Weekly Highlights #46
The content we consume can consume us, if we are not mindful enough. In this period of information overload and analysis paralysis, The ‘Weekly Highlights’ collects the 3, most valuable pieces of content I have come across during the week, and packages them in a single page, with some notes and key highlights, so to foster mindful and intentional consumption of content, which can truly add value to our life.
Intentional content consumption, in an era in which the amount of content we expose ourselves to can consume us, if we are not mindful enough. 🐘
Defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies that protect a person from anxiety due to unacceptable thoughts or feelings. Here are 7 common defense mechanisms listed in the video by marriage family therapist Steph Anya:
1. Displacement
Displacing frustration or other feelings on an individual who is not the source of them. The receiver is often someone we are comfortable with (e.g. frustrated for work-related issues, and displacing them at home with husband or wife instead of moving toward possible conflict with the real source of the feeling).
2. Disassociation
Removing yourself from the present situation in your headspace. This can happen when there is strong emotional reaction to a situation.
3. Projection
Projecting past frustrations and negative energy on other individuals in order to make things even (hence avoiding bearing responsibility).
4. Splitting
Similar to perfectionism and dichotomous thinking. You see things as either perfect of awful. In fact, the world is much more nuanced than its polarities.
5. Repression
Repression is inherent part of society (so it also has some positives). However, it is a defense mechanism when we repress deeply ingrained sensations or thoughts which do not make us feel ok.
6. Denial
Pushing information away from us in order to not deal with the truth as it is.
7. Sublimation
Channeling all the negative energy into a specific activity. This is very common among high achievers. This can be a positive defense mechanism in life for some people. But pushing it too far may lead to a frustrated and miserable emotional life.
There are 4 main steps to the design thinking process as presented in the Google UX Design certificate video above.
Ideation
Ideation is the practice of generating ideas (brainstorming) without applying any judgment to them. Any idea may be a valid one, but we can only discover this in later steps of the feasibility analysis process. Ideas must be feasible, desirable (best at solving the user problem), viable.
Competitive Audit
This is the analysis of the competition (direct and indirect competitors). You want to understand what is good and what is not good in the user experience provided by other players in the industry. Innovation does not happen by copying competition, however. The competitive audit is just a starting point. Competitive audits need to be carried out regularly as opposed to seldom times in a year.
Outline the goal of the competitive audit
Make a spreadsheet with a list of your competitors
Call out the specific features you want to compare
Research
Analyze your findings
Summarize findings in a report (include pictures, screenshots, etc.)
"How Might We . . .?
Use the how might we question frame to identify possible solutions to problems. The question must be not too broad nor too narrow. We want to come up with a lot of how might we questions, as part of the brainstorming stage.
Sketching
Sketching by hand is the first step to visualizing the possible UX solution to the problem. Use the Crazy 8 exercise. 8 minutes. 1 minute per idea. Draw 8 ideas to a statement problem on each square of the paper (divide it into 8 parts by folding it).
Quote of the Week
““Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt.””
This Week’s Article
Internship Experience and Covid-19 | Part 2
Check out this week’s article by clicking on the image or title above
If you enjoyed this post, consider signing up to the weekly newsletter and stay up to date with new content.