Flow and work: finding meaning in roles

What Does Radical Acceptance Look Like in Real Life?

In this Good Faith Podcast episode, Curtis Chang sits down with Dave Evans (co-founder of the Stanford Life Design Lab) to tear up the "find your purpose" script and explore how design thinking, faith, and radical acceptance can lead to real meaning—especially through grief and uncertainty. Expect sharp insights, honest stories, and practical tools to build a life with more presence, flow, and authenticity starting now. Dave and Curtis dig into faith and the tension of the "already and not yet" as they look at the ideas in Dave's latest book, How to Live a Meaningful Life.

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03:05 - Dave Evans' Journey & the Origins of Life Design

09:54 - Are there Pitfalls When Pursuing Impact and Transactional Mindset?

18:08 - Design Moves for Greater Meaning

22:05 - Radical Acceptance Illustrated by Personal Loss

28:06 - Why Is the Concept of Flow Important?

39:37 - Compatibility of Design Thinking and Christian Worldview

41:06 - Four Areas of Human Experience for Meaning

45:34 - Meaning in the Second Half of Life

48:59 - Getting Started: Practical First Steps

Scriptures:

• Deuteronomy 30:11–14 (ESV)
• Deuteronomy 30:19–20 (ESV)
• John 10:10 (ESV)
• Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)
• Romans 12:2 (ESV)
• Ecclesiastes 2:11 (ESV)
• Luke 17:20–21 (ESV)
• Mark 8:18 (ESV)

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Dave Evans + Bill Burnett's How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Design Thinking to Unlock Purpose, Joy, and Flow Every Day
• What is Radical Acceptance?
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
• Lisa Miller's lecture The Awakened Brain
• Jill Bolte Taylor's TED Talk: My Stroke of Insight
• More about Jean Vanier and L'Arche
• Richard Rohr's Falling Upward
• Veritas Forum: Dallas Willard
• Stanford's Life Design Lab
• What is Design thinking? (pdf)
• Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things

More from Dave Evans:

• Dave Evans + Bill Burnett's Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
• Dave Evans + Bill Burnett's Designing Your New Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness--and a New Freedom--at Work
• Dave Evans Praxis Mentor page
• Check out: Designing Your Life website

Connected Good Faith Episodes:

• Good Faith ep. 68: The Impact Fetish (with Andy Crouch)

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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.