or to win are not considered play even if it is fun to do.
Work
Work could be activities you participate in that are paid or unpaid. Activities that are unpaid includes study activities, internships, and other co-curricular activities.
Health
Health is a combination of emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing. How much importance you want to assign to each of these areas to form your total score level is totally up to you. How you assess your health in these areas is also up to you.
Balance in the areas of your life
There is no perfect balance for these 4 areas since we all have different combinations of health, work, play, and love at different times.
For a college student, you might have an abundance of health, work, and play. But a meaningful relationship might not exist in your life yet. Someone in the mid-forties might face more health issues, work more and play less, and have found his lifelong partner (or going through a difficult relationship).
The goal of the dashboard is to see if any area in your life needs attention. Think of the indicator lights on your car dashboard that indicates a problem with your engine or brakes. When you see any of it lights up, you need to pull over your car and figure out the issue.
“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.”
Jean Shinoda Bolen, psychiatrist, author, and women activist
Developing your compass
The next step to designing your life is to develop your internal compass, the little voice inside that tells you if you are moving in the right direction. The building blocks of this compass are your deeply-held views towards education, work, and life.
By exploring and writing out these statements, you make them clearer in your mind and you become more confident in your decisions.
Education View
As a college student, it’s important to be able to articulate how you view education and how you might prioritize your time and opportunities on campus. As an adult, you will more likely be concerned with opportunities for continuous growth and expanding your knowledge/skills.
What is your view on the role of education?
What does education mean to you personally?
What are the most important things to you as a student/learner?
What does an enriching college education mean to you?
How do you view your time in college in relation to your life after graduation?
How do you view learning after graduation?
Work View
A Work View statement helps you discover what work means to you. It can also provide guidance when exploring employment opportunities that are meaningful to you.
Why would you go to work?
What aspects of work matters to you?
What is your ideal working situation?
What kind of work culture do you prefer?
Life View
Exploring your Life View means writing down important beliefs and values that define your understanding of life in general.
Why are we here?
What is the meaning or purpose of life?
What is the relationship between the individual and others?
Where do family, country, and the rest of the world fit in?
What is good, and what is evil?
Is there a higher power, God, or something transcendent, and if so, what impact does this have on your life?
What is the role of joy, sorrow, justice, injustice, love, peace, and strife in life?
There are no religious or political purpose in stating these perspectives. There are also no right or wrong answers, they are just what you believe.
Coherence
Who you are, what you believe, and what you do should all be aligned in order to live a meaningful life. This is known as coherence between the three elements. So take a few minutes to answer the following questions:
Where do your views on education, work, and life complement one another?
Where do they clash?
Does one drive the other? How?
If your views are clashing with one another, edit your Work and Life views so that they are more aligned. These two views can be used as your internal compass that tells you if you are on the right track or have veered off course.
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Introduction > Wayfinding > Ideate > Odyssey Plans > Life Prototypes