Odyssey Planning is literally designing your life. For this assignment, you will imagine and create three different versions of the next five years of your life. It is important to ideate multiple futures for yourself in order to choose creatively and generatively. If your mind starts with multiple ideas in parallel, it is not prematurely committed to one path and stays more open and able to receive and conceive more novel innovations. Try not to think of this as plan A, B, or C but every Odyssey Plan is Plan A. Three plans that you create give you real choices and stretch your creative muscles, showing you three very different alternative versions of you.
Your reflection should include:
A timeline and can include personal, non-career events as well. Your life over the next five years will include much more than school, career, and money.
A six-word title or headline for each of your plans.
Answer: what kinds of things will you want to test and explore in each alternative version of your life?
Consider things like: resources, likability (how much do you like this plan?), confidence in your abilities, geography, experiences you will gain, and anticipated impact.
You can also address if the plans make sense or are consistent with your workview/lifeview.
Dont get stuck. Dont overthink this. If you are stuck, try creating a mind map to help you visualize your plans. Be curious about what you might discover. Its an important exercise. Remember, youre not designing the rest of your life; youre designing whats next.
Suggested plans could include:
Your Current Plan: This may be what you already have in mind for yourself. Youve got a plan now lets write it down.
What You Would Do if Plan One Was Suddenly Gone: If your initial plan was no longer an option, what would you do? You may need to force your imagination on this one.
If Money or Image Were No Object: If you could make a living, doing anything without judgment from others, what would you do? This alternative can be a very useful part of your exploration.
For your assignment you will be tasked with creating your Odyssey Plan and identifying your potential Plan A, B and C. This Odyssey Plan can be submitted in a variety of formats such as a mind map, a Canva design, a reflection, through the worksheet we’ve provided, or any other form of expression! We have provided several examples for you to help ignite your creativity. Regardless of the format you choose to illustrate your Odyssey Plan, your plan should highlight professional and personal elements such as internships, full-times roles, hobbies, family life, etc.
Additionally, your submission should include a statement on one thing you learned about the job search process that was new or that you plan to incorporate.
Helpful Resources:
Odyssey Planning YouTube Playlist (Links to an external site.)
DYL_ODYSSEY-PLANNING-WORKSHEET.pdf
Examples
