[powerpress]
We’ve been so deeply conditioned by this ethos that doing more is an inherent good.
If we just clear the next bar, land the next achievement, and optimize the right system, “meaning” will arrive on the other side.
But the bar keeps moving. The arrival never comes. And somewhere between the morning alarm and the late-night scroll, we lose track of something essential, what Joseph Campbell called “the rapture of being alive.”
I spend a lot of time thinking about why this is. About the inherited scripts about success, purpose, and what a life well-lived is supposed to “look” like. We clutch them so tightly that we miss what’s actually available to us now.
Here to disabuse us of all this are Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, co-founders of Stanford’s Life Design Lab and co-authors of the new book, How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Design Thinking to Unlock Purpose, Joy, and Flow Every Day. Bill is an artist and self-described existential atheist. Dave is a former high-tech executive turned educator and a man of deep faith.
Together, they’ve counseled thousands of students, professionals, and retirees on how to apply the principles of human-centered design to a problem most of us are quietly struggling with: building a life that actually means something.
“That never-satisfied-ness about life isn’t the bad news. It’s the reminder that you’re a human being, and deeply implanted in you is the thing called longing.”
- DAVE EVANS
Today, we get into:
- The Loneliness Epidemic & Why Meaning Feels So Elusive
- Why Maslow Got It Wrong & the Myth of the Best Self
- Radical Acceptance & Prototyping Your Way Forward
- The Transactional World vs. the Flow World
- Curiosity Plus Mystery Equals Wonder
- Formative Communities & Self-Transcendence
- Dave’s Late Wife Claudia & Her Final Words
If you’re stuck in a career that’s lost its luster, grappling with the existential uncertainty of our times, or simply curious about what it might feel like to be fully alive in the life you already have, I think this one will land.
For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Peace + Plants,
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