Mystery Gift Box #052 | The Odyssey Plan by Stanford Life Design Lab

Hey friends,

The finale.

The final newsletter for the Mystery Gift Box series.

The Mystery Gift Box #052.

I thought it would be fun to share more details about the Odyssey Plan; what it is and how you can use it to do a life audit and planning; also gives you a chance to zoom out in life.

So let’s dive right in 🥳 

🧠 The Odyssey Plan

So what is the Odyssey plan?

The Odyssey plan is a structured approach to life planning and self-discovery created by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans from the Stanford Life Design Lab.

If you have ever been asked “What’s your plan over the next 5 years?” or “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”, the Odyssey plan basically gives you a framework to systematically envision, design, and explore different paths for your life.

When should you do an Odyssey plan?

It’s useful to do an Odyssey plan whenever you feel like you are at a transition point in your life.

So here are the 5 steps to using the Odyssey plan to do life design.

Here’s how it works step-by-step:

1. Craft Three 5-Year TimelinesImagine your life as a grand adventure divided into three unique paths; the current path, the different path, and the unrestrained path. For each path, come up with a six-word title capturing its essence, three crucial questions to answer (what questions do you need to ask to make the path comes true), and write down major milestones (come up with one major milestone for each year). For me, I did a yearly breakdown, meaning that I wrote down what would happen in 2024, 2025, 2026, and so on for each path.

   1. Current Path: Write out, in detail, what your life would look like in 5 years if you continued on your present trajectory.

   2. Different Path: Write out, in detail, an alternative life that’s completely different than the current path.

   3. Unrestrained Path: Write out, in detail, a path with no constraints - no worries about money, obligations, or societal expectations.

2. Extending to a 10-Year TimelineChoose your preferred 5-year timeline and expand it into a 10-year plan. Here, you can mix and match the different things that you like from each path into one. Once you have a final timeline, evaluate the feasibility of it through the following four factors:

   1. Resources — Do you have the time, money, skill, relationships to execute this plan?

   2. Personal preference — How much do you like this plan?

   3. Confidence — Do you feel confident to pull this off?

   4. Coherence — Does this plan makes sense, is it consistent with who I am? what I think?

3. Symbolising Your Odyssey Years and Express GratitudeSelect a symbol resonating with the emotional significance of your plan. This symbol becomes a compass guiding you through your odyssey years.And most importantly, express gratitude to your younger self for architecting this plan, emphasising 2-3 pivotal elements.

4. Sharing Your Odyssey PlanPresent your plan to someone you trust. This not only reinforces your commitment but also helps unveil blind spots you might have overlooked.

5. Prototyping for SuccessThis is my favourite. Prototyping your plan by… …engaging in prototype conversations with individuals living a life similar to your envisioned future.…seek knowledge…try out experiences…and embrace failures as stepping stones to refine your plan.

⛰ 4-4-4 Exploration Project

January 2023: Writing and Storytelling (Subject) ✅

February 2023: KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities (Cirque Du Soleil — Experience) ✅

March 2023: 28 Days of Cold Exposure (Subject and Experience) ✅

April 2023: Complete Growth / Product Marketing Course (Subject) 🟥

May 2023: LL project (Skill + Subject) ✅

June 2023: LL project 2 (Skill + Subject) ✅

July 2023: LL project 3 (Skill + Subject) ✅

August 2023: LL project 4 (Skill + Subject) ✅

September 2023: LL project 5 (Skill + Subject) ✅

October 2023: LL project 6 (Skill + Subject) ✅

November 2023: Travelled to Lisbon for the Web Summit and Holiday ✅

December 2023: Launching a new project 🟧

📚 This week, I finished reading…

Few books in progress… 🤓

Have interesting gems you want to share with me and others? Share it by replying to this email and I will include it in the next gift box :)

With love,

Ryan O. 🎮

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