It's all about your systems
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
This quote has hit a nerve for me today. James is the author of Atomic Habits, a book I'm currently reading. This book has four laws to help you set and maintain good habits that support your goals and change your life.
James' four simple laws are to:
- Make it obvious
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy
- Make it satisfying
If your systems follow these principles, your foundation or baseline will be high.
I've got my top five personal goals that I'm working on, and I've also got some positive systems that I use, such as Getting Things Done and slip-box notes. But, in some areas, I am finding it challenging to achieve the results I want.
James' quote above has inspired me to do an audit of the methods I use in the areas of my life where I'm finding challenges. Accepting that my goal is achievable, James hit a nerve with me on this one.
Is my approach relevant, and are my systems supporting me to produce the desired results? If not, what do I need to change or improve?
What about you? Are your systems helping or hindering you? What can you do to build systems that support you in your goals?
What's your role at work?
The IDEO blog had a great post today about physical office design. Well, it claims to be about office design but it’s not.
It zigs and then zags through office design, fit-out specifications, interior design, communities, collaboration, and the hidden roles that we, and our colleagues, play. Some of these roles are often not recognised until those who played them are gone. If we can identify and remember these roles, they could be built upon to improve results.
“... I think about all the potential we can unlock by holding the cultural and emotional components of work alongside legacy approaches to productivity and architecture. Our challenge—and our interest—is weaving those parts into a greater whole.”
I believe we live in an era where it is important to improve our connection to our communities and those around us. I think that this post from IDEO is one of the best I’ve read in a while.
What Comes After Open Offices? It Doesn’t Matter, As Long As Culture Comes First
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
Using design to fix a structural issue impacting civil society
The social scientist in me loves the passion with how Mark Wilson opens his article using design in favour of vaccination.
The social scientist in me loves the passion with how Mark Wilson opens his article using design in favour of vaccination.
Let the anti-propaganda campaign begin!
Mark Wilson
This is a great article in Fast Company around using design to produce a change in perception around vaccination. The problem around vaccination is not confined to America alone. Vaccination rates are decreasing in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe such as Italy. A good read, with real-world images to communicate messaging around vaccination.
The misinformation behind the anti-vaxxer movement has gone far enough. The United States is on the precipice of a major measles resurgence because of pseudoscientific propaganda. We need more resources that truthfully and clearly communicate the science from the CDC and WHO that proves that vaccines are safe—and you should have your children vaccinated for everything from the flu to polio.
Mark Wilson
What else could we achieve by rethinking how we use images to tell a story?
The importance of learning now, and in the future
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read...
Quotes I Like
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Alvin Toffler
I discovered this quote while reading Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation by Idris Mootee. I’m taking extensive notes from this book that I will use to help solve some of the strategic issues I’m working on right now.
Getting out of a trap
In your efforts to become a leader in the work that you do, a recent post by Seth Godin, Trapped by the incoming, Seth describes why you have so much work coming your way.
The incoming is coming to you because a while ago, you did something brave and generous and risky.Seth Godin
Leadership should result in more work. As people recognise your leadership abilities the work will also include different forms of work such as mentoring, consulting, advising, which are all part of being recognised as a leader. These new component parts of your workload are great, until it overwhelms you, damages you or even breaks you. The volume of work and its impact is multiplied in a team producing great work.But, if you don't lift your gaze above the work to hand, above the horizon, to focus on what's next, you will ultimately lose your edge. I’ve told my team leaders often enough that next year I don't want them as they are now - that would be a problem. I need them to grow, to be better, and to be better at delivering the benefit of their experience. I need them to be demonstrating their own leadership of their specialism.
If you spend all your time dealing with the incoming, though, you’ll have no time and no energy to create the next thing. Every successful organization that has ultimately faded away via irrelevance has failed for this very reason.Seth Godin
It's important to invest in your team in terms of training, exposure to new things, and experiences that will challenge them and help them to grow. Trapped by the incoming | Seth's Blog I’m also currently reading This is Marketing by Seth and it's prompting lots of ideas and new approaches.
The two most important pages for creators to read
If you are a designer, creator, artist, or maker, these two pages of highlights from the Adobe 99U event are the most important thing for you to do right now. Better than trying to find a new book to read, better than the news, or other blog posts.I’m sure that the content in these two pages will spark an interest, idea, or question that will lead you somewhere good in your life and career.
Go and have a read now, and take notes.I'll be here when you're done.
Our world is
Our world is random and messy. Collecting data ...
Our world is random and messy. Collecting data does not make it more perfect or more controllable.
Giorgia Lupi, Partner & Design Director, Accurat
Introducing the 2019 Adobe Creative Residents
Adobe have recently announced the designers who will take part in the 2019 Creative Residency.
The designer and project that I'm most interested in following is that of Patricia Reiners. Patricia is a Berlin-based UX/UI designer exploring the city of the future and how new technologies like AI, voice control, and augmented reality will change our interfaces and design decisions.
Post-residency, she’d like to work with companies that share her passions for problem-solving and using new technologies to benefit society. You can see some of Patricia’s past work here.
How to Promote Yourself Online When You’re a Total Introvert - Adobe 99U
The design world seems to favour those who develop a strong presence on social media. But what happens when you’re an introverted designer who naturally shies away from self-promotion?
I am an introvert who knows how to be an extrovert. I have done this for so long, so well, that many of my friends, team, and colleagues find it hard to believe. But to recharge, I must have time alone to think, process, and restore.
In Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, I was introduced to ambiverts and ambiversion. An ambivert can show the qualities of both introversion and extroversion, and they can switch to either depending on their mood, context, and goals. Perhaps I am an ambivert?
Being able to switch to extroversion when I need to is a tool I use to get things done and achieve things I don’t know how to accomplish as an introvert. Sometimes the only cost to this for me is feeling drained of energy by being in ‘extrovert mode’. Other times, as well as the drain on my energy, there can also be ‘butterflies’ or nervousness about doing something outside my natural comfort zone.
Adobe’s 99U has a good article about How to Promote Yourself Online When You’re a Total Introvert. They recommend that you carefully choose the platforms you’re active on, seek meaningful interactions, and outline a way to approach social media that is useful for who you are. Well worth a read for those who are not natural extroverts online.
Be more productive: The joy of missing out (JOMO)
I mean, look, real-time communication, for example, is handy sometimes. When there’s really a crisis or whatever and you really need to hash something out, fine. It’s just that when you have to follow a dozen real-time conversations all day long, that’s broken.
Introducing the joy of missing out (JOMO)
Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, talks about the benefits of reducing your capacity to be interrupted by not having instant messenger and chat apps turned on.
I mean, look, real-time communication, for example, is handy sometimes. When there’s really a crisis or whatever and you really need to hash something out, fine. It’s just that when you have to follow a dozen real-time conversations all day long, that’s broken. That’s just broken. That’s like, the fear of missing out. We have what we call JOMO, the joy of missing out at Basecamp. We want people to miss out. I want you just to focus on your work. You don’t need to pay attention to a million things that are going on at once, right?
Continual interruptions, no matter the source, have a negative impact your enjoyment of your work and the quality of what you produce.
And something else happens over here and they’ve gotta jump over here. Now they’ve stopped the flow, and they’re over here now responding to something one line at a time coming back, a new …
My experience is that constant interruptions from chat, email, and phone calls prevent you from doing what you are trying to do. It impacts your level of focus and engagement with your work, impacting the quality of what you produce.
In one of my previous roles, I managed a team spread across six time zones. I adjusted my day up and down to connect with each of my team. But most of my day I was the only member of the team working. Wow, did this allow me to produce some great work! I was productive because for 5 to 6 hours of the day there were no emails, chats, or messages. No interruptions! I could start work on my projects or clear ticketed design work from our workflow system.
Let’s just do our best work. We should be doing our best work anyway, so let’s just do that.
I am a big believer in JOMO. It helps my teams and me to produce better work - which is what it's meant to be about anyway.