HOW TO GET (AND STAY) INSPIRED

Ayse Birsel, co-founder of the creative studio Birsel + Seck, has designed everything from office spaces to kitchen accessories. Now, she’s applying the creative process she developed, Deconstruction: Reconstruction, to everyday life with her book

Design the Life You Love. Here, she reveals how inspiration is the key to designing the life you want.

WHY INSPIRATION MATTERS “We have so many preconceptions about how things are supposed to be, and it is really hard to break those preconceptions and imagine new ways of doing things. Deconstruction, my first step, helps me see the pieces instead of the whole, without the links that form my preconceptions. Inspiration allows me to see, in a totally different context, glimpses of my potential solution.”

HOW TO FIND INSPIRATION “List the qualities of people who have inspired you and then think of them as your values. Now use these values to think creatively about your life. Many things change, but our values—things like having grit or the ability to rise from the ashes like a phoenix or being soft-spoken but determined—are what make us who we are. And having a life that is consistent with who we are is a life well designed.”

A FOUR-STEP PROCESS TO DESIGNING YOUR LIFE

1. DECONSTRUCTION “List the people, places and projects in your life that you love. What are the things you want to avoid?” 2. POINT OF VIEW “In order to think about your life differently, pick a metaphor for your life today and then choose one for your life tomorrow.” 3. RECONSTRUCTION “Decide what you want to have in your life going forward. To help you make choices, imagine you can only have three things. What would you choose?” 4. EXPRESSION “Write yourself a letter about the life you would love to have. You can use everything you’ve noted in the three previous stages, including the things you want to focus on, to express your vision.”