3 Questions to Ask Yourself to Figure Out What You Really Want

Applying three powerful questions from Stanford University's Odyssey Plan—visualizing your current path's future, considering what you'd do if your current path disappeared, and imagining life with no limitations—can help uncover what you truly want and initiate meaningful change through small, experimental steps.

• Confront your current path's future to determine if it aligns with your long-term well-being.

• Imagine life without your current path to uncover hidden options and leverage your full problem-solving potential.

• Dream without limitations to reveal your deepest desires and 'unfinished business,' then test these aspirations with small, intentional experiments.

Many people feel stuck or lost about their next steps, often due to unmet 'unfinished business' in their lives. The Stanford University 'Odyssey Plan' offers a proven method for manufacturing personal breakthroughs by asking three life-changing questions. These questions are designed to challenge existing mindsets, expand possibilities, and prompt individuals to identify their deeper desires and take intentional action towards a more fulfilling future.

Question 1: Current Path

• 00:05:08 The first question asks how life will look if one stays on their current path for the next five years, inviting brutal honesty about their job, relationships, routines, and overall direction. This question is not about visualizing a dream future, but confronting the reality of an unchanging present to reveal if the current trajectory is desirable. If the path is unfulfilling, it is likely to worsen over time, creating a 'grinding sense' of unaddressed potential and leading to disappointment rather than growth.

The 'Rug Pull' Question

• 00:19:59 The second question, dubbed the 'rug pull question,' asks what an individual would do if their current path disappeared tomorrow. While initially scary, this exercise aims to free thinking by forcing consideration of 'Plan B' while still in 'Plan A,' leveraging full problem-solving capabilities without the trauma response that often accompanies real-life setbacks. This process reveals alternative options and encourages dreaming beyond current constraints, showing that more possibilities exist than initially perceived.

Question 3: No Limitations

• 00:32:53 The third and most empowering question asks how life would look and feel if absolutely nothing was holding an individual back—no money worries, no external expectations, just complete freedom. This encourages unbridled daydreaming to uncover intrinsic values, 'unfinished business,' and genuine desires often buried under responsibilities and societal pressures. This imaginative exercise helps reconnect with core aspirations, providing clues to what is truly wanted for a more joyful and meaningful life.

Stanford's Odyssey Plan

• 00:03:53 The three powerful questions are part of Stanford University's 'Odyssey Plan,' a method developed by professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans in their popular 'Designing Your Life' course. This plan helps individuals shake up their thinking, expand their mindset, and remove perceived obstacles by guiding them to visualize future scenarios and identify what truly matters. The plan is a practical framework for self-discovery and intentional life design.

The Power of Visualization

• 00:17:28 Research, including a study from the University of Munich, shows that forming vivid visions of the future, even negative ones, can boost positive emotion and increase commitment to goals. Negative visualizations can create a powerful impetus to change, motivating individuals to move towards difficult but necessary actions now to avoid future hardship. This underscores that life change is intentional, not accidental, driven by a conscious realization that current living no longer serves desired outcomes.

Prototyping Your Desires

• 00:52:53 After reflecting on the three questions, the next step in the Odyssey Plan is to 'create a prototype' by identifying one area of interest and exploring it through small, low-stakes experiments. This allows individuals to test their insights without completely disrupting their current life, such as researching a new location online or taking a weekend class for a hobby. These experiments provide valuable information, helping to refine desires and redirect time, energy, and money towards what truly matters.