How Many Futures Could You Design for 2026?
- Dilek Süzal
- Nov 19
- 2 min read
While sketching ideas in my notebook when I was reading our new selection in Book Insider Book Club ‘Designing Your Life’; a thought landed with surprising clarity: we rarely design our lives the way an architect designs a space. We decorate, we adjust, we patch, but we rarely take a blank sheet and ask: ' What if I could design my life again, how many versions could I create?’
Research from Stanford’s Life Design Lab and behaviour science shows that people stick to long-term goals when they combine:
Clear intention
Low-pressure experimentation
Supportive individuals who keep them accountable
Problem: When Good Intentions Meet the Wrong Mindset
Most professionals I work with step into January full of energy, yet by February momentum fades. It’s rarely a lack of ambition. More often, it’s the absence of a structure and the right mindset. As Bill Burnett and Dave Evans explain, many of us use a decision mindset, searching for one perfect answer, instead of a designer mindset, which embraces curiosity, prototyping and iteration.
Solution: Switch to the Designer’s Mindset
Designing our lives is an evolving process similar to spatial design where we sketch, test, redesign and adjust.
The early chapters of the book introduce the ‘Design Thinking Mindset’ to ‘Life Design’, highlighting exactly this:
💎 Chapter 1 You are the designer of your life, not the sum of your roles or job titles.
💎 Chapter 2 Reframing problems reveals possibilities that were previously hidden.
💎 Chapter 3 Wayfinding turns uncertainty into curiosity and small, forward steps
💎 Chapter 4 Prototyping lowers the stakes, reduces fear, and builds real momentum.
💎 Chapter 5 Choosing well means designing multiple options instead of searching for one perfect path.
Just like interiors evolve through sketches and mood boards, your next year grows through small, deliberate “life prototypes.”
5 Essentials of the Designer Mindset
🔹 #1 - Start with curiosity instead of pressure.
🔹 #2 - Build multiple “life sketches” and test them.
🔹 #3 - Ask: “Who is supporting me?” because accountability sustains action.
🔹 #4 - Treat goals like interior layouts: rearrange until the space flows.
🔹 #5 - And my favourite principle: designing calm is designing clarity.
Next week I will share more learnings from the book as I read forward so you can continue exploring how to design your life with intention!
Teaser alert! My upcoming New Year’s program is on the way, because designing your life with support matters more than ever. Stay tuned! 😉
If this post sparks something in you, let’s connect, think together and co-create your 2026 design.
Warmly,
Dilek
Official Collaboration Partners:
★ Lead Coach at the global coaching platform BetterUp based in USA.
★ Executive Coach and Trainer at SparkUs based in Turkey and Netherlands.
★ Impact Partner for coaching, training & facilitation projects at leadership experts Think Beyond Group based in Austria.
★ Leadership Coach at Percoms AG, based in Switzerland.
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