Sara Featherston: UX, Getting Unstuck, and Adopting a People-first Approach
How to reach and connect with more people.
Who?
Sara is a freelance UX Strategist, Researcher, Content Creator, and Workshop Facilitator based in Barcelona, Spain. Originally from the United States, she majored in Biology and Chemistry for the challenge but is a “lover of the written word.” She is CEO of The Spot, which brings people together to design and innovate better solutions using design thinking workshops and storytelling.
Why?
Sara is a bottomless well of knowledge and insight, a lover of hosting grand Michelin Star dinners in her cozy apartment for her friends, and a flash mob salsa dancer. She’s someone who always goes the extra mile and is a firm believer in
“you get what you create in life.”
In the interview below, we’ll see how Sara circumvents defensiveness, cultivates thriving internal work cultures, and brings to light a few questions that can Nudge us all in the right direction.
🧱 The Obstacle is the Way
When you’re a kid, it’s rare to know exactly what you want to do with your life. It’s common to hear advice like, “you should play to your strengths.” I remember hearing this advice many times, and it always felt like something was missing. There’s also a lot of pressure, so we choose what interests us and see where it takes us. For Sara, what interests her is the challenge. Even from a young age, she learned to love the struggle of a good challenge. This led her to study Biology and Chemistry in college, a notoriously difficult subject. Travel and live in China, and eventually land in Barcelona.
The first time I stumbled across the notion of meeting challenges head-on was in Ryan Holiday’s book The Obstacle is the Way.
The idea is simple, meet your challenges head-on, and you just might be surprised by the results.
In many ways, life is a struggle, and Sara has embraced the idea to its fullest, and it’s led to some incredible experiences and lessons for a girl from the Kansas plains.
Q: What can you do to turn challenges into opportunities?
🧐 Take a Genuine Interest in Others
It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you do.
The bottom line is that at some point, you’re going to have to work with others. So the question is, how do you work with people who are very different from yourself?
“I think when you have a sincere interest in others, their guard comes down, including your own, and you’re able to find something that unites you both. I think that’s a beautiful place, when nobody has their guard up, and everybody can be their true selves.”
Remember in Clyde’s interview how we talked about how defensiveness is actually counterproductive? Perhaps if we focus less on defensiveness and more on having an interest in others, we can circumvent defensiveness all together.
Hear more about how Sara’s teaching background helped contribute to her interest in others!
🌄 Get an Outside Perspective
Sara leads workshops for startup founder that not only help them lay out their vision, but it also works as a team-building exercise. She takes them out of their daily grind, puts them in a new environment, and facilitates brainstorming as a collective unit.
“When you bring different profiles to the decision-making table, magic happens. That’s why I love working with startups; they’re passionate about what they do and realize early on that an outsider’s perspective is the best remedy for tunnel vision.”
Tunnel vision is a common feeling when you’re stuck. In fact, this is like getting stuck without even knowing it! So if you’re feeling like this, then
seek an outside perspective from someone you trust,
this will help widen the scope of the problem and challenge the biases you’ve set for yourself or your team.
Q: What are some tips and tricks that you use to get unstuck?
🤔 You are what you… think?
Well, not entirely. We’re actually so much more than our thoughts. We are also energy, and the quality of our thoughts can affect the power and frequency of our energy. I asked Sara about one of her Instagram posts, which opened the door to talking about how we’re all just Star Dust, intermingling to create this wonderful and vast world of truth, love, experience, and meaning.
Sara told me later that when she wrote this post, she was having a tough time. This post intended to remind herself and her followers that despite what you’re going through at this moment, you exist,
you’re special, and there are people who love you.
It’s so easy to forget these things and get caught up in our daily problems, and every now and then, we need a reminder that you’re on the right track.
Tip: Slow down, listen to yourself, reflect, and then take action!
☝️ Here are your questions for the week:
- What insights can you draw from the language of your thoughts or speech and its impact on your emotions?
- How might your life change if you took a genuine interest in the people around you?
- How might a change of scenery impact your ability to do creative work?
I hope you found something interesting to take away from this newsletter and feel motivated to apply it to your own life. I’d love to hear your feedback! Also, don’t forget to check out the interview for more interesting insights from my conversation with Sara.
Love,
Emiliano
The Weekly Nudge, and thank you for the share!
