If Not This, Then What?

A Creative Tool for Exploring Multiple Paths to a Passionate Life

Illustration by Mihajlo Stojanovic

“Life is full of what-ifs, many of which could easily have been realities, had just a few things been different.” — Julian Baggini

I just discovered something called the Odyssey Plan — a tool designed by Stanford’s Life Design Lab — and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s based on design thinking principles and the idea that there’s no one “right” life — just different exciting possibilities.

Here’s how it works: You map out three radically different versions of your life over the next five years.

• Plan A is the life you’re currently building.

• Plan B is an alternate path if Plan A disappears.

• Plan C is a total wildcard — the life you’d live if fear, money, or expectation weren’t in the way.

For each one, you answer a few key questions:

• What would you be doing?

• What would your life look like (work, location, lifestyle)?

• What are the risks?

• How would you define success?

And then you rate each path on a scale from 0–10:

• Excitement

• Confidence

• Coherence (does this fit who you are?)

I got so excited when I came across this tool that I scrapped my planned writing project for the morning and went through it myself. It was… clarifying. Liberating. And honestly, kind of emotional.

As someone who tends to fall into black-and-white thinking (hello, fellow perfectionists), I often convince myself there’s only one path forward. One thing I’m meant to do. One person I’m supposed to become.

That tunnel vision can serve me well — it helps me stick with things much longer than most people might. But when something doesn’t go as planned? I spiral, catastrophize, and lose perspective.

This exercise reminded me that there are always other versions of a beautiful, fulfilling, passionate life — ones I hadn’t let myself consider.

What If We Used This to Find Passion?

The more I sat with it, the more excited I got — because this tool isn’t just about designing a future. It’s also a brilliant framework for exploring passion.

So often, when people tell me they feel lost, stuck, or like they have no passion at all, they’re really experiencing one of three passion archetypes. These aren’t fixed identities — they’re patterns we all fall into at different points in our lives.

The key is to name them… so we can move through them.

1. The Stuck Identity
You’ve had one passion or identity for so long (athlete, artist, parent, professional) that when it no longer fits — because of injury, burnout, life changes — you feel completely unmoored. You don’t know who you are without it, and you don’t know what could come next.

2. The Indecider
You have too many interests. You want to write, start a business, learn ceramics, go back to school, train jiu-jitsu… so you dabble, overthink, and never fully commit to any of them. You fear choosing the wrong one, so you stay stuck.

3. The Numb Wanderer
You’re not burnt out, exactly — but you’re flat. Nothing excites you anymore. You scroll more than you’d like. You want to feel lit up again, but can’t remember what that even felt like.

Once you recognize which archetype you’re in, the next step is to move from stuck to curious — to open up new possibilities for passion, even if you don’t feel “ready” yet.

(And just to be clear… when I say passion, I don’t just mean your career. It could be a hobby, a creative project, a community, a cause — anything that brings you alive.)

Introducing: The Passion Odyssey Plan

This framework helps you explore three radically different paths your life could take — based on what pulls you, not what’s expected of you.

It’s especially helpful if you’re feeling indecisive, disconnected, or unsure where to begin.

1. Map Your Current Trajectory

This is your “default” path — what your life will likely look like if nothing major changes.
If you already have a passion, great. If not, map out five more years of life without one.

Example:
Right now, I’m focused on three core passions: writing, jiu-jitsu, and the study of passion itself.

If I stay on my current path, in five years I’ll have published at least two books, be a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and will have turned the Human Aliveness Lab — my current venture exploring what it means to live a passionate, alive life — into a thriving hub for research, storytelling, and real-world application.

That’s my Plan A.

2. Imagine an Alternate Universe

Let’s not call this “Plan B,” because I don’t believe in backup plans — and neither do most passionate people I know.

Let’s call it your alternate timeline.

This path might pull on a different thread of your personality or reflect a passion you’ve sidelined.

If you already have a passion, try choosing a totally different one.

For example, I might imagine an alternate life where I commit fully to something I’ve always loved from a distance: circus arts, rock climbing, surfing, or sport and performance psychology.

If you don’t have a passion yet, this is where you imagine what life might look like if you did. What would change? What would your days feel like? Who would you become?

3. Now... Go Wild

This is your Plan C — the one that’s not practical, realistic, or “on brand.”

It’s the secret dream you’ve buried. The alternate identity that makes your heart skip a beat, even if you’ve never told anyone about it.

For me? Plan C might involve animal rescue and rehabilitation. Or DJing on the weekends. Or becoming a therapist, a wildlife documentarian, or learning to play classical piano.

These are things I’ve always felt drawn to at some level — but that live far outside the life I’ve built.

Now Look at All Three

Once you’ve mapped out each version of your passion-led life, ask yourself:

• Which one am I most excited about?

• Which one feels most me?

• Am I stuck because I’m afraid to choose?

• What small experiment could I run in one of these directions?

This exercise won’t magically reveal your purpose. But it will remind you of something incredibly important:

There isn’t just one path to a passion-filled life. There are many.

But staying stuck in indecision — that’s the one guaranteed way to stay passionless.

Try the exercise and let me know what you discover. And if you’re not sure where to begin, I created a Passion Discovery Checklist to help you clarify what matters to you, narrow down ideas, and choose something worth experimenting with.

With heart,

Krista

---

---