Purpose | Tool List | Tool Guide | Life Stories | Full List
Part 1: Purpose and Key Question
Develop Diverse Pathways
Purpose: Prototype and explore multiple pathways to discover the options that resonate most with your values and career goals. This stage emphasizes experimentation, creativity, and adaptability to uncover the best-fit solutions for your unique circumstances.
Key Question: What are the different paths I can explore, and how can I test them to see what fits best?
AI Empowerment: Utilize AI simulations and scenario modeling to explore various life choices, designing the most suitable paths that align with your values and aspirations.
Part 2: Tool List
- D – Decision Matrix: Evaluate life choices using a structured grid to prioritize the most feasible and impactful options.
- H – Hero in Life: Reframe yourself as the hero of your life story to foster a sense of agency and purpose (Details)
- O – zoom-Out Thinking: Step back to generate many ideas by taking a broad perspective on your life.
- T – Trend Map: Identify personal and external trends to align your actions with emerging opportunities.
- U – Unlimited Possibilities: Challenge limiting beliefs to open your mind to new opportunities and solutions.
- W – Wish, Want, and Need: Explore and categorize different types of ideas to generate creative solutions.
- Z – Zero-Based Thinking: Remove current barriers and rethink your life from scratch to develop fresh ideas.
Part 3: Tool Guide
Decision Matrix
- What: The Decision Matrix is a structured tool in the Develop Stage of Design Thinking for Life Design that helps you evaluate and prioritize life or career choices by scoring them against multiple criteria. By using a grid, you can assess options based on factors such as feasibility, emotional fulfillment, alignment with values, or long-term impact. This tool brings clarity to the brainstorming results from the Develop Stage, enabling you to focus on actionable solutions. Co-creation with others, such as mentors or peers, can add valuable perspectives when identifying the most impactful choices.
- Why: In the Develop Stage, the Decision Matrix is critical for narrowing down ideas and focusing your energy on the most meaningful options. It ensures that your decisions are human-centered, grounded in your personal emotions, and aligned with in-depth needs such as purpose and growth. Co-creating with others allows you to explore diverse viewpoints, challenge biases, and refine your priorities. This tool fosters confidence and clarity, empowering you to take decisive steps toward life and career success.
- Tip: Share your Decision Matrix with a trusted friend or mentor to gather feedback on your criteria and scores. Their perspective can help you identify blind spots and validate your choices.
- AI Empowerment: AI algorithms can evaluate and rank options using weighted criteria, quickly identifying the most viable and aligned choices. AI tools can also suggest additional criteria or adjust scoring based on past decisions and personal priorities.
Hero in Life
- What: Hero in Life is a creative tool in the Develop Stage that reframes you as the hero of your life story. By imagining yourself as the protagonist overcoming challenges and achieving goals, you can foster a sense of purpose, agency, and resilience. This exercise encourages collaboration by inviting others—mentors, colleagues, or loved ones—to help you craft your narrative and identify your strengths. The Develop Stage focuses on generating innovative ideas, and this tool empowers you to approach your life and career design with a mindset of courage and possibility.
- Why: In the Develop Stage, Hero in Life helps you connect with your inner strength and align your actions with your aspirations. This human-centered tool transforms your perspective by framing challenges as opportunities for growth. Co-creating your hero narrative with others provides new insights into your journey, highlighting patterns of resilience and areas of potential. By embracing the hero mindset, you can explore creative solutions to challenges while cultivating confidence and purpose in your life design.
- Tip: Share your hero story with a trusted peer or mentor and ask them to highlight specific strengths or themes they notice. Use their feedback to refine your narrative and inspire actionable ideas.
- AI Empowerment: AI-powered storytelling tools can help structure and refine your hero narrative by identifying strengths and recurring themes from your past experiences. Sentiment analysis can highlight emotional drivers in your story, providing deeper insights into your motivations.
zoom-Out Thinking
- What: Zoom-Out Thinking is a brainstorming tool in the Develop Stage that encourages you to take a broad perspective on your life and career. By stepping back and viewing your situation from a “big picture” viewpoint, you can generate diverse and innovative ideas for moving forward. This tool emphasizes co-creation by involving others who can offer fresh perspectives, helping you uncover connections or opportunities that may not be immediately obvious. The Develop Stage is about creativity and exploration, and Zoom-Out Thinking helps you imagine possibilities beyond your current limitations.
- Why: In the Develop Stage, Zoom-Out Thinking is essential for breaking free from narrow viewpoints and uncovering creative solutions. It allows you to evaluate your life holistically, ensuring your ideas align with your values, emotions, and long-term aspirations. Working collaboratively with others can amplify this process by introducing new ideas or helping you see patterns you might miss. This human-centered approach ensures your brainstorming process is deeply connected to what matters most to you while opening your mind to innovative possibilities.
- Tip: Collaborate with a group of trusted individuals to “zoom out” and brainstorm. Use prompts like “What would my life look like in five years?” to encourage expansive thinking and gather diverse ideas.
- AI Empowerment: AI visualization tools can model and simulate long-term outcomes based on your life choices, offering broader perspectives on potential futures. Collaboration platforms enhanced with AI can aggregate diverse inputs and uncover patterns or opportunities across shared brainstorming sessions.
Trend Map
- What: A Trend Map is a forward-thinking tool in the Develop Stage that helps you identify both personal and external trends influencing your life and career. By mapping trends such as industry shifts, societal changes, or personal interests, you can generate ideas that align with future opportunities. Co-creation is key in this process—engage others to share insights about trends they observe, broadening your understanding of emerging possibilities. The Develop Stage emphasizes innovation, and this tool ensures both current realities and future potential inform your ideas.
- Why: In the Develop Stage, Trend Mapping is vital for aligning your life design with evolving opportunities. It connects your emotions and aspirations with external influences, helping you anticipate change and position yourself strategically. Collaborating with others adds depth to this process, as they can provide fresh perspectives or highlight trends you may have overlooked. This human-centered approach ensures your ideas remain relevant, adaptable, and aligned with your deeper needs and values.
- Tip: Co-create your Trend Map by discussing trends with peers, mentors, or industry experts. Use their input to identify connections between personal aspirations and external opportunities for growth.
- AI Empowerment: AI trend analysis tools can identify emerging societal, industry, or personal trends relevant to your goals, ensuring your ideas are forward-thinking. Machine learning algorithms can suggest connections between external trends and your personal aspirations, helping you align with future opportunities.
Unlimited Possibilities
- What: Unlimited Possibilities is a creative tool in the Develop Stage that challenges limiting beliefs and encourages you to explore new opportunities. This exercise invites you to suspend judgment and brainstorm freely, uncovering solutions or ideas you may have previously dismissed. Co-creation with others, such as friends or colleagues, can help expand your thinking by introducing diverse perspectives and challenging assumptions. The Develop Stage focuses on innovation, and this tool helps unlock your imagination and align your ideas with your in-depth needs and emotions.
- Why: In the Develop Stage, Unlimited Possibilities is critical for breaking through mental barriers and exploring uncharted opportunities. By challenging your assumptions, this human-centered tool allows you to connect with your authentic desires and aspirations while embracing creativity. Collaborating with others fosters a sense of support and inspiration, enabling you to think beyond constraints and generate innovative ideas. This process ensures your life design is driven by possibility and aligned with your deeper values and goals.
- Tip: Host a brainstorming session with a group of supportive peers. Encourage everyone to contribute bold and unconventional ideas, and build on each other’s suggestions to push boundaries further.
- AI Empowerment: AI-enhanced brainstorming tools can generate diverse and creative ideas by analyzing your inputs and suggesting unconventional solutions. NLP systems can challenge limiting beliefs by offering reframed perspectives and prompting you to explore uncharted possibilities.
Wish, Want, and Need
- What: Your Ideal Day is a visualization tool in the Define Stage of Design Thinking for Life Design that helps you imagine and design a perfect day in your life. This exercise encourages you to focus on the emotions, activities, and experiences that bring you the most joy and fulfillment. By visualizing your ideal day, you can clarify what aligns with your in-depth needs and values. The Define Stage is about synthesizing insights, and this tool helps you identify what truly matters in your daily life and career.
- Why: In the Define Stage, imagining your ideal day is a powerful way to connect with your authentic desires and aspirations. This human-centered tool allows you to explore the emotions and priorities that define a fulfilling life. By clarifying what an ideal day looks like, you can identify areas of misalignment in your current routine and make intentional changes to design a life that reflects your values. It helps you frame challenges and opportunities by focusing on what brings meaning and happiness.
- Tip: Write a detailed description of your ideal day, from morning to night, including how you feel during each activity. Use this vision as a benchmark to evaluate your current routine and identify actionable steps for alignment.
- AI Empowerment: AI tools can categorize and prioritize your desires based on past behaviors, aspirations, and emotional alignment. Predictive analytics can suggest actionable steps to fulfill these needs while balancing feasibility and long-term goals.
Zero-Based Thinking
- What: Zero-Based Thinking is a transformative tool in the Develop Stage that encourages you to remove current constraints and rethink your life from scratch. By imagining a clean slate, you can explore fresh ideas and innovative solutions without the influence of existing barriers. Co-creation enhances this process by allowing others to challenge your assumptions and offer creative input. The Develop Stage focuses on bold and expansive thinking, and Zero-Based Thinking empowers you to reconnect with your authentic desires and design a life aligned with your in-depth needs.
- Why: In the Develop Stage, Zero-Based Thinking is vital for breaking free from ingrained habits and limitations. This human-centered tool ensures your ideas are rooted in your values and aspirations while fostering creativity and emotional clarity. Collaborating with others during this exercise provides new perspectives, helping you uncover blind spots and generate actionable ideas. By rethinking your life without constraints, you can explore opportunities for growth and fulfillment with a renewed sense of possibility.
- Tip: Partner with a mentor or peer and ask them to help you imagine your ideal life without constraints. Use their feedback to refine your vision and identify practical steps to bring it to life.
- AI Empowerment: AI-driven scenario simulators can help you envision a life without constraints by generating innovative pathways and solutions. Advanced AI tools can analyze your inputs and provide actionable recommendations, ensuring alignment with your values and goals.
Part 4: Life Design Stories
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.
