Book SummaryThe Life Brief, by Bonnie Wan

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Life Brief

True happiness starts with a deceptively simple question that most of us struggle to answer honestly: What do you really want? In The Life Brief, brand strategist Bonnie Wan uses that question as the foundation for designing a document that outlines your personal goals and strategies—the titular “Life Brief,” modeled after the creative briefs that Wan uses in her professional career.

Wan is a partner and former head of brand strategy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where she helped some of the world’s largest companies distill complex issues into clear and actionable strategies. After experiencing a crisis in her marriage and career, she applied the same strategic...

The Life Brief Summary Step 1: Clear Your Mental Clutter

To find the answer to Wan’s fundamental question (“What do I want?”), you must first sift through the confusion and conflicting feelings cluttering up your mind. This is a messy and uncomfortable process, but a necessary one.

In this section we’ll explain how a daily journaling practice helps turn your jumbled thoughts into clear, actionable ideas. We’ll then explore ways to find and overcome your self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs. Finally, we’ll discuss how you can learn more about yourself by talking with the people who know you best.

Move the Mess From Your Head to a Page

Wan warns that you won’t be able to organize and fix your mental chaos just by deciding to do so (after all, if it were that simple, you’d have done it already). Instead, she recommends daily journaling as a way to purge those messy, chaotic thoughts from your mind and turn them into something concrete.

To do this, set aside 10 minutes each day to write down every thought that crosses your mind. No matter how ugly those thoughts are, or how strong your feelings get, it’s crucial to express yourself fully and authentically; judgment, self-censorship, and worries about what other people...

The Life Brief Summary Step 2: Write Your Life Brief

The first step of Wan’s system had you generate many pages of messy writing, identify your limiting beliefs, and gather new perspectives from the people who know you best. Next, you must filter through the raw material you’ve collected and condense it into a clear, actionable Life Brief.

In this section we’ll go over the two parts of a Life Brief: 1) five statements that describe your deepest, most genuine desires, and 2) a catchy hook to help those statements stick in your mind.

Summarize What You Want in Five Statements

Wan explains that the majority of your Life Brief should consist of five statements about what you want—she chose the number five because it strikes a balance between keeping your Brief concise and fully exploring your real life goals. These statements are bold commitments that you make to yourself, not just tentative hopes or vague wishes. For example, “I want to be happy” is too vague to be useful; “I want to laugh out loud every day of my life” is a much stronger and more concrete statement.

(Shortform note: A neurological reason why five statements might be effective for a Life Brief is that it’s close to the common estimate of how many pieces...

The Life Brief Summary Step 3: Take Action

So far, we’ve discussed Wan’s methods for sifting through the chaos in your mind and coming up with a concise, actionable Life Brief. In this final section, we’ll show how to use your Brief effectively.

We’ll start by explaining your Life Brief’s dual purpose: guiding you toward the life you want and away from distractions that might hinder your progress. Next, we’ll discuss your Life Brief’s key limitation, which is that it only guides your personal decisions—there’s no guarantee that anyone else will do what you want them to. We’ll conclude with a word of caution from the author: You’ll face periods of fear and doubt as you live your Brief. It’s crucial not to give up during those hard times, but instead to push through and keep working toward the life you want.

How to Use Your Life Brief

Wan explains that your Life Brief serves two complementary purposes: It guides you toward decisions and opportunities that support your true values, and helps you avoid activities that don’t serve your goals.

One effective way to use your Brief in your daily life is to arrange your tasks into three categories, using your five statements as a guide. Plan your day around...

Shortform Exercise: Prepare for the Prep Work

Creating a Life Brief requires a lot of preparatory work, most notably because of the daily journaling exercises Wan recommends. Take a little time now to jumpstart that process by reflecting on your current circumstances and plans, and consider what you hope to gain from the Life Brief process.

Do you currently have specific, long-term life goals? If so, what are they?