You Don't Need to Burn Your Life Down to Find Meaning

Burnett and Evans offer a designer's approach to building purpose into your everyday life

Joanne McHugh

Apr 07, 2026

“This longing for more meaning may be one of the most universal things that all humans want: lives that are generative and joyful, fulfilling and connected, lives that are about more than just getting through each day, paying the bills, maybe taking a vacation now and then. And too many people are finding too few answers for how to get what their hearts keep telling them they were made for. The meaning and purpose that they need,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Sonya thought she had everything she had ever wanted. She had a great career, enough money, job security, professional status. But Sonya wanted more. Not more money or more job titles—she wanted more meaning in her life. Sonya felt guilty for being so dissatisfied and restless; for wanting things that felt vague and nebulous…Meaning and purpose felt squishy, embarrassing almost, but she still wanted to find it. Or create it. Or feel it,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“We have had a lot of students like Sonya…All of them were making good salaries, working hard on objectively high-impact projects, and all had proud parents…But they all quit their first jobs within two years. Each of them felt unfulfilled and lonely and had no idea what to do about it. Quitting was the only solution they could think of…But none of them needed to burn their lives down and start over. And neither do you,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“In office hours, our hyper-connected Gen Z students—awash in a nonstop feed of war, climate chaos, and widening polarizing politics—keep asking different versions of the same pressing question: How can I possibly focus on designing a more meaningful life when people are suffering and there are so many awful things happening in the world?” according to Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Life is hard for everyone, and it’s easy to fall into despair. To think that nothing matters, people suck, life is too messy, and we are all doomed to lives of quiet misery. It’s equally easy to not choose despair. There’s a way to design your way forward, make choices, and take action in the midst of chaos, despite the chaos. Even in radical opposition to the chaos,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“Designing your life so it feels more meaningful is the best alternative to despair and misery that we know. And besides, being a miserable individual never made the world less miserable as a whole…Once you learn to think like a designer, new ideas come fast and furious, and you find there is always something to build, to prototype, to create hope for the future. We promise,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“The quest for meaning can seem too big and too overwhelming, but here’s the thing: There is something you can do—really, actually, do—to experience a more meaningful life…That’s why we wrote this book. To give you some ideas and tools you can use, immediately, to start making real progress in finding more meaning in your life…Each of us deserves a life that is meaningful every single day, even on the bad days and the hard days,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“This is not a philosophy book, or a psychology book, or a spirituality book, or a mindfulness manual, or an inspirational guide…Everything in this book is directed toward helping you to be effective at making more of something that you want in life. And that something we are going to make is more meaning. This is a design book,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“We often get asked by new students, clients, or readers, “So, what am I going to get?” and we always give the same answer: ideas and tools. Our job is to provide some key ideas that can reframe the problem and resolve a few critical dysfunctional beliefs to free you up to more creatively design a better life, and then to give you practical, doable tools to turn those ideas into results,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“The first part provides the big ideas and mindsets for how to—and how not to—think about the quest for meaning-making. This section is really an invitation to a whole new point of view about meaning. While it mostly addresses the concepts that lay the foundation for how to live a meaningful life, it also includes a few initial exercises and an assessment to help you shift your perspective into this new approach,” according to Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“The second part of the book provides specific tools and practices you can implement, in four key areas where meaning is readily found. It’s the doing part of the book—packed with exercises you can try, test, and tweak,” according to Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“In every chapter, we will give you a design exercise or two to help you build practices so you can experience more meaning. These practical and simple exercises are important and necessary. We want you to actually do them, not just because they are in the book but because designers build their way forward with a bias toward action. In other words—we designers try stuff,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

“We don’t sit at our desks, or on our couches, or in our cars and think about how someday it will all matter…Or that there is a far-off and mystical land of meaning that exists on the other side of a new job, a different career, a better relationship, a stunning achievement, a bigger bank account, or after retirement. If you design for meaning, you will find it everywhere. So let’s get to it, because life is both far too long and way too short to spend our time feeling stuck,” said Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

Things Your Mom Should Have Told You Book of Wisdom: How to Live a Meaningful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

In the olden days, moms used to clip articles from newspapers for their kids if they thought they needed to know something. I’m keeping an eye out for things that you might have missed that may be helpful to you.

This week’s clips:

Just one in three unmarried young adults ages 22-35 are dating, even though about half are interested in starting a relationship. The Up and Up considers the causes of Gen Z’s dating deficit.

Luce from Shit You Should Care About explains why and how she traded showing everyone a slightly different version of herself for just being who she is when nobody is watching.

Need a trustworthy source for breaking news? For a health question? For financial info? Reference librarian Hanna Lee Goldin points you in the right direction in this Card Catalog post.

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