I heard several provocative guidelines for excellent design when our Applied Improvisation group toured Stanford’s graduate Institute of Design (d-School). One principle stood in particular contrast with a foundational tenet of improvisational theater. Now, a day later, I still find myself trying to make sense of the tension: should we follow a ‘first idea’ or [more…]
Why We Do Things We Don’t Want to Do
If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated after spending 3 hours online when you just intended to check your e-mail or after giving up—again—on your promise to get outside, meditate, or eat more healthily, you’re like me. And everyone else I know. What keeps us from turning off the TV, shutting off the computer, or taking [more…]
Ticket to Blue Skies
It’s a helpless feeling. Looking up, just 50 feet away from getting back to my car, and seeing a pert parking attendant snap off a ticket, place it under my wiper with a flourish, and zip off, satisfied, in her little blue car. I had dutifully slotted three quarters—one hour’s worth—into the machine perhaps an [more…]
