Design Thinking For Your Life
Have you ever thought about why you do what you do? Not just in your career, but in your life itself? How your views, sense of identify and values inform what you do? Or, have you tried to make a change and not been able to sustain it? This isn't uncommon and you are definitely not alone. Bill Burnett and Dave Evans recognised a need for a space where you could answer these questions by applying design thinking principles to your life, so they created a credit bearing unit at Stanford University.
Earlier this year, I participated in this Design Your Life Studio facilitated by Stanford University and buoy, did I learn a lot. I am familiar with design thinking; I use parts of it in my practice, however this series of workshops used the lens of design thinking as a way of building your future the way you want it. It questioned your work views, your world views, your socio cultural identity and gave you space to reflect, collaborate and learn how these can shape your life. From your career to your personal life, by accepting where you are right now you can move forward and shape what you want to do. Through ideation techniques, radical collaboration and critical self-reflection, you are not limited by what you think you can do but rather you are challenged to dig deep, and put forward what you want to do. This in itself is powerful. What else did I learn?
3 is better than 1
Collaboration and problem solving are part of my job, working with teaching teams, professional staff, and a diverse range of stakeholders. Central to my new way of thinking is to come up with quick solutions, ones without the parameters, the ones that aren't limited by our cognitive biases. Moving forward, my mantra is always to come up with 3, 3 solutions, 3 ways of doing things, and 3 options. 3. 3. 3. This gives you an opportunity to think beyond the current solution and open new ideas and opportunities that you may not have been open to or aware of before.
Perfection in imperfection
Sometimes the only way is to get started and iterate. This is something I do in course design all of the time but in life it can be harder. Hang on – why? That's right. It doesn't have to be. Like in design where you are constantly iterating, this too can be done in life. Being aware of what and why you are doing things and when its not working, then pivot, re-evaluate and try something new.
Follow up is important
Like any great workshop, I went away saying I can't wait to … I am going to …. I am …. and then life kicked in. With a one and a three year old, I was quickly catapulted into reality with little sleep, less focus, and those goals, ah, they went by the wayside.... for a few weeks. But here I am revisiting them and now following up and actioning what I WANT to do.
Plans are like rules - they can be broken
Have you ever been asked what your three, five, or ten year plan is and struggled to answer? Who hasn't hey? Plans are great; but how often do you stick to them? Some people do and that’s great but if you don't, that's okay too. It's okay to pivot, to re-evaluate and find something new.
So, how is this relevant to education?
In todays day and age, more and more people are searching for a sense of purpose in their work, a way to be meaningful and give back rather than getting the next promotion (McKinsey & Company, 2021). The article highlights that a sense of purpose comes from three areas; 1) the organisational level; 2) from the work the individual engages with; and 3) the purpose outside of work. The Design Your Life Studio provides students with the tools to design a life you want; from the organisations you want to work for, the work you want to engage with, and your opportunities outside of work from family to volunteering.
How can you get started
The Australian Technology Network (ATN) partnered with Stanford University to develop three modules, the first of which is a short open MOOC that has been designed to engage with at your own pace. The remaining two modules can be completed for a fee from different universities.
