"Every planner I bought asked me to name my values. I'd get to that page and stop."

I'm Dr. Natalie Hines. Two years ago I felt stuck. I had a good job, people I love, and good friends, and something still felt wrong. I was unhappy and I couldn't tell you why.

I'm a planner girl, so I kept buying planners, and they all start the same way. What are your values? I'd sit there thinking, I don't know. I value what everyone else values. That part is true. They're called values because we all hold them. What I missed is that the season you're in decides which ones matter most right now.

Freedom sat at the top of my list, and I did not feel free. I felt trapped by my circumstances and by my work, and I didn't feel like myself. That gap was the whole problem. My happiness tracked how closely I was living my values, and my unhappiness tracked the distance.

Picking five favorites never worked for me, since I value nearly all of them. Ranking them for the season I'm actually in did. That's what sent me looking for a way to close the gap, and it's what became DesignHer. First you find out what you value right now, then you design your life to line up with it. That's what living your best life means here.

The method draws on established research into how values are structured, and it asks about everyday situations instead of handing you an abstract list, so a real ranking comes out of what you would actually do.

This is for the woman who looks at her life on paper, sees that it's good, and still feels like something is off.