Build a coherent narrative across your three plans

Find the values and themes that appear across all three plans — they are your non-negotiables.

Why it works

The overlap across three genuinely different plans reveals the invariant core of a person’s identity — what Burnett and Evans call the "workview" and "lifeview" elements that appear regardless of the specific path. Narrative identity research confirms that identifying these recurring themes provides a stable motivational foundation independent of which specific plan is pursued.

How to do it

1. Read all three plans and highlight any element that appears in two or three of them.
2. List the recurring themes: a type of relationship, a kind of work, a value, a community.
3. Write a single paragraph that names the non-negotiables — the things that, if absent, would make any plan feel wrong.
4. Use the non-negotiables as constraints when evaluating or redesigning your plans.

Evidence

Narrative identity research finds that a coherent autobiographical narrative — one with identifiable themes and values that run across episodes — predicts identity stability and psychological well-being. (observational)

The three-plan format is specific to the Designing Your Life framework; the narrative coherence mechanism is supported by McAdams’s work, not by studies of the specific exercise.

Sources

• McAdams (2001), the psychology of life stories, Review of General Psychology

Common mistake

Forcing a theme across the plans that is aspirational rather than genuinely present — if an element only appears in one plan, it is not a non-negotiable and should not be treated as one.