Lessons – Don’t Make Me Think | Conversations with Coaches | Boxer Media

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Conversations with Coaches | Boxer Media

In this recurring series, Kevin explores some of the brightest ideas and insightful lessons that his guests have shared with him on the podcast, and why they’ve continued to inspire him ever since.

Our team has been reading a book recently called Don’t Make Me Think. Its focus is on “usability” in web and mobile design, but the concepts at play are almost universal.

Coaches know quite a bit about the power of common sense, don’t they? 😉

Here’s one of my favorite bits of the book so far: “If you can make something significantly clearer by making it slightly inconsistent, choose in favor of clarity.”

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Howdy, folks, and welcome to another episode of the lessons series on the conversations with Coach’s podcast. This one was inspired by the book, actually, that our team is reading. I laugh because I love the title; the title of the book is, don’t make me think; it tickles me quite a bit. But let me explain the book. Actually, it was written in the first edition; it was a while ago. And it was a book about something that might not seem related to any of the things I talked about in this podcast or what we talked about on this podcast. Its origin is out of web design principles and how to make something that works as a webpage as an online experience. So the first edition, I forget the exact year, but it goes kind of a ways back, let’s just say it’s a pre-smartphone if that gives you any idea, the before times. And it’s been relatively recently, and I believe in the last like five or six years, maybe more recently, it’s been updated, essentially been updated for the modern web with a heavy focus on mobile usability and web design. Now, if this sounds maybe boring to you, I’m probably making it sound boring because it really, really isn’t. And here’s why. And here’s why I’m sharing it with you today. And I’ll I’m going to share a particular concept from the book that I think you’ll all really vibe with it, you’ll pick up. So the concepts here are really foundational to just how people think and how they move through the world. And that that book title doesn’t make me think is an exhortation that anytime you make someone stop to think about what to do next on a webpage when they’re reading something when they’re consuming a course or they’re on a path of some sort, that obviously there are times the thing is it’s not a mindless exercise. But when you’re on a certain kind of journey, especially online, you don’t want someone to have to stop and think about what they’re supposed to do next. You want their journey to what they’re looking for.

Because when someone’s coming to the web, they’re coming with a question, they’re looking for an answer to something like, what’s the, you know, cheapest pair of shoes that I can get that also will add some very specific to the question. And what you might have, like whether or not like where you might overlap, is that you have the answer. You’re looking for him. So you want them to get to your answer. It’s also the answer they want. I can delve into that probably for hours. But let’s think about our thinking about what people are thinking and feeling about what people are feeling. But that is not this lesson. This lesson is from this book of really core design concepts that really focus on what people are feeling and experiencing as they move through the world. So here’s something that I absolutely love and have been thinking about since I read it relatively. We’ve been going through this book as a team for the last few weeks now. It’s fascinating, great discussions. So let me see, where’s that quote? Okay, so this quote is; I’ll just go ahead and read it out. It’ll make it much, much easier. To quote, If you can make something significantly clearer by making it slightly inconsistent, choose in favor of clarity. Now I’m a big fan of consistency, and I feel like consistency is one of those things that can help people not have to stop and think and get confused or lost on the way to whatever it is they’re looking for. Consistency also just makes people feel comfortable. I think of it as very much related to honesty and integrity. Like when someone comes to you, when someone finds you interacting with you, they can both find what they’re looking for in unexpected ways. But you are always the same, and you are reliable; you are consistent. And you never make someone feel something that they don’t want to feel or aren’t supposed to feel.

And so, I’m a big fan of consistency, which is why I love this quote so much. Because if you can make something clear to someone, if you can, by means of your design by means of your approach by means of your system, your method, your manner of conversation, your marketing, if you can make clarity, that much bigger for someone, you can sacrifice your consistency so that they remember what you’re who you’re trying to serve. And, of course, it’s kind of what made me think of bringing this to you guys because coaches think about this all the time. Who can I serve? And how can I serve them? Who am I serving? And how can I serve them better? You know, there’s such a service orientation in this industry. I love it so much every single day; every time you get to bump up against you’re talking to someone who’s so driven and passionate about giving back and serving, it’s just delightful, but and loving that I love having this quote this might end up on the whiteboard, this might end up there, we’ll see I’m kind of just playing around with it. But yeah, I’m gonna read it again, just so you kind of get it in there. If you can make something significantly clearer by making it slightly inconsistent, choose in favor of clarity. I really like that distinction. That’s just me adding the emphasis there. That emphasis is in the book. The word significantly before clear is italicized. And the word slightly before inconsistent is also italicized. So I’m reading it as it’s written; just so you know, I’m not putting a little extra sauce on the meatball there. So yeah, I just want to share that with you. And obviously, it’s coming from a very specific place that might not really apply to you at all. But again, like so much of coaching, this is just good general wisdom. This is you empathizing and thinking about what someone is looking for. For and how to provide it for them in the best, most impactful way possible.

I dig it. I hope you dig it, and hey, if you ever want to talk about this with me or anything around this kind of concept, I’m loving this book, and again if you want to look it up, the book is called Don’t Make Me Think the author is his last name is Krug, I believe KR ug shouldn’t be too hard to find. I am finding it to be an unexpected treasure trove of just straight-up wisdom as well as real practical application stuff when it comes to being online in 2012, 2022, or probably beyond, so thanks for listening, and I’m gonna have another nugget for you. I think real soon I’m enjoying this series. I hope you are too. Let me know if you like this and if you have anything you want me to like, speak on, or if you want to like, come on for a special like topical episode or something like that. I love exploring the sort of high-level concept stuff just as well as digging into the nitty gritty with you, the nuts and bolts of your coaching practices and everything. So anyway, yeah, reach out; let me know if you’re picking up what I’m putting down and if you’d like to add anything to the fire, I love this, and I will talk to you again real soon.

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