Using the Empathy Map to practice self-awareness
The Empathy Map is a visual tool to understand and visualise what to know about a person in 4 quadrants (Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels).
Originally created by Dave Gray, the Empathy Map has gained popularity in the UX (User Experience) and Agile communities as a collaborative tool for teams to understand users and prioritise their needs.
By using empathy to understand and share feelings of others, it is also possible to use this tool on yourself to practice self-awareness. In short, the Empathy Map is also a way for you to better understand yourself.
How to use the Empathy Map
Empathy maps provide a glance into you as a whole and the 4 quadrants (Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels) are not meant to be chronological or sequential.
Says
The Says quadrant should contain what you say out loud to situations or the people around you. Write down significant statements you have said.
Thinks
The Thinks quadrant should contain what you’re thinking throughout your situation. What are your motivations, goals, needs and desires? What does are your beliefs and perceptions?
According to a Nielsen Norman Group article, it is possible to have the same content in both Says and Thinks quadrants. There’s also a possibility of them being not the same, which means you practice awareness of what you might be thinking, but you’re not able or willing to say.
This is an opportunity for you to understand why might there be things you’re not willing to say or communicate to others.
Does
The Does quadrant should contain the actions that you take. What do you observe yourself physically doing? What are the steps or actions that you take in your situation?
Feels
The Feels quadrant contains your emotional state. Examples could be Happy, Angry, Sad, Afraid, Worried, Confused, Impatient or Excited. This is also the time to explore the context of what could give you or trigger the emotional state.
Managing your Empathy Map
Humans — that includes you can be complex. You may notice juxtapositions, inconsistencies and contrasting words, thoughts, actions and emotions coming from your situation. It’s your opportunity for you to understand the root cause of your conflicts and explore solutions to resolve them.
Some of the items in the quadrants could also be overlap with each other or could be unclear. There’s no need for you to be overly concerned about putting items in the “right” quadrant. It’s even more important that you’re able to fill out the different quadrants to gain better awareness of yourself.
Try out some Tools and Frameworks I’ve worked on
GdApp
GdApp is a mobile app for you to input and track your progress and habits, with the objective to gain the analytical insights and visible awareness to change and improve yourself.
Lite Toolkit
Lite Toolkit is for you to use self-improvement and productivity tools like the Wheel of Life, Kanban Board and Retrospective Board without signing up, giving away emails or logging in.
Explore Lite Toolkit’s tools here.
Lite Agile
Lite Agile is a framework I have created for the purpose of being light and simple for individuals to adopt the Agile mindset and adapt to change.
You can read the Lite Agile Guide I have written here.
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