Happy Tuesday, guys. Now that Monday is over, we can all go back to our normal, mediocre level of productivity, right?

I’m joking…a little. In all honesty, I learned not so long ago that willpower for productivity is a hoax. I use about 40% of my willpower just rolling out of bed in the morning, and then another 15% searching for my phone. I’m almost positive that you cannot “will” yourself to be more productive with your time. If willpower was my only hope, I’d never accomplish anything.

When designing a product, you often strive to achieve perfection by building a product with advanced features and offerings. As a result, you come up with a detailed concept, concoct a seemingly flawless internal strategy, seek approval from stakeholders, build an accurate prototype, conduct user testing, gather findings AND repeat the whole process until you’re 100% happy to launch.

We’re fast approaching one year since the worldwide shutdown from COVID-19 and everything feels the same, but somehow…everything is different. It’s the same, but different, like good design. Familiar enough that you know and like it, different enough that it’s exciting, enticing.

What have we learned, and what is left to learn in a world that is increasingly about what we see, think and feel?

Designing an extraordinary customer experience needs deep understanding of who are the customers, where are they coming from, what are their challenges, how are they making decisions, what make them delighted and many more. The entire customer journey needs to be understood thoroughly before getting into designing the right solution. Today, the entire experience can be influenced by multiple platforms (Offline/Online) and often continue for a long period of time. Hence, it becomes quite significant to evaluate what approach do we take to conduct our research and goals.

Whether you work in the tech industry, or you are an entrepreneur trying to validate a business idea, probably you have heard one of these concepts before, or maybe all of them, that is because when they are applied (in a correct way) they help a lot to validate and improve products and services, and for that reason, in the last years they have become more and more known. But, ever if you’re a designer, do you know when it is necessary to apply each one and what is the purpose and benefits they bring? If you’re chomping at the bit already, you’ve come to the right place. ;)

I’m going to tell you something you probably already know if you were compelled to click this link:

As glamorous as every work-from-anywhere Instagram model sipping her midday Pina Colada makes the #laptoplifestyle look, there is a lot of struggle that goes into working remotely. While the freedom and flexibility to own your own schedule and the mental space to bring ideas to life are great perks, at the end of the day, it’s still a job that you have to be present for daily with no one there to hold your hand and tell you when to get out of bed.

Goal setting is an interesting thing. We tend to have some accomplishments that come with relative ease and the others that have been sitting on our New Years Resolutions list for years.

So, what makes up that gap in wanting to achieve the things we want most out of our lives and ACTUALLY getting there?