Design the Moment and Create More Positive Experiences

Design is often understood as the creation of an aesthetic object or visual. Then there's a handful of people that understand its capability to make products that work better for humanity, a layer beyond just the physical form. But if we take one step further into the abstract, can design be applied to time alone, with no clear shape beyond the faces of those that create it?

Think of a movie or restaurant, while something is made and shared, it's clear that the value of these events is spanned across time. If the experience doesn't make us feel something, it's forgotten. There's rhythm to a movie, a series of emotions holding our attention. And steps of action and engagement within fine dining. Design can help us set a stage just like this, and it's why you prefer working at one coffee shop over an another, or the reason that your childhood summer camp memories are still engraved in your brain. Even the lack experience design can be present in how it keeps you away from making dreaded doctor's appointments.

This might sound complicated, how can design be so encompassing we wonder. It's a mistake though to confuse design for its end products instead of the process that it is, a dance between discovery and creative application. I promise not to overwhelm anyways, we only want to take this idea of design and use it in little ways to enhance our ordinary lives.

Respecting challenges

Design is a cousin to intentionality, it's curation, an arrangement with purpose. When we bring this thoughtfulness to our own lives we can create memories that are rooted in our authenticity and a positive sense of self. With objectivity we must assess our current state and an end vision, the emotional outcome that we desire. Otherwise we default to choosing perceived comfort, missing out on great experiences, and ending up unsatisfied with these choices. Think back to some of your best memories, the ones that helped create who you are today, I doubt those memories are all puppies and rainbows.

Our proudest and most valued moments usually come from overcoming obstacles, vulnerability, and the discovery of strengths in areas we thought we had nothing to give. It's not only positive but defining of our character and ability. If you want more meaning and positivity in your days, make space for activities that scare you just a little, and congratulate your courage in every step.

While we can't control others appreciation for us we can give credit to to those around us and to ourselves. Try expressing gratitude, especially in difficult times and let your perception of events transform into something that grows you. If we saw minor inconveniences as opportunities to act out our patience and problem solving skills, we'd feel strength in our ability to adapt instead of being upset and expressing our frustrations for the rest of the day. If your work feels stagnant and big goals are dragging out, set more milestones, pages instead of books, minutes instead of hours. Start embracing your wins at every stage.

Raising the stakes

There's another type of experience that sticks with us and helps outweigh the difficult days, its when we feel engaged, energized, and generally excited by the present moment. Celebrations, holidays, vacations, they all embody this and we love them. But why do we let these events exist as periodic breaks from life instead of finding ways to include their joy in routine actions.

There is an investment required in many of our best experiences, it could be through energy, cost, or time intensive prep, like the practices leading up to a big game. That investment and daily work becomes easily forgotten though without a bell to ring at the end. We need identifiable moments that cap off our efforts with some grandeur and reward to celebrate.

Removing or lessening the negative and arduous moments in life won't grant the joy you're looking for so much as it would to heighten the positives in your experiences. That means designing your day to include more of what's good to you. Wearing that outfit you once deemed appropriate only for special occasions, making an effort to have work lunches focused relationships or relaxation and not another sandwich at your desk. Or you can apply positive pressure to an uneventful project by sharing what your working on, setting a date for the end goal and creating more emphasis on the process and final outcome, maybe display it in your portfolio. Any ordinary day can become special when we frame it to be so.

Tell your own story

Try it, sit down and make a thoughtful decision about how you want your day to go, what do you want to feel and gain? By doing so we are utilizing the power of design and intentionally forming our experiences to be more pleasing and valuable. If your day was a movie or special event, what would be the beginning, middle and end? What does the main character learn in their moments of conflict? Choose how you will create your day to make it something worth remembering. If your days are flying by without any separation, take the time to switch things up, identify peaks in your week or month that you can enhance to become a designed experience. Adding just a few more moments like this can greatly improve your overall satisfaction with life. Maybe you'll even learn a little more about design and how it can go beyond physical objects to make powerful moments out of the ordinary.

"Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy." - Milton Erickson