Mode Demo / Workbook

Purpose

OVERVIEW

This workbook is your map for making things that move people.
It’s designed to turn the ideas in Mode Demo into action — to help you find what’s broken, understand why it breaks, and create work that restores order, meaning, and motion.

You’ll move through a simple rhythm:

Assemble Activation
Pattern → Problem → Motivation → Mode → Demo

Each step builds on the last, guiding you from observation to exercises, from ideas to actionable takeaways.

This is not theory.
This is a field guide — a way of seeing and doing.

You’ll learn how to recognize the forces of entropy around you and design against them, how to build with purpose, and how to make work that doesn’t just look good, but does good.

How To Use This Workbook

WHAT YOU'LL GAIN

Clarity.

You’ll begin to see the hidden patterns behind what works — and what doesn’t.

Direction.

You’ll learn to move with purpose, using Modes as your compass.

Confidence.

You’ll have a process to build from intuition, not impulse.

Deliverables.

You’ll finish with a tangible concept or product that demonstrates life in motion — something that matters.

HELPFUL TIPS

Move Slowly.
Each section is meant to be experienced, not rushed. Read it once, then live with it a little.
Notice the world before you write about it.

Document What You See.
Don’t wait for the perfect insight. Write down what stands out — what repeats, what resists, what reveals.
Entropy is always leaving evidence.

Use Real Examples.
The goal is not abstraction but application. Choose projects, environments, or systems you already touch.
Watch how they behave. Then design them forward.

Treat the Questions Like Tools.
Each prompt is here to open a door.
Answer directly, but think deeply. Sometimes the question itself will tell you what’s missing.

Build As You Learn.
The exercises are not academic. They are active.
Each one moves you closer to a living prototype — something that solves a real need and restores motion where there was once friction.

ASSEMBLE | PART 1

Patterns

OBJECTIVE

To learn how to see the world like a designer of life — to notice not just what’s happening, but why.

This part on Patterns, trains your perception. You’ll learn to identify what’s breaking, where it’s breaking, and what that break reveals. Because entropy leaves fingerprints, and the creative who learns to recognize them gains an extraordinary advantage: foresight.

OVERVIEW

You can’t fix what you can’t see.
Before you can create anything meaningful, you must first learn to observe the invisible systems around you — how they rise, how they fail, and how people behave within them.

Entropy, the slow unraveling of order, always leaves a trace. Sometimes it’s a literal scuff — a worn step, a cracked screen, a faded sign. Sometimes it’s emotional — frustration in a customer’s voice, tension in a team, exhaustion in yourself. Whatever form it takes, it’s a signal that something’s separating from what it needs.

That separation is your opportunity.
Each pattern of decay you notice becomes a potential direction for creation. That’s why you must become fluent in patterns. Noticing them is more than awareness — it’s the first act of leadership. When you can see the entropy that others overlook, you can predict outcomes, prevent decay, and design new forms of order. That’s the power of pattern recognition.

“Every creative act begins with noticing. The difference between those who make meaning and those who merely make things is attention.”

The work ahead is not about becoming something new.
It’s about remembering what you already are — a designer of systems, a builder of coherence, a force against decay.

So take a breath.
Grab your pen.

And let’s start tracing the pattern.

SECTION 1

Observation

Before you can fix anything, you must first learn to see what’s breaking.

Use the prompts below to collect what you notice — the patterns, the irritations, the quiet collapses hiding in plain sight.

Observation is the foundation of every great creative act. It’s how you learn to read the world before trying to rewrite it. The scuff, the crack, the friction point — these are clues. They tell you where entropy has entered the system.

Your job here isn’t to fix it yet — it’s simply to see it clearly.
Slow down. Watch what repeats. Notice how people respond when things fail to work as intended. Study the emotions that rise — irritation, fatigue, confusion — and record them like a detective tracing a trail.

Every scuff tells a story. The better you understand that story, the better you’ll know what to make next.

Every product, every relationship, every process wears down where friction lives.
That’s the scuff — the point where reality and need no longer align.
Your task is to look for the effect before the cause.

Start small. Notice what’s off.

Where do people get irritated? Where do things slow down or fall apart?
When you can’t find a problem, listen for frustration — that’s where it hides.

Ask yourself:

What’s rubbing wrong here?

Who’s frustrated, and why?

Is the friction physical (a product that fails), emotional (a relationship that strains), or systemic (a process that wastes time)?

Document everything. Patterns emerge through repetition.
Patterns don’t live in isolation — they live in environment.
Ask: Where and when does the scuff appear?

Is it at work? In traffic? Late at night? During transitions or deadlines?

Entropy loves fatigue and repetition. Look for it where people are stretched thin, where energy dips, or where systems rely on memory instead of structure.

The more specific you get, the clearer the map becomes.
Not every problem deserves your time — only the ones that matter.
To know if you’ve found something worth solving, assess its scale.

Ask:

Is this isolated or widespread?

Do others experience it too?

How visible is it?

What’s the emotional weight — mild annoyance or deep frustration?

The larger and more frequent the pain, the greater the opportunity.
That’s where innovation hides — in the gap between how things are and how people wish they could be.
Now trace the thread backward. What’s the why behind the wear?
Is it physical decay, like a material that weakens over time?
Or emotional decay, like a trust that erodes without communication?
Is it environmental — caused by context — or internal, driven by mindset?

Entropy rarely announces itself; it hides behind convenience.
To find it, you must think like an investigator: calm, curious, and unwilling to look away.

Ask:

What force is pulling this apart?

When did the separation begin?

What unmet need sits beneath this symptom?

When you answer these, you’ve not only spotted a pattern — you’ve revealed its architecture.

SECTION 2

Examples

Observe the field. Find one scuff.

It could be in a product, a place, or a person’s experience. Go there — in person if you can. Watch it unfold. Listen longer than feels natural. Document without trying to fix.

The scuff was this one flavor of pop was out of order. The other scuff was that messaging.

Don't fix, just find.

The scuff was that it caused people to walk either under falling ice or that it moved them over to a part of the sidewalk that had a trip.

Don't fix, just find.

The scuff is the fur on this bear was fading from the sun on just it's front side.

Don't fix, just find.

SECTION 3

Exercise

Observe the field. Find one scuff.

It could be in a product, a place, or a person’s experience. Go there — in person if you can. Watch it unfold. Listen longer than feels natural.

Document without trying to fix.

Draw it out if you can — sketch the environment, mark the moments, label the cause and effect.

By the end, you should be able to answer one clear question: Where is entropy doing its work — and what proof do you have of it?

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS

Ask yourself:

What repeats?

What changes?

Who’s affected?

What disappears when it happens?

ASSEMBLE | PART 2

Problems

OBJECTIVE

To identify the primary and secondary problems — the needs that are being threatened or left unmet — so you can design solutions that matter.

OVERVIEW

Every product, every brand, every creative act begins with a problem.
If you can’t find the problem, you can’t find the purpose.

This section is about precision — learning to see clearly what others only sense vaguely. Because if you don’t understand the problem, you’ll spend months, even years, crafting a beautiful solution to something that never truly existed.

Every person, everywhere, has needs. When those needs are unmet, tension arises — frustration, confusion, fear, desire. This tension is the birthplace of opportunity. It’s where your creativity is meant to work.

Your job is not to invent problems, but to notice them. To tune your creative instincts toward empathy. To become hypersensitive to the small fractures in daily life that others overlook. Because those small fractures, left unattended, become entire industries.

You’re not here to chase ideas. You’re here to study needs.

SECTION 1

Institutional Knowledge

ESTABLISHING BASE KNOWLEDGE

Every problem has a shape — a rhythm. Learn to recognize the type of pattern you’re observing.

TYPES OF PROBLEMS

Aspirin
Problems that hurt. These are the painkillers — the bleeding cuts of everyday life. People will pay quickly to make the pain stop. Broken systems, inefficiencies, friction. Find the pain, and you’ll find the fastest path to value.

Vitamin
Problems that prevent future pain. Harder to sell, slower to scale. Vitamins make people better, not just better off. They require education and trust. But if you can prove their long-term worth, they create loyalty that lasts.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

Vacuums
When one solution creates another absence.
Starbucks gave us community on the go — but in doing so, it created a hunger for slower, more personal rituals.
Every big fix leaves small gaps behind. Those gaps are where new ideas are born.

Cyclical
Problems that return in new forms. Trends rise and fall like tides — tight jeans to baggy, bold to minimal, analog to digital and back again. These cycles show us that human needs don’t disappear; they just shift their style.

White Space
Blind spots in a crowded industry. When everyone’s solving the same problem, look sideways. Louis Vuitton went from physical function to emotional elevation — from luggage to luxury. They saw that esteem was the real unmet need.

Bar Defense
Problems people won’t admit they have. The shoes we buy for “support” are often for status. The new phone “for work” is really for validation. When a need threatens self-image, people protect it with logic. Learn to hear what they mean, not what they say.

SECTION 2

Observation

Now, move from observation to diagnosis.
You’ve seen the scuff — now you’re here to understand what caused it.

Every question below is a tool for uncovering what’s really going on beneath the surface.
Ask, don’t assume. Record, don’t rush. Your job here isn’t to be clever — it’s to be clear.

This is where creativity meets empathy and starts to resemble science.

Take your time. Slow down enough to notice the pattern forming in real time.

The best problem-finders don’t stare harder; they look longer. They listen until the truth gets tired of hiding.

When you do this well, something begins to happen — the noise of assumption quiets, and what’s left is signal. You start to see not just what people do, but why. You start to hear the quiet hum of unmet needs beneath every complaint, every inefficiency, every “I wish there was a better way.”

Think of this as the inventory before innovation. You’re collecting data, yes, but you’re also collecting meaning.

Ask questions like a detective.
Observe like a designer.
Empathize like a friend.

Because behind every great company, product, or piece of art is someone who cared enough to look twice.

Start here. Every problem begins with a threatened need — something essential that’s being strained, stressed, or broken. Before designing a solution, name the need clearly and trace where it begins.

What need is being threatened?
Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?
Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?
Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?
How visible is it? How repeatable?

What need is being threatened?

Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?

Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?

Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?

How visible is it? How repeatable?
Next, locate the source. Problems live either outside of us or within us — in our environment or in our emotions. Knowing where the disruption begins will help you understand how to meet it.

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?
What’s happening around them when it occurs?
Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?
Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?

What’s happening around them when it occurs?

Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?

Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?
Identify the person behind the pattern. Every problem has an audience — a tribe of people sharing the same tension. Finding them is how you begin to define your market, your message, and your meaning.

Who feels this most acutely?
Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?
Do they gather, talk, or post about it?
Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?
What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.

Who feels this most acutely?

Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?

Do they gather, talk, or post about it?

Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?

What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.
Most problems don’t stand alone — they’re connected. Once you solve one, another often emerges behind it. Understanding these layers turns a single solution into a system that keeps people moving forward.

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?
What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?
Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?

What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?

Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

SECTION 3

Exercise

Empathy Exercise
Go where the problem lives.
Observe the moment of friction. Watch someone fail, struggle, or compensate. Talk to them. Listen to what they wish worked better. If possible, live through the same experience yourself. Feel the scuff firsthand. Write down what it feels like, not just what it is. Emotion is data.

Competitive Observation
Study how other industries solve similar problems.
A door that closes softly, a coffee lid that doesn’t spill, a song that calms anxiety — all are responses to human entropy.
Ask: What can I learn from them? How can I apply their wisdom to a different context?

OBSERVE THE FIELD

Clarity. You’ll begin to see the hidden patterns behind what works — and what doesn’t.
Direction. You’ll learn to move with purpose, using Modes as your compass.
Confidence. You’ll have a process to build from intuition, not impulse.
Proof. You’ll finish with a tangible concept or product that demonstrates life in motion — something that matters.

ASSEMBE | PART 3

Motivation

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

OVERVIEW

Once you’ve identified the pattern and named the problem, the next step is to look forward.
Patterns aren’t just reflections of the past; they’re previews of the future.

The same way you can sense a storm before it hits, you can learn to feel when a need is nearing its breaking point — or when a moment of restoration is about to unfold. This is the art of prediction.

Just as unmet needs lead to frustration, resentment, or collapse, met needs lead to satisfaction, confidence, and peace. The direction may differ, but the mechanism is the same: cause and effect.

When you understand the pattern, you can see the next scene before it happens. You can prepare for it — or better yet, design it.

Think of this as your creative radar. It allows you to anticipate emotional weather before others feel the rain.

SECTION 2

Observation

Now step into the role of designer and forecaster — where intuition becomes intelligence and instinct sharpens into direction. You’ve seen the pattern and named the problem; now you must ask what happens next.

Every pattern carries momentum. If nothing changes, it continues — deepening the groove, repeating the same results. That’s entropy at work. Your task is to interrupt it, to imagine both possible futures: the one that unfolds by default, and the one you create by design.

Stand at that crossroads and look both ways. In one direction lies the slow unraveling of inaction; in the other, the renewal sparked by your intervention. Picture each clearly — the consequences if the pattern holds, and the possibilities if it breaks.

This is the practice of foresight: seeing the future before it arrives, then choosing which version to make real.

Every pattern left unaddressed grows. Entropy compounds.
Ask yourself: what will happen if the problem continues?
If the scuff is ignored, does it deepen into a crack? Does frustration turn to fatigue, or disinterest to despair?

What will happen if the problem continues?

How might it spread to others — a ripple effect of neglect or inefficiency?

What does the decay look like over time — a slow fade or a sudden break?

What opportunities are lost if nothing changes?

Visualize the entropy. Write it down. Make it real enough to care about.
Now, imagine the opposite.

What happens when the cycle is broken — when you solve the problem?

What does it look like when the need is finally met, the pattern reversed, the motion restored?

What will happen if you break the cycle?

What will happen if you solve the problem?

How will others feel if the problem disappears from their day?

What would they gain — time, confidence, freedom, joy?

What will others think when they see it solved?

What second-order effects will emerge — what new possibilities become available because of this change?

When you think in second-order effects, you’re no longer solving symptoms — you’re reshaping systems.
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

Vision

Let this vision become fuel. Use what you see as motivation to move. You’re not predicting fate — you’re preparing to change it. Every future you imagine is a call to design differently, to act sooner, to care more deeply. The clearer you see what could happen, the stronger your reason becomes to create what should.

SECTION 3

Exercise

Designing the consequences.
It’s not magic; it’s awareness applied forward.

When you can predict both entropy and renewal — when you can see the consequence of inaction as clearly as the reward of progress — you begin to understand your true creative power.

Prediction is where empathy becomes design.

Because creativity isn’t just about making something new.
It’s about seeing what will happen next — and choosing, deliberately, to make it better.

OBSERVE THE FIELD

Play Out Both Futures
Draw two short stories — one where the problem continues, one where it’s solved.
Write them as simple cause-and-effect chains:
If this keeps happening → this will follow → this is the result.
Then reverse it:
If this is solved → this will change → this is what improves.
Day in the Life
Imagine a single day in the life of your audience, before and after your solution exists.
How would your product or creation change their morning? Their commute? Their relationships? Their mood at night?
When you can picture this clearly, you’re not just predicting outcomes — you’re designing better lives.
Emotional Forecasting
Close your eyes and feel it: the relief of a solved problem.
That’s what you’re building toward.
Your work is not just the object — it’s the feeling it restores.

ACTIVATION | PART 4

Modes

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

OVERVIEW

Once you’ve identified the pattern and named the problem, the next step is to look forward.
Patterns aren’t just reflections of the past; they’re previews of the future.

The same way you can sense a storm before it hits, you can learn to feel when a need is nearing its breaking point — or when a moment of restoration is about to unfold. This is the art of prediction.

Just as unmet needs lead to frustration, resentment, or collapse, met needs lead to satisfaction, confidence, and peace. The direction may differ, but the mechanism is the same: cause and effect.

When you understand the pattern, you can see the next scene before it happens. You can prepare for it — or better yet, design it.

Think of this as your creative radar. It allows you to anticipate emotional weather before others feel the rain.

SECTION | 1

Movements Of Life

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

EXTERNAL MODE

Forward

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

Start here. Every problem begins with a threatened need — something essential that’s being strained, stressed, or broken. Before designing a solution, name the need clearly and trace where it begins.

What need is being threatened?
Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?
Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?
Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?
How visible is it? How repeatable?

What need is being threatened?

Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?

Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?

Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?

How visible is it? How repeatable?
Next, locate the source. Problems live either outside of us or within us — in our environment or in our emotions. Knowing where the disruption begins will help you understand how to meet it.

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?
What’s happening around them when it occurs?
Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?
Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?

What’s happening around them when it occurs?

Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?

Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?
Identify the person behind the pattern. Every problem has an audience — a tribe of people sharing the same tension. Finding them is how you begin to define your market, your message, and your meaning.

Who feels this most acutely?
Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?
Do they gather, talk, or post about it?
Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?
What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.

Who feels this most acutely?

Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?

Do they gather, talk, or post about it?

Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?

What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.
Most problems don’t stand alone — they’re connected. Once you solve one, another often emerges behind it. Understanding these layers turns a single solution into a system that keeps people moving forward.

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?
What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?
Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?

What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?

Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Mode Demo Forward Gray Transparent 2Background.png

EXTERNAL MODE

Backward

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

Start here. Every problem begins with a threatened need — something essential that’s being strained, stressed, or broken. Before designing a solution, name the need clearly and trace where it begins.

What need is being threatened?
Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?
Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?
Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?
How visible is it? How repeatable?

What need is being threatened?

Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?

Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?

Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?

How visible is it? How repeatable?
Next, locate the source. Problems live either outside of us or within us — in our environment or in our emotions. Knowing where the disruption begins will help you understand how to meet it.

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?
What’s happening around them when it occurs?
Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?
Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?

What’s happening around them when it occurs?

Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?

Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?
Identify the person behind the pattern. Every problem has an audience — a tribe of people sharing the same tension. Finding them is how you begin to define your market, your message, and your meaning.

Who feels this most acutely?
Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?
Do they gather, talk, or post about it?
Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?
What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.

Who feels this most acutely?

Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?

Do they gather, talk, or post about it?

Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?

What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.
Most problems don’t stand alone — they’re connected. Once you solve one, another often emerges behind it. Understanding these layers turns a single solution into a system that keeps people moving forward.

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?
What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?
Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?

What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?

Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Mode Demo Backward Gray Transparent 2Background.png

INTERNAL MODE

Toward

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

Start here. Every problem begins with a threatened need — something essential that’s being strained, stressed, or broken. Before designing a solution, name the need clearly and trace where it begins.

What need is being threatened?
Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?
Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?
Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?
How visible is it? How repeatable?

What need is being threatened?

Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?

Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?

Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?

How visible is it? How repeatable?
Next, locate the source. Problems live either outside of us or within us — in our environment or in our emotions. Knowing where the disruption begins will help you understand how to meet it.

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?
What’s happening around them when it occurs?
Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?
Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?

What’s happening around them when it occurs?

Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?

Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?
Identify the person behind the pattern. Every problem has an audience — a tribe of people sharing the same tension. Finding them is how you begin to define your market, your message, and your meaning.

Who feels this most acutely?
Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?
Do they gather, talk, or post about it?
Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?
What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.

Who feels this most acutely?

Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?

Do they gather, talk, or post about it?

Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?

What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.
Most problems don’t stand alone — they’re connected. Once you solve one, another often emerges behind it. Understanding these layers turns a single solution into a system that keeps people moving forward.

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?
What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?
Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?

What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?

Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Mode Demo Toward2 Gray Transparent 2Background.png

INTERNAL MODE

Upward

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

Start here. Every problem begins with a threatened need — something essential that’s being strained, stressed, or broken. Before designing a solution, name the need clearly and trace where it begins.

What need is being threatened?
Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?
Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?
Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?
How visible is it? How repeatable?

What need is being threatened?

Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?

Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?

Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?

How visible is it? How repeatable?
Next, locate the source. Problems live either outside of us or within us — in our environment or in our emotions. Knowing where the disruption begins will help you understand how to meet it.

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?
What’s happening around them when it occurs?
Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?
Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?

What’s happening around them when it occurs?

Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?

Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?
Identify the person behind the pattern. Every problem has an audience — a tribe of people sharing the same tension. Finding them is how you begin to define your market, your message, and your meaning.

Who feels this most acutely?
Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?
Do they gather, talk, or post about it?
Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?
What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.

Who feels this most acutely?

Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?

Do they gather, talk, or post about it?

Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?

What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.
Most problems don’t stand alone — they’re connected. Once you solve one, another often emerges behind it. Understanding these layers turns a single solution into a system that keeps people moving forward.

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?
What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?
Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?

What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?

Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Mode Demo Upward Gray Transparent 2Background.png

INTERNAL MODE

Onward

OBJECTIVE

To predict both the negative and positive outcomes that will arise if the pattern continues — or if it’s broken.
The goal here is foresight: to see where the current trajectory leads, and what might happen if you intervene with intention.

Start here. Every problem begins with a threatened need — something essential that’s being strained, stressed, or broken. Before designing a solution, name the need clearly and trace where it begins.

What need is being threatened?
Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?
Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?
Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?
How visible is it? How repeatable?

What need is being threatened?

Is it poking at a basic need — safety, belonging, esteem, transcendence?

Is the need actually broken, or just under stress?

Does this problem make someone feel like they’re losing control, comfort, or confidence?

How visible is it? How repeatable?
Next, locate the source. Problems live either outside of us or within us — in our environment or in our emotions. Knowing where the disruption begins will help you understand how to meet it.

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?
What’s happening around them when it occurs?
Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?
Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?

Is this problem happening to them (external) or within them (internal)?

What’s happening around them when it occurs?

Are there environmental triggers — clutter, noise, systems, weather, time of day?

Are there internal ones — fatigue, fear, doubt, memory?
Every problem has a rhythm. Some are fleeting; others echo daily. Understanding the half-life of a problem reveals how deeply it’s wired into a person’s routine and how urgent a solution must be.

How often does this problem return?
What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?
Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?
When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?

How often does this problem return?

What’s its half-life? How long before the need reemerges?

Is it temporary, cyclical, or permanent?

When did it first appear — and what happens if it’s ignored?
Identify the person behind the pattern. Every problem has an audience — a tribe of people sharing the same tension. Finding them is how you begin to define your market, your message, and your meaning.

Who feels this most acutely?
Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?
Do they gather, talk, or post about it?
Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?
What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.

Who feels this most acutely?

Are there others like them — a group, a tribe, a shared culture?

Do they gather, talk, or post about it?

Do they share a suffix — -er, -ist, -ian — that identifies their identity through this need?

What do they avoid? What frustrates or scares them? Those are clues to their deeper needs.
Most problems don’t stand alone — they’re connected. Once you solve one, another often emerges behind it. Understanding these layers turns a single solution into a system that keeps people moving forward.

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?
What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?
Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Once the primary need is addressed, what else becomes visible?

What’s next in the chain reaction of unmet needs?

Can solving one unlock another — for example, solving safety to unlock esteem?

Mode Demo Gray Transparent Background.png