Prioritize and actively cultivate curiosity, as it is the driving factor for innovation, leading to imagination, creativity, and ultimately making you smarter and more visionary.
Aim to be the best at what you do; if you’re not reaching the very top, consider pivoting to a different direction in life where you can excel, to avoid getting stuck in a rut or dead end.
Cultivate a mindset of never being satisfied unless you are at the very top or putting out your absolute best performance, as this trains you for continuous excellence throughout life.
Recognize that achieving top performance in any field is largely a mind game, where mental preparation and approach contribute the crucial extra 1-10% beyond talent, making it essential for ultimate success.
Dedicate yourself 100% to what you love, eliminating distractions, as this passion will naturally lead to greater effort, energy, and dedication, increasing your chances of excelling.
Be open to external perspectives about your performance and potential, as others can often see the truth about your limits or areas for improvement that you might not recognize yourself, preventing self-deception.
View challenging processes as a necessary logistical path to your ultimate goal, adopting a ‘whatever it takes’ mindset to overcome obstacles and achieve what you deeply desire.
Actively connect seemingly unrelated bits of knowledge to spark new ideas and enhance creativity, leading to more innovative solutions.
Seek inspiration and solutions from nature through biomimicry, as nature has already figured out many efficient and enduring designs that can be applied to various products.
Before starting any creative or design project, conduct thorough research and begin by envisioning the desired end result, then allow your subconscious and practiced skills to guide the execution.
In creative fields like design, prioritize the human touch and avoid relying on computers for initial ideation and concept generation, as human emotion and intuition are crucial for creating sensual and attractive products.
Cultivate your gut instinct as a reliable guide for decision-making, but only after accumulating significant experience, as relying on it too early in your career can be a mistake.
Combine analytical, technical, precise, and detail-oriented thinking with an appreciation for artistic value and creativity, as this blend can shape a comprehensive way of seeing and approaching things.
Create teams with people from diverse backgrounds and varied interests, even if they don’t have much in common, to generate a powerful force of innovation through the bouncing and combining of different ideas.
Actively resist organizational pressures that encourage playing it safe and stifle curiosity, as these tendencies lead to stagnation and hinder the crucial innovation factor.
Recognize that investing in quality, successful design is ultimately less expensive than making mistakes with poor design, as the cost of failure far outweighs the cost of good design.
Focus on creating products that tap into an emotional factor, making people want them even if they don’t strictly need them, as this emotional connection is vital for market success.
Develop a unique design language that makes your brand instantly recognizable, and continuously evolve it with each new product to appear more advanced without losing its core identity.
Through extensive research and practice, develop your skills to a level of mastery where the creative process feels effortless and subconscious, allowing you to enter a ‘groove’ where designs flow naturally.
Increase vehicle efficiency by designing them to be usable spaces for other activities (work, socialization, relaxation) during journeys, rather than solely for driving, especially with the advent of autonomous features.
Envision and design future car interiors as versatile environments for entertainment, socialization, work, or relaxation, allowing for more expressive and interesting interior designs.
Recognize the growing trend, especially among younger generations, to prioritize experiences over owning physical products, and adapt business and design strategies accordingly.
Always consider design as a crucial factor in product development, as it will remain important for desirability, brand identification, and how consumers want to be perceived with a product.
Look beyond current electric vehicle trends and anticipate future propulsion technologies like hydrogen and potentially atomic power, planning for the long-term shifts in energy sources for mobility.
When developing autonomous systems, prioritize addressing the ethical and moral dilemmas of critical decision-making, as machines must be able to handle dangerous situations in a morally correct way, which is currently a significant challenge.
Challenge conventional aircraft design by looking to nature, particularly underwater organisms, for inspiration on more efficient shapes and forms, rather than relying solely on traditional aerodynamic principles.
Subscribe to the free weekly ‘Brain Food’ newsletter from Farnham Street (fs.blog) to receive curated mind-expanding books, articles, and resources, allowing you to spend less time searching and more time learning.