I would like to talk about the role of “heart” tools in our IA/UX practice. Often, our tools and methods are analytical and logic-oriented exercises. In this talk, I would like to suggest a fresh approach to our IA practice. We will explore “heart” tools and methods that are shown to be more persuasive than “head” methods – when push comes to shove.
First, we will discuss reasons heart tools have been left out, where head tools have dominated our field. These include west versus eastern philosophies, traditions, and a brief historical perspective.
We will then look at the different types of heart tools, their origins, and how these practices (often spiritual in nature) can be adapted to our IA practice, including: creative visualization, mental walkthroughs, and the practice of centeredness and connectedness.
Next, we will use real or near-real work-related examples and discuss how heart tools can be used in each situation, and how heart tools will help us get the type of results we want in our deliverables, meetings, workshops, presentations, and client relationships.
I see these ideas as a new layer on top of our current tools, and not as a replacement. Heart tools will elevate our practice to a whole new level of understanding and effectiveness, not only as IA practitioners, but also as engaged people who deeply understand and love our work, ourselves, others, and our world.
1. Exploring heart tools to
elevate our IA practice
Yvonne Shek | @yshekster
Sept 26
EuroIA 2014
2. Let me introduce myself…
And also a disclaimer for this talk.
hypocrite
/’hipe,krit/
noun
a person who indulges in hypocrisy.
synonyms: pretender, dissembler, deceiver, liar,
pietist, sanctimonious person, plaster saint; More
2
9. Other ia/ixd heart tools
9
Love letter & break up letter
http://www.doctordisruption.com/design/design-methods-2-the-love-
letter-the-breakup-letter/
17. A bit of history
17
“To be is to be perceived.”
George Berkeley
(1685 – 1753)
“I think therefore I am.”
Rene Descarte
(1596 – 1650)
“As soon as you have made a
thought, laugh at it.”
Lao Tzu
604 – 531 BCE
“In the end these things matter
most: How well did you love?
How fully did you live? How
deeply did you let go?”
Gautama Buddha
c. 563 or 480 BCE
18. 18
heart tools – drawing from the east
(and some blending with the west).
Integrating the head, body, and heart.
19. A quick comparison between Eastern vs.
Western thought and values
19
Western Eastern
Individual Universal / communal
Accumulation of knowledge Soul and intellect
Separate parts of the whole Interrelated and oneness
Master and control reality Harmony and unified
Life is a service (to God, business, money,
community, country)
Life is a journey and discovery
Outer-world dependent Inner-world dependent
Truth needs to be proved, through analysis Truth is given, does not need to be proved;
through meditation
Ethics Virtue
Linear Cyclical
Christianity, rational, scientific, logic schools,
Greek & Roman philosophy, aetheism
Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, yoga,
taoism, zen
Head + body + soul Head with body with soul
20. The discombobulation in western thinking
20
Floating Head Sculpture by Sophie Cave – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.
21. =
Harmonized selves
– What does it
take?
21
Meditate
Time
Management
Sleep
&
Nutrition
Exercise
Right breathing
Clear
Thinking
&
Harmony
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
24. 24
When to use this tool –
1. Surviving intense meetings
2. Workshops
3. Any setting where n > 1
2. Mental walkthroughs
25. Why is the mental walkthrough an
important tool?
25
“I’ve learned that people will
forget what you said, people
will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how
you made them feel.”
- Maya Angelou
26. 3. Creative visualization
26
“If you find yourself worried or
puzzled about anything, or feeling
discouraged or frustrated about a
problem, ask yourself if there is a
way you could use creative
visualization to help you. From a
creative habit of using it at every
appropriate moment.”
– Shakti Gawain
27. Creative visualization
27
1. Set your goal
2. Create a clear idea or picture
3. Focus on it often
4. Give it positive energy
* Works only for good
28. We know all about doing and having.
This is not about that.
Focus more on being and becoming.
28
being
doing having
29. Your most wicked problem…
(creative visualization demo)
29
Affirmations:
1. In the present
2. In the most positive way
3. Keep it simple
4. Has to be right for you
5. Create something new and fresh
6. Don’t contradict your feelings or self
7. Believe it
8. (Added) Stop being goal-oriented and
focus on being or becoming.
30. Chamine Shirzad
author of:
Positive Intelligence: Why Only
20% of teams and individuals
achieve their true potential
(and how you can achieve
yours)
30
Positive Intelligence & PQ reps
31. 31
破
壞
“To illustrate, when your mind tells you
that you should do your very best to
prepare for tomorrow’s important
meeting, it is acting as your friend. When
it wakes you up at 3 am anxious about the
meeting and racing in a loop for the
hundredth time about the many
consequences of failing, it is acting as your
enemy; it is simply generating anxiety and
suffering without any redeeming value. No
friend would do that.”
- Chamine Shirzad
Positive Intelligence & PQ reps
32. 32
Your Saboteurs
破
壞
者
• Judge *
• Stickler
• Pleaser
• Hyper-Achiever
• Victim
• Hyper-Rational
• Hyper-Vigilant
• Restless
• Controller
• Avoider The role of stress in all of this…
33. 33
Your Sage
The deeper and wiser part of you.
It has great powers -
1. To empathize with yourself and others
2. To explore with great curiosity and an open mind
3. To innovate and create new perspectives
4. To navigate and choose a path that aligns with
your values
5. To activate and take decisive action without the
distress, interference, or distractions of the
Saboteurs
34. 34
The Sage’s perspective
… is about accepting what is,
rather than denying,
rejecting, or resenting what
is. It accepts every outcome
and circumstance as a gift
and opportunity. Every.
35. 35
Even in a sales situation
“In order to get the sale, you need to let go
of needing to make the sale. In order to get
the result that makes you happy, you have to
let go of your concern for your own
happiness during the sale process. You need
to be completely focused on the other
person, not as a sales technique, but truly in
your heart.”
– Chamine Shirzad
37. 37
What is a PQ rep?
• Shifting attention to the physical
How to remember:
• Having a break
• Between tasks
• Saboteurs
Infuse PQ reps into:
• Daily routines
• Physical exercise
• Eating
• Listening to music
• Playing sports
• Being with loved ones
38. 38
Why not fake it till you make it?
Because it
doesn’t work.
Katty Kay & Claire Shipman
41. 41
- PQ reps when you wake
up, brush your teeth, eat
your first meal
- Creative visualization for
your day
- PQ reps at the
gym
- Mental
walkthrough of
what’s ahead
- PQ reps for every breath
throughout the day
- Neutralize Saboteurs!
- Boost the Sage!
- Meditate
- Creatively visualize your
future
- Mental
walkthroughs
during work
- Creatively
visualize you,
your team, your
family, your
future
- Better managed resources:
empathy, exploration,
innovation, navigation, and
activation.
Meditate
Time
Management
Sleep
&
Nutrition
Exercise
Right breathing
Clear
Thinking
&
Harmony
43. 43
“Not that I have already attained,
or am already perfected; but I
press on… one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and
reaching forward to those things
which are ahead, I press toward
the goal…”
- St. Paul the Apostle
44. 44
References
Main sources:
1. Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of teams and individuals achieve their true potential
(and how you can achieve yours). Chamine Shirzad.
2. Creative Visualization – Use the power of your imagination to create what you want in
your life. Shakti Gawain.
Secondary sources:
4. Compassion and Meditation: The spiritual dynamic between Buddhism and Christianity.
Jean-Yves Leloup.
5. The Confidence Code: The science and art of self-assurance – what women should know.
Katty Kay & Claire Shipman.
6. Universal Methods of Design, Bella Martin & Bruce Hanington, 2012.
7. nform.com/cards (ux methods cards)
8. The Healing Code. Alexander Loyd and Ben Johnson.
Self introduction and how I feel about presenting this talk… DISCLAIMER. More about what I am learning right now – through trial and error. Just here to share some of the things I’ve been reading and learning about.
Has observed, tracked, wrestled with, and tackled many collaboration issues before. We talk about collaboration and our technical skills, methods, tools, soft-skills… etc etc. Here are some.
Nform.com/cards/
Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington, Universal Methods of Design.
An interesting tool that can be considered a ‘heart’ tool because it engages the emotions. But not what I am here to talk about today.
An interesting tool that can be considered a ‘heart’ tool because it engages the emotions. But not what I am here to talk about today.
Within the IA community, and outside of the IA community. It is even in popular mainstream consciousness – e.g., Malcolm Gladwell and 10,000 hours. We talk about practice a lot. We have a lot of experience in this room. Breadth and depth of experience.
Sisyphus in the introduction of Positive Intelligence.
Sisyphus is a prototype of our culture. His problem is ingrained into our psyches.
We keep running up the same problems and we try using different tools to tackle them.
We use tools because we are human. And in our community, we have smart tools – because we are smart humans.
In our western thinking, we’ve relied on ‘head’ tools rather than ‘heart’ tools.
And sheer will power.
Perhaps it is time to look at heart tools.
Perhaps we need to look inward rather than outward.
All those problems that keep happening to me -- maybe, it’s me.
We need the right heart to get better at what we do.
Demo from The Healing Code.
That’s why orthokardia is so important!
Western: empirical, provable, rational
Eastern: held on lightly and not tightly
The way to get recombobulated and connected.
The danger of being hyper rational or hyper ‘head’ centered is that we can become discombobulated.
“The trend for the future is that we will become more digital and less physical…” Really? I don’t agree because our physicality has not turned to zeros and ones. Rather, it is our thinking and our being that has become skewed. We need to reattach our floating heads to living out the physical. Become more connected physically to ourselves, our community, our world.
Have more to do with helping you, personally, than for groups
Things that you can use for yourself day to day
To deal with the everyday stresses
With a change of thinking or change of heart, a bit of know-how, and practice
Because we know that stress is an inside game
These are the ‘tools’ that I will focus on today.
Crocker study of 600 college students showed those who depended on others for approval reported
more stress,
higher levels of drug abuse, and
eating disorders
Than those who based their self-esteem on internal sources
Meditation works on the internal sources
Preparing, not forgetting things
Auditioning yourself
Internal role playing
Not just ANY kind of mental walkthroughs – but one that engages the HEART
Practice what you’d say or do in your mind
Then, bring to the heart level
How you would be, feel, and react
How you want your audience to be, feel, and react
Reach for that goal
Who’s asking the tough questions? Why?
How do you respond and how do you address the deeper FUDs (fears, uncertainties, doubts)?
Remember that it isn’t just a ‘head’ exercise. Shoot for the goal of – coming out of that meeting – how do you want people to feel? In their core? Then work backwards to plan how that meeting should go. Even pick workshop activities based on the emotional outcomes you want from your clients. Not just project outcomes. Reach for the core issues and address them.
Based on the power of imagination.
Creative Visualization – Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You want in your life. Shakti Gawain. 2002.
Importance of being relaxed.
This tools is like the mental walkthrough. Except this is more for you. And it is more for the longer term.
Creative Visualization – Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You want in your life. Shakti Gawain. 2002.
These are the steps – and we can practice it in a minute.
So I am not sure about the author’s claim that it only works for good. But I am too chicken to try it any other way – to use it for evil. So I have not tried.
Creative Visualization – Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You want in your life. Shakti Gawain. 2002.
This is not NAME IT AND CLAIM IT game. It’s not about doing and having. It’s about being. What ingredients do you need to get to being what you want or need to be? The best version of you?
Creative Visualization – Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You want in your life. Shakti Gawain. 2002.
Let it go. Go with the flow. Don’t grab on to the river banks!
Think of your most wicked problem right now. It can be a job, a relationship, a direction, a relocation, a team, a project. Anything. Apply these principles and imagine a different outcome – your ideal outcome. Not that you get rich or become extremely powerful. But in certain situations, how we YOU be? What would you say? What would you do or how would you behave? It has to be you, true, authentic, and real.
A very inspirational man. Should check out his TED talks and his book.
Talks about your mind as your friend or your enemy. Can act as both. The book illustrates how you can make your mind your friend and not your enemy. Stop wasting good energy on bad things. We would become more energized, less stressed, and much more focused. More able to do the long term creative visualization for our lives.
A Saboteur does its greatest damage if it convinces you that it is your friend and you accept it into your trusted inner circle.
The difference between judging and discerning…
“The Judge is the universal Saboteur, the one we all have: a predisposition to exaggerate the negative and assuming the worst is actually good for survival.”
- Chamine Shirzad
Your Sage moves you into action not out of feeling bad or anger, but out of empathy, inspiration, and the joy of exploration… a longing to create, contribute, an urge to find meaning in the midst of even the greatest crises.
Empathize – visualize the child
Explore – fascinated anthropologist
Innovate – yes, and… / expand the pie before dividing it
Navigate – find a path that aligns with your values, purpose, compass. “meaning and purpose do not live in the rational mind, they live in our hearts…”
Activate – preempt the saboteurs
The old Chinese farmer and the Stallion story:
Old farmer with his teenage son and a beautiful stallion
Stallion won prize at a fair
“Who knows if this is for good or for ill…?”
Stallion got stolen because of increased value – who knows…
Few new mares – who knows…
Son is thrown off new mare and breaks leg – who knows…
Recruitment – who knows…
On empathizing with the buyer/prospective client. Not about active listening. For me, it’s not even about tweaking my offers.
But am I even selling something that is relevant to them? What is their problem? Their need? Is there a match here? If not, who has that match? Don’t get attached to the sale emotionally.
Survivor brain: fight or flight
PQ brain: middle prefrontal cortex (MPFC), the empathy circuitry, the right brain
What is a PQ rep: PQ rep: Shift as much of your attention as you can onto your body and any of your five senses for at least 10 seconds (3 breaths)
100 reps each day. Try for 21 days.
Robert Zajonc et al study, 1989. Faked positivity can be detected (facial muscles). So you have no greater chance of getting a yes. But faked positivity shows the same effects as overt anger. Studies show that anger and anxiety statistically raise your chances of having a coronary. The faked positivity does no better than overt anger.