Coaching practices for Odyssey Plan
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Odyssey Plan, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve got these very different visions of my life on paper and I’m staring at them wondering what’s actually me underneath all of them
- One future excites me but I don’t believe I could pull it off, another I could do but it’d cost me who I am
- I’ve quietly decided there’s only one acceptable version of my life and I’m white-knuckling toward it
- I’m paralyzed between two paths, treating it as this irreversible all-or-nothing leap I have to be certain about first
- I keep running this other life in my head, imagining how amazing or how awful it would be, but it’s all guesswork
Practices that may help
- Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures
Odyssey plans are a practice from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s "Designing Your Life" framework in which you sketch out three distinct five-year life plans — not ranked by desirability, but genuinely different in direction. The exercise exploits prototyping logic from design thinking: holding alternatives in parallel prevents premature commitment and reveals assumptions you did not know you were making. - Build a coherent narrative across your three plans
Find the values and themes that appear across all three plans — they are your non-negotiables.
Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures - Rate each plan on confidence, interest, and coherence
Score each plan on whether you find it engaging, whether you could execute it, and whether it fits who you are.
Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures - Draft three genuinely different five-year plans
Sketch three distinct five-year lives — not variations on the same theme, but genuinely different directions.
Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures - Run a small experiment before committing to Plan B or C
Design the smallest possible real-world experience that would tell you something true about a plan before you commit to it.
Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures - Run prototyping conversations before committing to a plan
Talk to people already living your Plan B or C before you decide whether to pursue it.
Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures - Draft three Odyssey Plans
Sketch three different five-year lives — not variations on one, but genuinely divergent paths.
Designing Your Life, Made Practical - Form an if-then plan linking the obstacle to a specific response
"If [obstacle occurs], then I will [specific action]" — this plan is what converts mental contrasting into behavior change.
Mental Contrasting and WOOP - Designing Your Life, Made Practical
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’ Stanford method treats your life like a design problem: you don’t "find" the one right answer, you prototype your way toward several good ones. The core moves — reframing stuck beliefs, drafting multiple Odyssey Plans, and running small prototypes — are practitioner tools adapted from design thinking, well-reasoned but not formally outcome-tested as a package. - Track your life gauges: work, play, love, health
Monitor how full your "energy tanks" in four life domains are before making a major plan decision.
Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures
Related concerns
- Odyssey Plans Designing Three Alternative Futures At Work
Odyssey plans are a practice from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s "Designing Your Life" framework in which you sketch out three distinct five-year life plans — not ranked by desirability, but genuinely different in direction. The exercise exploits prototyping logic from design thinking: holding alternatives in parallel prevents premature commitment and reveals assumptions you did not know you were making.
- Odyssey Plans Designing Your Life
Odyssey plans are a practice from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s "Designing Your Life" framework in which you sketch out three distinct five-year life plans — not ranked by desirability, but genuinely different in direction. The exercise exploits prototyping logic from design thinking: holding alternatives in parallel prevents premature commitment and reveals assumptions you did not know you were making.
- Odyssey Plans Designing Three Alternative Futures As A Caregiver
Odyssey plans are a practice from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s "Designing Your Life" framework in which you sketch out three distinct five-year life plans — not ranked by desirability, but genuinely different in direction. The exercise exploits prototyping logic from design thinking: holding alternatives in parallel prevents premature commitment and reveals assumptions you did not know you were making.
- Odyssey Plans Designing Three Alternative Futures Under Stress
Odyssey plans are a practice from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s "Designing Your Life" framework in which you sketch out three distinct five-year life plans — not ranked by desirability, but genuinely different in direction. The exercise exploits prototyping logic from design thinking: holding alternatives in parallel prevents premature commitment and reveals assumptions you did not know you were making.
- Three Life Plans
Sketch three distinct five-year lives — not variations on the same theme, but genuinely different directions.
Draft three genuinely different five-year plans
- Three Life Plans Exercise
Sketch three different five-year lives — not variations on one, but genuinely divergent paths.
Draft three Odyssey Plans
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.