Welcome to Redesign Thinking 101. This is a new course based on the principles of design thinking with an added focus on shifting paradigms. You have been automatically enrolled in this experiential learning course for the foreseeable future. You are part of a diverse cohort of classmates including your co-workers, neighbors, family and friends. Please note there is no syllabus but rather a framework to help guide you through the foundations of redesign thinking in all aspects of daily life. Questions are encouraged. Answers are not guaranteed. Let’s get started. 

The first question you may be asking is who is my instructor? Answer: This is a self-led course with many guest lecturers. You can choose from a variety of experts across many platforms. There is no shortage of voices seeking your attention, so choose wisely. Use your discernment to decide how you will apply their teaching to your final project. 

What does the final project entail? Answer: It depends.

What part of your daily life do you need to redesign the most to ensure quality results? Let your answer to that question lead you as we progress through the five-step redesign thinking process, starting with empathy.

The five steps of redesign thinking 

Empathize
First, you must consider who will be directly and indirectly impacted by your redesign project. Loop them in for feedback as soon as possible. Ensuring key stakeholders’ voices are heard will help increase understanding and overall cohesiveness for anyone involved in the redesign process. Listening to understand will help you define key issues you may not have thought of on your own.

Define
Take insights gained from empathy to refine your goal and determine your project focus. 

Ideate 
Once you have a focused goal, it is time to use your creative problem-solving to develop new solutions and determine which solution best addresses the goal and is most feasible for all involved. Empathy must remain top of mind throughout your redesign process, especially in times of crisis. Coming up with several solutions will ensure adaptability if the first solution does not work as planned. 

Prototype
Once you have a few solid ideas, it’s time to put a plan or prototype together. Remember to stay flexible, understanding that plans are a roadmap but not the final destination. There may be detours or a completely different route to reach your goal but you have to start somewhere. Start simple.

Test
Once you have outlined your plan, share the plan with those involved and take action. Try, iterate, and try again. Repeat until you achieve the redesign goal you have envisioned. Patience and diligence go far in this phase. 

Whether you are redesigning your organizational structure, your budget, schooling for your kids, work/life balance, or any of the other facets of life that have changed drastically in recent weeks, you can use this simple framework to redesign anything. 

As a fellow classmate in Redesign Thinking 101, time has become my redesign focus: how I spend it, how I share it and how I embrace it. Time, in its present sense, is the only resource we all share equally and thus the greatest gift we can give to one another in these perilous, yet persevering times. 

A few years ago, I read a book called “Mystery of the Shemitah” by author Johnathan Cahn and it changed my paradigm on time and the value of rest for our land both figuratively and literally. After finishing this book, I was compelled to redesign the rushed pace at which I was living, a pace that has now forcibly slowed for all Americans. While there are inherent risks in slowing down, there can also be inherent gains.

We all have a unique opportunity to reconsider the way we use and appreciate the precious time we are given. Tomorrow is not promised. Today is a gift. These words have never felt more true. Wishing you all the best as you progress through Redesign Thinking 101, learning how to redesign and rethink your approach each day ahead. We are all in this together. Godspeed!

Rebecca Wolford is a Gallup-certified strengths coach and the co-founder of Creative Habitat, a local nonprofit designed to provide a nurturing environment for families to work, play and grow in community through coworking + child care and strengths-based development programming and services. You can follow Creative Habitat on Facebook and Instagram @creativehabitatmoms. Wolford can be contacted at rwolford@creativehabitat.org.