Principles of nature to apply to your work

Seven Principles of Nature and Why You Should Care

We all struggle sometimes, especially when attempting to balance all the demands of making a living with trying to live a meaningful and healthy life.

But what if we had some basic principles we could apply in countless ways, and we received reminders of those principles whenever we stepped outside? Nature has managed to balance its responsibilities to life on this planet for millennia. Maybe we could learn something from it?

Below is a very shallow dip into applying these concepts to your work life. Later I'll explore each concept with much more depth and nuance, but let's look at the easy-peezy-lemon-squeezy version first:

Principle 1: Nature Runs on Sunlight

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, as I do, you are probably more aware than many of the need for intentionally pursuing the sun. Rain is a reality here, so we are more driven to step into the sunlight when it appears. People need sunlight, not just for that elusive but oh-so-needed Vitamin D, but the pursuit of sunlight represents so much for the human race: Stepping outside for fresh air and a fresh perspective, accessing free warmth and light, and taking a break from our toil to pause and check out the sky and question our life choices. Not only that, but all the food we eat to function each day is essentially built (initially) from the sun. We run on food, so we essentially run on the sun.

Take a cue from the sun's impact on the world for your work-life: Step outside, eat some plants, and share your warmth and light with others.

Principle 2: Nature Uses Only the Energy It Needs

If you're running your own business, you are probably already familiar with this idea. You don't spend extra energy or resources on things you don't need, or you'll find yourself exhausted and broke. Enough said.

Principle 3: Nature Fits Form to Function

I love this principle, and it is very applicable to the work I do in UX design. If you've ever seen a completely implausible plant or animal and just thought "WHY?!" it is usually this principle that is in play. Let's consider the arresting Aye-aye for a moment: It's the world's biggest nocturnal primate, and the only nocturnal lemur. Huge eyes, huge ears, perpetually growing teeth, and exceptionally long fingers, including a bafflingly thin middle finger.

Okay, huge eyes and ears: great for seeing and hearing in the dark. Makes sense. But what is going on with that finger?

Turns out, that one finger is fitting its form to its function and then some. These little guys get food using percussive foraging: essentially, it taps on trees to find grubs (fave food), then uses those ever-growing and forward-slanting teeth to create a hole, into which it inserts its long, skinny finger to snag the grubs. Bon appétit! It is an expert in this one thing that allows it to feed itself and survive.

Similarly, to feed myself, I work in UX Design & Research, and apply this principle when determining the best design to apply to achieve the goal in any situation. Most basic example: If I'm designing a form, and a long answer is needed, the form field needs to be large enough to contain the info, and to give the audience a clue of what's expected for the depth of their answer. If only a one word answer is needed, a small field will suffice. Now consider the simplicity of this example, then consider how pervasive this principle is to the work you do. It's EVERYWHERE.

Principle 4: Nature Recycles Everything

Soil provides nutrition for the plants, plants provide nutrition to the animals, animals die and provide nutrition to the soil. Repeat.

Looking to make your work process more efficient? Find the things that work, and recycle bits of them to make new things. Don't waste time and energy creating basic forms, designs, systems, or structures from scratch. Create a solid template, and then use your energy to iterate on it—focusing on the creative bits that need to be different and specific to that particular project. Those alterations will then lead to yet more raw materials you can recycle into your next project.

Principle 5: Nature Rewards Cooperation

One lion isn't going to take down a water buffalo on its own; it needs other members of the pride to participate: some are watching the cubs, others are helping to herd the prey or keeping other predators at bay, and still others will provide backup in the actual take-down. Meanwhile, the water buffalo are doing their own cooperative work to sound the alarm and protect each other by gathering in large groups, often with other species, like monkeys, participating to improve the effectiveness of the alerts.

Similarly, recognizing the huge store of skills and experience your coworkers bring to any given project will help you all integrate your best into creating something spectacular, far beyond what any of you could have achieved alone. If you're stalling out on something (not that you need to wait until this point), reach out. Someone else probably has skills or insights that could help move the project forward.

Principle 6: Nature Banks on Diversity

Humans have sadly struggled with this one for a while. But taking a look at the devastation caused in any monoculture when disease or difficult circumstances hit should remind us all of the fragility of losing diversity.

Incorporate as many perspectives as you can. You will always learn something new. You do not have all the answers. No one person does. Celebrate this fact as often as possible.

Principle 7: Nature Demands Local Expertise

Life is unpredictable. But someone familiar with a particular area is also familiar with the peculiarities and unique strengths of that area and its resources. Take advantage of this hard-earned knowledge! It is the difference between leaning on theory and applying real-life experience. Both have their advantages, but leaning on sound theories while ignoring local expertise can lead to costly mistakes.

In my work, this is the beauty of stakeholder interviews. You are able to gather insights from the folks who work directly with the systems you're designing, or who will work with a new system you create. They have the most direct and intimate knowledge of the goals they're trying to achieve, and can tell you what's working and what isn't in their current system (if they have one). Without this, you are using your imagination, and research that may not be entirely relevant, to try to build something, which can lead to gaps in understanding, and therefore gaps in the final product. And like an unintended Rube Goldberg machine, those gaps or misinterpretations can start a chain of drastic repercussions.

For More Inspiration

There are some incredible organizations helping to spread knowledge regarding biomimicry. Two I can highly recommend:

• Biomimicry Institute

• Learn Biomimicry

Check them out, and let me know if there are others I should add to my list.