Five ways mindfulness makes you a better designer

The most important business asset is you.

Here are a few useful tips from on how mindfulness can make you a better designer and person (inspired by IDEO.)

▪️ Adopt a beginner’s mindset

Forget everything you know and view a subject or project with completely fresh eyes to prevent viewpoint biasness. Creativity flourishes best when you are open and curious to all options.

▪️ Practice radical acceptance

Accept situations that are the way they are and out of your control. Trying to change them to fit with your view may be a losing battle and result in irrelevant solutions for the target customers. Accept what is and design from a place of non-resistance.

▪️ Drop your ego

What benefit is it to always be right? By opening ourselves to feedback we are able to see different perspectives and grow individually from what is shared.

▪️ Listen deeply

Immersion in solely your own responses means you lose out on the words, tone and body language of the people around you - potentially resulting in a failed product by missing the details of what your customers really want. Deep listening helps us tap into the deeper meaning, unspoken needs, and feelings conveyed.

▪️ Meditate in order to create

Only when you’re clear-headed can you truly create at your best. Meditation helps remove such blockages and insecurities, providing great mental clarity.

By adopting such methods, they can make you a conscious and better designer - what’s to loose?