💎 Friday Gems (What is Experience Design?, Reducing Conflict, Fueling Conversations, and much more!)
When you tell a story, present the main point first and then add the supporting details.
Welcome to Low Fidelity, a free weekly newsletter where I share freshly squeezed insights on mindset, mindfulness, and resilience. These insights are designed to empower you to show up in life, thrive in your work, and achieve your full creative potential. ✌🏽
One thing is for sure in life, and that is change is constant. We are continuously moving within a world that is changing moment by moment. Understanding this fact helps us not only be more mindful and patient with ourselves and others, it also opens up new possibilities for personal growth.
May your days be filled with new possibilities!
In this edition of Friday Gems:
✨ What is Experience Design? And how does it help make things better?
✌🏽 3 Ways to Make Conflict Less Destructive
💬 50 Ways To Fuel a Conversation
🌟 Wisdom: On Awareness of Our Reactions
🎵 Tune: River’s Bass by Vhsceral
Design
💎 What is Experience Design? And how does it help make things better?
Experience Design seeks to improve our experiences by changing things to make them better for people, rather than forcing people to adapt to the things we make.
In our fast-paced work, it’s a good idea to pause once in a while and reconnect with our profession. To better understand what we do and why we do it so we can reaffirm our occupation and help others better understand it.
This article by designer Christopher Roosen helps clarify what experience design exactly is and how it helps us build better products and services.
What is Experience Design? A simplified explanation is that experience design is a philosophy, method, and collection of tools for researching and designing the overall experience an individual has within a product or service.
It’s about changing things first, to suit people. Rather than training people to be contortionists and work around the constraints or limitations of technology.
Exactly!
In my current work project, my team is dealing with the mess that is the conglomeration of technology, which demands the users become contortionists and work around technology instead of the technology working around their needs.
Experience Design typically starts with or supports people, which is why it’s sometimes known as Human Centred Design.
Our goal is to not only make things prettier or easier for the users but also to help improve usability, comfort, aesthetics, satisfaction, and safety while reducing stress and errors that comes with using a product or service.
What are the “superpowers” of experience design?
Source: Cognitive Ink
Mindset
💎 3 Ways to Make Conflict Less Destructive
No conflict, however difficult, is impossible. Conflicts are, after all, made by humans so they can be solved by humans. And if we can transform our conflicts, we can transform our lives. We can transform our world.
Conflict is a part of life, there is no getting around it. Whether it’s within the family, at work, or around the world, conflict tends to show up because “we humans are reaction machines.” Wherever there are humans, there will be conflict at some level.
But, what can we do to navigate conflict?
In this article by William Ury, an acclaimed mediator and author of Getting To Yes, suggests three ways:
A clear perspective - Instead of getting angry and responding with something you will later regret, pause for a moment to get to a place of calm so you can keep your eye on the bigger picture.
Build a golden bridge - Listen to the other person and put yourself in their shoes. Create an attractive way to address their needs while advancing your interests.
Get help from others - We reduce the conflict to the two sides involved, but there is a third side, our friends and family or other neutral parties who will help us communicate and negotiate to build a golden bridge between the two.
When it comes to conflict, I like the idea William Ury shares, of thinking of ourselves as possibilists instead of optimists or pessimists.
Source: Time
Made me think
💎 50 Ways To Fuel a Conversation
I love this list of mindful ways to help us develop good conversation skills, which in turn help us build, maintain, and grow our relationships.
Be the first to say hello.
Introduce yourself to others.
Take risks and anticipate success.
Remember your sense of humor.
Practice different ways of starting a conversation.
Make an extra effort to remember people’s names.
Ask a person’s name if you’ve forgotten it.
Show curiosity and sincere interest in finding out about others.
Tell others about the important events in your life. Don’t wait for them to draw it out.
Demonstrate that you are listening by restating their comments in another way.
Communicate enthusiasm and excitement about your subjects and life in general.
Go out of your way to try to meet new people wherever you are.
Accept a person’s right to be an individual with different ideas and beliefs.
Let the natural person in you come out when talking with others.
Be able to succinctly tell others—in a few short sentences—what you do.
Reintroduce yourself to someone who is likely to have forgotten your name.
Be ready to tell others something interesting or challenging about what you do.
Be aware of open and closed body language.
Smile, make eye contact, offer a handshake, and go find the approachable person.
Greet people that you see regularly.
Seek common interests, goals, and experiences with the people you meet.
Make an effort to help people if you can.
Let others play the expert.
Be open to answering common ritualistic questions.
Be enthusiastic about other people’s interests.
See that the time is balanced between giving and receiving information.
Be able to speak about a variety of topics and subjects.
Keep up to date on current events and issues that affect our lives.
Be willing to express your feelings, opinions, and emotions to others.
Use “I” when you speak about your own feelings and personal things, rather than “you.”
Visually show others that you are enjoying your conversation with them.
Be ready to issue invitations to others to join you for other events/activities to further the relationship.
Find ways to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances you meet.
Seek out others’ opinions.
Look for the positive in those you meet.
Start and end your conversations with the person’s name and a handshake or warm greeting.
Take the time to be friendly with your neighbors and coworkers.
Let others know that you would like to get to know them better.
Ask others about things that they have told you in previous conversations.
Listen carefully for free information.
Be ready to ask open-ended questions to learn.
Change the topic of conversation when it has run its course.
Always search for the things that really get another excited.
Compliment others about what they are wearing, doing, or saying.
Encourage others to talk to you by sending out positive signals.
Make an effort to see and talk to people you enjoy.
When you tell a story, present the main point first and then add the supporting details.
Include everyone in the group in conversation whenever possible.
Look for signs of boredom or lack of interest from your listener.
Prepare ahead of time for each social or business function.
Yeah, there are a lot of great ways in this list, so instead of being overwhelmed, we can find opportunities to practice a single tip a few times until it becomes a part of how we interact with others.
I’m curious, which ones resonated the most with you?
Source: Reads With Ravi vis Swiss Miss
QUICK HITS
Little Big Gems
Mike Monteiro is kind enough to offer a pdf version of his book You’re My Favorite Client for free! This is a must-read for anyone who interacts with clients. Grab it!
Tired of using the same email signoff? Here are some good sign offs to add color and personality to your messages. My favorite? Curiosity will save us,
Mindfulness
💎 On awareness of our reactions
“In life, we can’t always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. The second arrow is optional.”
- Buddha
Bad things happen. Whether it’s a slight annoyance, being hurt by others, or a full-out conflict, we have a choice in how we react to those situations. Becoming aware of our reactions to those negative events by bringing awareness at the moment instead of falling into a story our minds create is key to liberation and ending unnecessary suffering.
Music
💎 River’s Bass by Vhsceral
Need a chill tune to listen to while you enter a flow state? Then River’s Bass by Vhsceral is the tune you need. With an easy blend of electronic, jazz, and funk, this tune is a great addition to the Low Fidelity playlist.
That’s it for this week’s gems. Let me know which gem resonated with you. Just hit reply and share, or DM me.
I’m thankful that you read this far.
Curiosity will save us,
