A Guide to Prototyping Your Life

Bring Structure to Your Exploration

You’ve learned that clarity comes through action. Small, intentional experiments—called prototypes—are the key to discovering what truly fits you.

But how do you stay focused, track your progress, and avoid overthinking?

That’s where the Life Sprint Planner comes in. Inspired by the agile Scrum framework, this tool adds structure, rhythm, and momentum to your life design journey.

What Is Scrum—and Why Use It for Life Design?

Scrum was originally designed for software development, but its principles apply beautifully to life design. It’s a simple, flexible system for making consistent progress in short, focused bursts called sprints.

Scrum emphasizes:

• Quick testing

• Frequent reflection

• Continuous improvement

In Designing Your Life, you are the product—and your ideas deserve to be tested in small, manageable steps.

Why Use the Life Sprint Planner?

The Planner helps you:

• Break big life questions into small, testable experiments

• Stay accountable with a focused plan of daily actions

• Reflect regularly to learn, adapt, and clarify your path

• Transform scattered ideas into progress you can see and feel
  
  

How the Life Sprint Planner Applies Scrum to Life Design

• Sprints — Short, time-boxed periods (1–2 weeks) where you test specific life design ideas or goals.

• Sprint Backlog — A clear, prioritized list of tasks or mini-experiments for the sprint.

• Daily Sprints — Quick check-ins to track progress, adjust priorities, and maintain momentum.

• Burndown Chart — A visual snapshot of how much you’ve completed and how close you are to finishing.

• Life Sprint Planner Workbook — Your dedicated space to capture plans, progress, and lessons learned.

Step 1: Define Your Sprint Goal

Every sprint begins with a clear, focused goal. Write one sentence that captures what you want to learn or test.

Examples

• “Prototype a career in UX by shadowing a designer.”

• “Improve energy levels by testing two new sleep routines.”

Keep it specific, achievable, and time-bound (1–2 weeks is ideal).

Step 2: Save and Transfer Your Data

The Planner makes it easy to back up and move your data:

• Upload JSON File: Import past sprint data to continue refining experiments.

• Download JSON File: Export your current sprint to save progress or share with others.

This ensures continuity and protects your insights.

Step 3: Build Your Sprint Backlog

Your backlog is the roadmap that turns goals into action. Use the template with the following fields to break your prototypes into small, testable tasks and prioritize them.

• Task ID: A simple reference number or code for each task.
  
  

• Priority: Rank tasks by importance or urgency.
  
  

• Tasks: Short description of the task or prototype step.
  
  

• Story Points / Effort Estimate: Optional metric to gauge difficulty.
  
  

• Notes / Insights: Space for observations or blockers..
  
  

• Status: Not Started / In Progress / Done.
  
  

Tip: Start with 1–2 high-priority prototypes and expand gradually.

Step 4: Keep a Daily Sprint Log

Daily tracking keeps momentum high and highlights challenges early. Use the Daily Sprint Log to capture your progress and insights each day. Record the following fields to stay focused and reflective:

• Day / Date – The day and date when the tasks or sub-tasks are planned.
  
  

• Task(s) / Sub-task(s) – What you worked on or planned for the day.
  
  

• Obstacles / Challenges – Any blockers or difficulties you faced.
  
  

• Story Points Remaining – Effort still required to complete the sprint.
  
  

• Story Points Completed – Effort finished and progress made.

Step 5: Track Progress with the Burndown Chart

The burndown chart makes your progress visible at a glance:

• X-axis: Sprint days

• Y-axis: Remaining story points

• Update daily: Plot “points remaining”
  
  

Velocity Formula
Velocity = Story Points Completed ÷ Sprint Days

Example: 15 points in 10 days = 1.5 points/day.

Steady downward lines show healthy progress. Flat lines highlight obstacles worth tackling.

Step 6: Reflect, Review, and Adapt

At the end of each sprint, pause to reflect:

• What worked well?

• What could be improved?

• What did you learn about yourself?

• What will you adjust in your next sprint?
  
  

The Planner includes built-in review and retrospective prompts to make reflection simple and meaningful.

Take Action with Purpose

This is your moment to Act—to turn insights into real-world learning. The Life Sprint Planner empowers you to move forward with intention, not perfection.

Every sprint helps you discover what works, what doesn’t, and what’s worth pursuing next.

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Christophe T. Léon, author of Life Sprint:Designing Your Life with Agile Momentum, for developing and sharing the methodology on which this Planner is based. The concepts and framework are used here with his agreement, and the copyright remains under his name.