How to Design Your Life (A Full Step-by-Step Process)

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Sep 8, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Debbie Millman, a renowned design professor and thought leader, shares her expertise on life design. She outlines a clear step-by-step process for creating a meaningful life, encouraging listeners to ask themselves transformative questions. The conversation emphasizes the importance of visualization exercises to dream without constraints and the power of personal reflection. Debbie inspires everyone to actively shape their future and embrace creativity while pursuing fulfillment, providing a free workbook as a valuable resource to guide this journey.

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INSIGHT

Design Is Intentional Decision Making

Designing your life is about intention and deliberate decisions, not things or aesthetics.
Debbie Millman defines design as choosing how you want life to look, feel, and embody before making a plan.

ANECDOTE

Milton Glaser’s Life-Changing Exercise

Debbie Millman recounts Milton Glaser's assignment to write a five-year future essay that changed students' lives.
She found her essay later and realized many items had manifested, which inspired her to teach the exercise.

ADVICE

Start By Time-Traveling Ten Years

Start the exercise by carving out peaceful time and writing in the medium you prefer.
Time travel ten years ahead and describe your day from waking to sleeping without worrying about process.

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Today, you’re getting a step-by-step process for designing the life you want.

Right now, you might think that “designing your life” sounds impossible, or that it’s something reserved for people with more time, money, or resources.

But what if it wasn’t just a nice idea? What if it was a simple, concrete, and clear process you could start right now?

Here’s the truth: You have the power to design the exact life you’ve always wanted and today you’re getting the blueprint to make it happen – with this episode and the free companion workbook.

In this episode, Mel sits down with Debbie Millman.

Debbie is “one of the most creative people in business” according to Fast Company, and is a professor who has been teaching a course on designing your life for over a decade at the School of Visual Arts.

Graphic Design USA calls her “one of the most influential designers working today,” Harvard Business School teaches a case study on her career to all first-year students, and today Debbie is here to teach you the lessons from her renowned course on life design.

Debbie will show you that no matter where you are right now, no matter how stuck, lost, or uncertain you feel, you can start creating a more intentional, meaningful future.

To get the free companion workbook that goes with this episode, click here.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

-The exact questions to ask yourself to create your dream life

-The most important choices that can change your life

-How to stop focusing on what’s probable and start thinking about what’s possible

-The exact steps that allow you to create your dream reality

-The one mistake that will sabotage your vision, and how to avoid it

Plus, Mel and Debbie have created a free workbook to walk you through the step-by-step process of designing your own remarkable life, and you can download it here.

If you’re ready to stop letting life just happen to you and want to start creating the life you’ve always wanted, this episode is for you.

For more resources, including a free companion workbook, click here for the podcast episode page.

If you liked the episode, check out this one next: 5 Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself Right Now

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