Tell the Young Adults in Your Life!
Last month some of my favorite young adults walked down the aisle in cap and gown, officially stepping into the next phase of their lives.
Between graduation vibes and my focus on values over this past month of newsletters, I started thinking about my own life following graduation.
I hate to admit this, but my choices in young adulthood were not particularly well thought out. In fact, when people ask me what spurred me to move to Orlando, Florida at 25, I’ve often replied, “the wind”. Of course, the real answer was more nuanced than that, but not by much!
So, when I recently stumbled upon a life design exercise that would have really helped the younger me, I knew I had to share it! If you have any graduates in your life, especially college graduates, this might be exactly the guidance they need right now.
Answering The Age-Old Question: “What should I do with my life?”
We’ve all asked ourselves this question. Probably quite a few times!
But it’s a particularly overwhelming question for college graduates and young adults who are ages 20-35. These are called the “Odyssey Years,” and they mark the stage of life during which we make tons of decisions that will shape the rest of our lives.
Young adults in the Odyssey Years are in a tough spot. They’re trying to figure out their path, while bombarded with queries from well-meaning family and friends about what they plan to do next or when they plan to start their career.
To help people in their Odyssey Years, Stanford faculty members Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (authors of the book Designing Your Life) put together a life design process called Odyssey Planning. It’s an exercise designed to help people envision three distinct five-year futures, so they can explore various life paths with an open, curious mind, before making the important decisions.
Each Odyssey Plan includes:
- A six-word title that captures the essence of the plan.
- A visual timeline outlining personal and professional milestones over the coming five years.
- Three guiding questions that the plan seeks to answer.
After assessing the three plans, the next step is to choose your favorite path, then extend it out to ten years. This ten-year version includes all the elements of the 5-year plan, plus an additional assessment and “letter from your future self” exercise (one of my favorite elements of the plan).
Finally, the Odyssey Plan is designed to be presented—whether to parents, close friends, classmates, a therapist, or a coach. The act of explaining the plan out loud adds clarity that just can’t be achieved by playing the narrative silently in one’s head. Gathering questions and opinions from other people can help strengthen the plan or create additional insights.
Why It Matters: Helping the Next Generation Succeed
Many young adults are feeling trapped right now. Housing costs are incredibly high, the job market is unstable, and many college grads are shouldering student debt. They are under pressure to “get their life together,” but in many cases they aren’t really sure what kind of life they want for themselves.
The Odyssey Plan helps alleviate some of the mental pressure. It shifts the mindset from “I need to have it all figured out” to “I can explore, experiment, and design a future that fits me.”
That’s a powerful reframe during such a pivotal life transition.
Rather than forcing a single “right” answer, the Odyssey Plan encourages grads to imagine multiple, equally valid versions of their future.
This approach…
🧭 Reduces decision paralysis. Instead of fearing they’ll pick the wrong path, grads can explore three different futures and see that there isn’t just one perfect option.
🧭 Builds self-awareness. By reflecting on what excites them, what aligns with their values, and what feels possible, grads can better understand what really matters to them.
🧭 Boosts confidence and creativity. Mapping out different paths can help them get excited about all the possibilities. The future is more flexible than fixed!
🧭 Encourages intentional action. Rather than drifting into the first job or graduate program that appears, grads can take intentional steps toward a life they’ve thoughtfully imagined.
Let’s help young adults chart their path in life with patience and encouragement, instead of becoming another source of pressure or stress.
Putting It Into Practice
I highly encourage you to point the recent grads in your life toward this exercise.
They can create their own Odyssey Plan using this free video series from the Stanford Life Design Lab and the accompanying Odyssey Worksheet. The videos do a great job of explaining the basics of Odyssey Planning.
If you’d like to provide a more detailed explanation of the process, you can also give them the Designing Your Life book, which I highly recommend.
Odyssey Planning prompts graduates to ask themselves the deep and important questions about values, impact, and purpose. But it challenges them to take a realistic look at the future too, and examine different factors needed for their plan to succeed, such as:
- Resources: Do you have the time, money, skills, and contacts needed?
- Likeability: How enthusiastic are you about this plan?
- Confidence: How confident are you in executing this plan?
- Coherence: Does this plan align with your values and goals?
Most graduates have been thinking about their future for a long time, but maybe not on this level. Odyssey Planning may be just the prompt they need to consider what a truly joyful and fulfilling life would look like for them—not for their parents, their friends, or society.
We all want the young adults in our lives to have a bright future. Consider introducing the people you know to this idea of being intentional about their choices so they can create a life they love, step by step.
P.S. The Odyssey Plan isn’t just for grads! It can be adapted for almost any stage of life, and I’ll talk more about designing a life you love in next week’s blog post.