Four Elements of Meaning

Why your best life isn’t about having the right answers, but about asking the right questions.

Finding meaning and purpose in life isn’t about having all the answers. For Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, it’s about having the courage and curiosity to constantly engage with the questions.

As designers, Burnett and Evans have careers spanning everything from academia to companies like Apple, Electronic Arts, and Hasbro. But beyond fashioning better products and user experiences, they’ve also put their expertise toward the transcendent, writing several books about designing and living lives filled with meaning and purpose.

“Compasses say North, not Seattle,” says Evans, highlighting how many mistakenly think of purpose as a single destination. “We're all a dynamic, flowing, constantly changing thing. So how could a changing thing have one static right answer?” Instead, he and Burnett maintain that meaning is more about “going the right direction, not [finding] the right destination.”

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Burnett and Evans join host Matt Abrahams to explore their strategies for leading a purposeful life. Rather than “rehearsing [an] answer,” their method involves “living [a] question” — embracing curiosity and designing a life through dialogue with ourselves and with others.

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Episode Reference Links:

• Bill Burnett
• Dave Evans
• Bill and Dave’s Book: How to Live a Meaningful Life
• Ep.181 Why Happiness is a Direction, Not a Destination: Communication, Happiness & Wellbeing
• Ep.138 Speak Your Truth: Why Authenticity Leads to Better Communication  

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• Matt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:44) - Meaning & Purpose as a Direction
• (03:24) - Coherence & Living in Alignment
• (04:05) - Design Thinking for Life Decisions
• (05:38) - Prototyping Conversations
• (07:11) - Odyssey Plans: Three Possible Futures
• (09:15) - The Four Elements of Meaning
• (11:04) - Wonder Glasses: Shifting Perspective
• (12:30) - Transactional vs. Flow World
• (14:18) - How to Build a Formative Community
• (15:41) - The Practice-to-Production Trap
• (16:49) - The Final Three Questions
• (21:30) - Conclusion

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