We believe that one of the best ways to make the world a better place is to start with ourselves. If we aren't making progress every day on goals that really matter to us, we're missing out on an important part of life. But how do we overcome the procrastination, the lack of knowledge, those nagging voices in our heads telling us we can't do it, and quite frankly, the fear that comes with doing something new? Well, we're glad you asked.
Jumpstart is a 4 week online course meant to help you answer those questions while making serious progress toward your life goals. We help you define a project that's personally meaningful to you, help you get started, and then help you build the necessary structure around it to keep it going. This can be something you've been wanting to do for days, months, or even years. We'll guide you through a step by step process for making that dream a reality, and you'll learn new, life-changing skills along the way. One of those skills is how to apply a one-of-a-kind innovation process called Design Thinking to your own life.
Whether your dream involves building a website, write a short story, growing a side hustle, inventing a new product, starting a non-profit, exploring a career change, or learning a new language, instrument, or new skill...we're here to help.
During the course you will:
Get your personal project off the ground.
Create a plan that will help you keep your project going even as you face competing priorities.
Identify then overcome your most common barriers.
Create prototypes, or small experiments, of your plan for completing your personal project.
Develop relationships with other ambitious folks who can continue to help you with your project down the line.
Get to know and meet regularly with another member of the course who you will exchange ideas with about your project and lean on to keep you accountable.
This course is for people who...
Want to develop life changing habits
Are motivated, but sometimes slip up
Seem to have more ideas than time
Have competing priorities
Have tried this or a different personal project in the past, and have sometimes failed
Have already started on a project, or don’t know where to start
Have any level of understanding of Design Thinking (including zero)
How to stop procrastinating
How to attain new knowledge to become good at something that's new for you.
How to use step by step planning to silence the doubt & overcome fear
How to use Design Thinking, a problem-solving methodology that can be applied to personal projects or any challenges in your life
How to consistently navigate ambiguity
How to leverage the psychology of motivation and the best techniques for developing habits
How to make long-term plans when it comes to personal goals
DC Design Director of Operations and Lead Designer
Libby is an expert facilitator who has guided tech & social entrepreneurs, non-profits, and government agencies to create better outcomes in the world around them. She will draw on her background in design thinking, strategy, and education, as well as her psychology research on attention and creativity. Libby is an alumna of Stanford University and its Institute of Design as well as the University of Kansas and its Department of Psychology.
Jumpstart Your Personal Project Using Design Thinking is a live online course that takes place over a month. Class is held once a week for four weeks. You’ll also meet with an accountability partner each week to help you keep your project on track. You’ll life-long skills, build relationships with your cohort of like-minded doers working on their own projects, and gain lifelong connections to a community of support for the future.
You can benefit from this course, regardless of the type project you select. In the FAQs, you can see a list of possible projects.
Make Space/Energize/Set
Design Thinking Foundation
Psychology talk: Inspiration
Identifying Your Values & Barriers (Empathy)
Tactical Time: Detail Your End State (Define)
HW: Define + Accountability Partner Meeting + Coaching Available
Make Space/Energize/Set
Common Barriers
Psychology talk: Motivation… and increasing it!
Top Barrier: Time Management
Tactical Time: Create Prototype 1
HW: Build & Test + Accountability Partner Meeting + Coaching Available
Make Space/Energize/Set
Evaluate Your Test
Psychology talk: Habit
Intro to Longevity
Tactical Time: Create Prototype 2
HW: Build & Test + Accountability Partner Meeting + Coaching Available
Make Space/Energize/Set
Longevity
Tactical Time: Future Planning
Honoring Progress
HW: Accountability Partnerships + Coaching Available
You do not know which project you want to work on--maybe you have too many ideas, or maybe you have too few. During the pre-course session, you’ll pick the best project for this course based on your values and priorities.
You would like to learn the Empathy and Define stages of Design Thinking more deeply, and demonstrate how your personal project is connected to your own values and purpose.
Make Space/Energize/Set
Design Thinking Framework
Values & Priorities (Empathy)
How might I…? (Define)
Ideate
Homework: Select + Coaching Available
*Session agendas are subject to change
It’s not that hard to become a motivated person who completes projects if you have the right tools. OK...it's a little hard, but we’re going to show you how to make it waayyy easier. With the right tools, it will feel like a breeze.
Side projects are an important part of adding purpose in our lives. Work/school is one sphere of activity that gives our lives meaning. Relationships are a second. We use “side projects” as a third sphere to foster the pieces of our identity that are not otherwise given attention, and to give our lives purpose. They’re important–so we show ourselves love and respect by committing time to them.
The best and most lasting solutions to any human problem are human-centered. So, we use the Design Thinking process to tackle them, starting by understanding our own values and barriers.
Prototyping will make a project better. By creating these small experiments or models of our projects, we improve because we fail early and bias toward action.
Jumpstart Your Personal Project Student, 2020
Jumpstart Your Personal Project Student, 2020
Teaching Leadership and Self Master
App Design for Immigrant Parents
DC Design created the Build blocks of parenting App to connect Latino & other immigrant communities to the supportive and educational resources needed to raise great kids in the US.
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What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a methodology and set of mindsets for solving complex problems, such as how to build habits to complete an important project.
In Design Thinking, we start by establishing a foundation–called Empathy–before solving any problem. When we base our solutions on human needs, values, and priorities, they last longer. Design Thinking also utilizes the technique of Prototyping, which means creating fast, cheap models of your project in order to fail early and bias toward action.
There’s much more to it, and by the end of the course, you’ll understand how to use Design Thinking to make tangible headway on your project!
How much Design Thinking do I need to know?
Any level of experience is fine, including zero! This course is good for anyone who is new to Design Thinking or who wants a refresher in the foundational Design Thinking process. It’s also good for anyone who has a grasp of Design Thinking theory, but who has had a hard time applying the process to a real project.
If you already have a deep knowledge of the Design Thinking process and have successfully applied it for years and years, this might not be the right course for you. Instead, you should join the waiting list for our more advanced course -- Design Thinking for Systemic Social Change.
What projects are appropriate for this course?
The goal is for you to master key skills that you can use to make real progress toward your goals, and then transfer those skills into the rest of your life. Any personal project can serve as the vehicle for making that happen! Here are a few examples:
If you don’t know what project you’d like to work on, sign up for our Pre-Course Session: Select Your Project & Deepen Design Thinking. If you don’t like closing doors and don’t know where to focus, this session will help you leverage Design Thinking to select and define the best project to align with your own personal goals and values.
What are the expectations for the course?
I purchased one-on-one coaching session with Libby. How do I use it?
As soon as you purchase one-on-one coaching, you should get a link in your email to schedule your session(s).
What’s your refund policy?
Your satisfaction is really important to us and at DC Design, we stand by whatever we create. Because of that, if you go through the course and find that this content didn’t move you forward, we offer a 100% money back guarantee. We just ask that you send us some images or screenshots of your work that follows the course content to demonstrate you really gave it a try. Once we receive that, we’ll process your refund. We will also provide a full refund up to 30 days before the start of the course if you change your mind. Just send us a request via email.