Are you curious about what it would be like to have a different role or career? Or are you looking for ways to shift how you are approaching what you give your time and energy to in your personal life? The Design Odyssey tool will help you map out many pathways to inspire your ideas for the future.
GET READY
Orient yourself and others to the tool
This tool is one component that can be used as a stand-alone tool to help you approach to use your creative brainstorming skills to map out many future scenarios for your work or personal life. It can be used independently, and it can also be enhanced when used as a part of the Design Your (work)Life toolkit.
Prepare your materials and your thoughts:
To get started, grab a piece of paper and something to write with, or download and print a template. Reflect on how you spend your time and what gives you energy and joy vs. what takes away energy and joy. Reflect on why that might be. Notice patterns and insights.
Imagine 3 different future paths for yourself. You will sketch these out over a several years. Think about what you are doing and how it looks/feels for year 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
LIVE ACTIVITY
Write/type your ideas:
Take your thoughts and sketch them out, in words and/or images for each year. You will do this for 3 different 5-year scenarios for your future. Spend about 10 minutes on each scenario to begin.
Path 1: Top of Mind – the idea that most easily comes to mind. It may be the path you are currently on or the one you most often share with others
Path 2: Pivot Sketch - the path that you would do if you were able to do something new, or if the first path was no longer an option or was unavailable to you
Path 3: Constraint-Free – the path that you might take if there were no constraints (time, money, geography, financial or family obligations); nobody would think less of you or judge you; you were not bound by oppressive structures in society (perceived or real)
Reflect on what you see or experienced:
Reflect on them individually, and as a whole. What might you learn about yourself?
Circle a few areas that particularly pique your curiosity.
NEXT STEPS
Go deeper and learn more:
Consider doing several rounds of this exercise, either by reviewing what you have sketched out again, or by doing additional sketches and repeating the exercise from the beginning.
If you are working with others, set time limits, such as 20-30 minutes each, and share what you did to get their thoughts and reactions. Take turns.