Keeping my mouth shut is difficult for me. Which is why spending the day observing a sales training session in another language (Telugu) was a great learning experience. People who lose the ability to perceive with one of their senses develop heightened capabilities in other senses to accommodate (Or so I, er, hear). This happened to me, in a way, yesterday. Because I couldn’t understand the language, my (limited) cognition engine could focus on other attributes of human interaction: Gestures, eye contact, tone, touch, smiles, laughter.
I have no idea what anyone said yesterday, but I know who spoke the most, who sat closest to the trainer, who commanded the attention of the room, what parts of the training were interesting to the audience and so on. If you have the chance to experience something routine minus one of your ordinary senses, take it. You might have an extraordinary experience.
Tags: design research
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