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Aims | Highlights | Participants | Objectives | Contents | Date & Registration | Case Studies


Course Aims

mid-life crisis is a period of emotional, psychological, or existential questioning that typically occurs in middle adulthood, often between the ages of 35 and 55. It is characterized by feelings of dissatisfaction, restlessness, or confusion about one’s life direction, achievements, and purpose.

  • Reflection on mortality – A growing awareness of aging and the finite nature of life.
  • Unmet expectations – Realizing that personal or professional goals may not have been achieved.
  • Shifts in identity – Aspects of identity tied to career, relationships, or roles (e.g., parenting) may change.
  • Desire for change – A longing for meaning, adventure, or personal reinvention.

Design Thinking is a human-centered, problem-solving methodology that emphasizes creativity, experimentation, and iteration. It involves rethinking challenges and developing innovative solutions. This approach can be particularly helpful during a mid-life crisis because it encourages individuals to reframe their struggles and explore new paths with curiosity and optimism.

This course is designed to empower individuals to harness the principles of Design Thinking to navigate and thrive during mid-life transitions. It aims to equip participants with the skills needed to manage life changes effectively. By integrating practical tools for life planning strategies, The course prepares individuals to create more fulfilling and purposeful paths through midlife. It focuses on self-awareness, strategic problem-solving, transformative life planning, and collaborative achievements.


Course Highlights

AI technologies provide innovative tools that enhance the life planning process, facilitating clearer visualization and strategic analysis to support personal and professional development. Here’s how AI can empower individuals to craft a more fulfilling life and career trajectory:

  • AI Analytics Tools: Advanced systems such as ChatGPT 4-o are designed to analyze the dynamics within personal networks, identifying key stakeholders and their influence. These tools assist in understanding how to collaborate best and co-create with others to facilitate successful transitions and achieve desired goals.
  • AI Brainstorming Tools: Tools like Stormz leverage AI to offer creative brainstorming sessions, enabling individuals to explore diverse and innovative strategies for achieving their life and career goals. These tools help in ideating unconventional solutions that can lead to transformative outcomes.
  • AI 2D-Visualization Tools: Platforms such as Dall-E utilize advanced AI to help individuals visualize their life journey, both past and anticipated future. By creating detailed visual representations, these tools allow users to see a comprehensive overview of their life’s progression and potential future paths, enhancing clarity and motivation.
  • AI 3D-Visualization Tools: Tools like AICG employ AI to generate three-dimensional visualizations that vividly depict various aspects of one’s life. These visualizations help in understanding complex life scenarios and assessing potential changes from multiple perspectives, aiding in more informed decision-making.


Targeted Participants

  1. Mid-Career Professionals: Individuals in the mid-stage of their careers who are looking to pivot or advance further in their professional lives often seek new skills and perspectives to effectively manage and leverage mid-life transitions, enhance their current roles or shift to new career paths.
  2. Individuals Seeking Personal Growth: People at a crossroads in life, particularly those entering or adjusting to mid-life stages, are looking to redefine their personal and professional identities. This includes those transitioning into new life phases, such as post-retirement or after significant life changes.
  3. Pre-Retirees and Retirees: Individuals nearing retirement or those who have recently retired and are seeking to find a new sense of purpose. They are often looking for ways to stay active and engaged, whether through volunteering, part-time work, or exploring new hobbies and interests.
  4. Holistic Life Redesign Seekers: Individuals who want to make interconnected changes across multiple areas of their life, such as career, health, relationships, and personal growth. They are seeking structured approaches to prioritize and implement these changes in a manageable and impactful way.


Course Objectives:

The program focuses on self-exploration and personal enhancement tailored to mid-life contexts. Participants will be guided to deeply empathize with their own latent, unmet, and potential needs to understand better and transform their life journey during this pivotal phase.

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

  • Deepen Self-Awareness: Engage in structured self-reflection to better understand and articulate personal motivations and hidden aspects of their personality, especially as they relate to mid-life transitions.
  • Refine Problem-Solving Skills: Master Design Thinking techniques to identify mid-life challenges and develop adaptive strategies for personal and professional development during these transitions.
  • Reconstruct Life Journeys: Analyze past experiences to design future life paths that align with their evolving values and aspirations during mid-life.
  • Cultivate Collaborative Success: Learn to build and lead partnerships and teams aimed at achieving larger shared goals through innovative co-creation methods, particularly useful in navigating mid-life changes.


Course Contents

Pre-Course Preparation

Session 1: Discovering and Empathizing in Mid-Life [Life Design Tool list]

  • Stakeholder Mapping: Participants will identify the major influencers in their lives and understand how these relationships impact their personal growth and decision-making during mid-life transitions.
  • Self-Empathy Exercises: Through guided activities, participants will explore their own unmet, hidden, and potential needs, fostering a deeper understanding of their inner motivations and barriers specific to mid-life.

Session 2: Defining Your Mid-Life Persona and Journey [Life Design Tool list]

  • Persona Development: Participants will create detailed personas of themselves to better articulate their expectations, constraints, and life contexts during mid-life.
  • Personal Life Journey Mapping: This involves charting out key life events and turning points, allowing participants to visually narrate their past and pinpoint significant moments that have shaped their journey through mid-life.

Session 3: Developing Your Strategies for Mid-Life Transition [Life Design Tool list]

  • Iteration Methods: Participants will explore multiple pathways to achieving their new goals, using iterative techniques to refine and optimize their approaches to mid-life planning.
  • Prioritization Mapping: This tool helps to order potential strategies by impact and feasibility, ensuring that the most effective methods are pursued first.

Session 4: Delivering Your Action Plan for Mid-Life Transition [Life Design Tool list]

  • Prototyping Life Milestones: Participants will develop prototypes for setting and achieving milestones related to their new goals, allowing for tangible planning and execution tailored to mid-life changes.
  • ACES Analysis: This feedback mechanism involves gathering insights from key stakeholders to evaluate the progress and effectiveness of the new life strategies during mid-life transitions.

Follow-Up Sessions


Course Leaders and Training Facilitators

Our training team is composed of seasoned, internationally certified Design Thinking facilitators. Throughout the training process, they will share proven strategies and hands-on expertise in applying Design Thinking to career and life planning. With their professional and actionable methods, participants will swiftly incorporate the fundamental principles of Design Thinking into their career and life planning, thereby elevating both the innovation and practicality of their approaches.

Course Leader: David Chung, Dean of DesignThinkers Academy China


Date, Time, Tuition Fee and Certification

Duration: 2 Days

Date: 29 Mar and 5 Apr, 2025 (Saturday)

Time: 9:30 am to 5:30 pm

Language: Cantonese (粵語) with English Materials

Mode: Physical Class (will be arranged in Kwun Tong District, Hong Kong)

Tuition Fee: HK$7,000 | HK$6,500 (up to one month prior to the start of the course)

Online Registration and Inquire

Certification: Upon completing the course and all related exercises, participants will receive a Digital Certificate of “Design Thinking for Life Planning” and a Digital Badge from the DesignThinkers Academy. These credentials are securely issued through a blockchain-based global certification management system.


Leveraging Design Thinking for Life Development and Transition: A Global and Local Perspective

Design Thinking has been effectively employed worldwide for career development and transition across diverse sectors. Notable figures such as Joe Gebbia in Hospitality, Jane Chan in NGOs, Kiran Sethi in Children’s Education, Paula Davis in Coaching, and Martha Moore in Apparel have leveraged this approach.

Also noteworthy is its prevalent use in Hong Kong for career progression and pivoting among individuals with varied backgrounds. In response to this, we have orchestrated a series of seminars and webinars on “Design Thinking for Life Planning and Transition,” featuring dialogue with 13 distinguished Design Thinkers from Hong Kong. They are 吳克儉院士林小湛教授林偉雄院士李潔蘭校長鄧哲平先生梁智軒博士葉文謙先生陳呂令意校長唐文標律師尹繼賢博士林偉強博士孫美妮女士 及 黎嘉豪先生 (Ordered by sequence of the interviews). We want to express our deepest gratitude to the following guest speakers for their voluntary contributions.