Free guide · Worksheet
How to Make an Odyssey Plan
An Odyssey Plan is a life-design exercise where you sketch three different versions of your next five years. Instead of searching for the one "right" answer, you prototype several futures — then test the most promising one in small, safe steps.
Why three lives instead of one?
The idea was popularized by Stanford designers Bill Burnett and Dave Evans in Designing Your Life. Most of us carry more than one possible life inside us. Forcing a single plan creates pressure and fear of choosing wrong; drafting three frees you to notice what truly energizes you.
In the PurposePRISM journey, we call this playing the Game of Life as the hero: you are not waiting to be handed a destiny — you are prototyping the next level of who you are becoming.
The three lives to draft
Life 1
The Current Path
Where your life is already heading if you keep building on what you do now. Not a default to escape — often a strong story worth upgrading.
Life 2
The Plan B Path
What you would do if Life 1 suddenly disappeared — the industry changed, the role ended, the door closed. Your powers still need somewhere to go.
Life 3
The Wild Card Path
The life you would live if money and other people's opinions did not matter. It reveals what you value most, even if you never live it literally.
Worksheet: build your Odyssey Plan in 5 steps
- 1
Sketch a five-year timeline for each life
For every version, map the years ahead with the milestones you'd hit: work, relationships, health, home, creativity, contribution. Rough beats perfect.
- 2
Give each life a six-word headline
Name it like a book title — "Teacher who builds a healing retreat." A headline makes each version easy to remember and compare.
- 3
Write the questions each life would answer
What would you learn by living this? List two or three questions — they become the experiments you can run now.
- 4
Rate each life on four dials
Resources (do I have what it takes?), Likability (how excited am I?), Confidence (do I believe I can?), and Coherence (does it fit who I am becoming?). Use your own gut, not anyone else's yardstick.
- 5
Prototype before you commit
Pick the life that pulls hardest and design a small, low-risk test: a conversation with someone living it, a weekend project, a short course. Then reflect on what you learned.
Measure the gain, not the gap
When you compare your three lives, compare them only to the person you are today — not to other people or a perfect ideal. Every prototype you run is a win, because you learn something real about yourself whatever the outcome.
Turn your plan into a journey
PurposePRISM's 12-step journey helps you discover your powers, define your purpose, and take the next step — with weekly practices to keep you moving.