"Design The Life You Love" by Ayse Bursel

  Who isn't trying to have their best life possible these days? At home we are all trying to juggle our husband, children, cleaning, meal preparation and recreation. Then we have our work responsibilities and trying to climb the corporate ladder. Our lives are busier than ever. Everyone wants the "ideal life". Enter the Design The Life You Love step by step guide:

   Life, just like a design problem, is full of constraints-time, money, age, location, and circumstances. You can’t have everything, so you have to be creative to make what you want and what you need co-exist. Design the Life You Love is a joyful, inspirational guide to building the life you’ve always wanted, using the principles and creative process of an award-winning product designer. Through four steps that reveal hidden skills and wisdom, anyone can design a life they love!

    I just turned 30!!! 1/3 life crisis anyone? Needless to say I have been looking for THE book on productivity and goal setting. Design The Life You Love seemed like the ideal match. The book is composed of little exercises and helpful prompts that appeal to your creative side. Bursel is a product designer who has partnered with leading brands such as GE, HP and Johnson and Johnson. She uses her experience to teach the reader how to build a meaningful future. The author uses her background in design to teach us her design process: deconstruction, point of view, reconstruction and expression. 

  Her process is unique. I have never thought of my life in terms of design before. It was a refreshing change. Although I did find the Design A Life You Love step by step guide, I was a little disappointed. I expected more space for creativity. Bursel takes us through several exercises in the book, however most were repetitive. I'm not sure if this was her focus or not. Personally, the repetitive nature of the book turned me off and didn't really get my creative juices flowing like I had hoped. Also Bursel puts a heavy emphasis on her own business and accomplishments that will either motivate the reader or leave them discouraged.  

   I would rate this book 3/5 while advising anyone looking to purchase this guide to download an excerpt before making the purchase to see if this is really what they were looking for. You can do this by clicking on the following link: 

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/252264/design-the-life-you-love-by-ayse-birsel/

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I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I do not review products that I do not personally use myself.