In 👣Write Your Hard Steps Story, I told a story about living by a value.

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We first made eye contact while waiting in line for dinner. A man had cut in line, just in front of us, and she made a little gesture—towards him but intended for me—as if to say "be my guest" to the interloper. I smiled big. I liked her, and decided to maybe make friends. Later, in a dance class, she couldn't keep up with the choreography. I saw her struggling and feeling bad, and wanted to signal my compassion somehow. I was finally able to do this on the way out of class, by mentioning one of my own experiences when I couldn't keep up. At lunch on the third day, I found a quiet spot away from the rest of the group. She saw me across the grass and pointed to ask if she could come join me. I nodded. After eating our food for a bit she sighed before proceeding. I could tell she was going to share something hard, and I put my food down.

In this exercise, we'll take a story like that, and make a "step sketch" a small social design in our intended area, which focuses on one hard step.

My turn

I'll focus my step sketch on one hard step. This one (taken from the list I made in 👣Write Your Hard Steps Story):

signal my compassion → mentioning one of my own experiences - actions that show compassion

What I want to do is sketch what a "founder dating" event might look like, if it was all about making this one hard step of vulnerability easier for participants.

Your turn

Write up a hard steps story, if you don't already have one handy. Then make a step sketch, focusing on how to make your social design better for one hard step.

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This sequence is continued in Chapter 5. Funnels, Tubes, and Spaces, with 👣Step Sketch #2 — Ritual.