Coaching practices for Three Life Plans
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Three Life Plans, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve quietly decided there’s only one acceptable version of my life and I’m white-knuckling toward it
- I’ve got exactly one picture of how my next five years go and I keep polishing it, but it’s never occurred to me to seriously imagine a completely different life
- 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 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
- 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 - Draft three Odyssey Plans
Sketch three different five-year lives — not variations on one, but genuinely divergent paths.
Designing Your Life, Made Practical - 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 - 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. - 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 - 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 - 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 - The future life line
Extend your timeline forward and sketch the peaks and turning points you want to create — then work backward to today.
The Life Line Exercise - 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 - Review and update your conscious spending plan annually
Treat your plan as a living document that reflects who you are this year, not who you were.
Conscious Spending Plan, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Three Life Plans Exercise
Sketch three different five-year lives — not variations on one, but genuinely divergent paths.
Draft three Odyssey Plans
- Odyssey Plan
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 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 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.
- 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.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.