Different with Design

There's a scientist who studied Olympic swimmers—he studied them very much in depth, and he studied their records of progress, because they came from the ranks. But of course, by the time they're Olympic swimmers, they're way exceptional.

As Weick and Browning note, "Olympic swimmers modify what they do, and do not simply do more of it."

They modify what they do, and they do not simply do more of it.

Now, I'm going to create what I perceive and you might perceive as a very simple example, but it will illustrate. Let's say that they've been swimming 100 laps a day, and they want to get better—they want to improve, of course.

Well, instead of swimming 110 laps, which would be a 10% increase, perhaps they should do something else. Perhaps in those 100 laps, they're doing everything they need to do for that aspect of their sport. Perhaps they incorporate push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups in their exercise regime. That way, they're doing something different.

So ask yourself, too, as you're working toward achieving your goals, whatever they are—what can you do that is not doing more of, but is doing different?

Do something different—different with design.