The concept of curation* has been on my mind for at least the past 2 years. Slowly coalescing over time as I have been fixated on the idea of defining and creating specific spaces and experiences around me.
This is a natural extension of the theme of ‘Life by Design’ – creating a life that is tailored to you, that affirms who you are, who you want to be, and what you seek to accomplish.
I have discussed the importance of your environment and why you must design your spaces in ways that support the pursuit of your goals and passions. But beyond just your environment, all things can be brought to align with your intention. The things you do, the clothes you wear, the people you interact with, the places you go. All of this can be curated around your identity.
Like I said, over the past few years, I have been engaging with this practice of curation. I have specifically selected and chosen the things around me. My space is a curation of objects and tools that are chosen and actively sought after to create the vibe I desire to live in. The people I spend time with are curated towards a similar purpose.
We all do this anyway. We all curate our lives in some way. The things we choose to watch, engage with, and use, are things that we are drawn to or exposed to. The question is, do we just allow these things into our lives haphazardly or do we consciously choose them? Because oftentimes, some of the things around us are not things we actively chose. Many times they were just always there, or they were handed to us by factors outside our control.
But being awake to life, to ourselves and our purpose, we have the ability to curate, to create around us the spaces, the people, the things, the practices, the rituals, the habits that serve that purpose, that help us grow, evolve, and be effective.
This is the philosophy of curation – bringing the practice of consciousness, of awareness, and deliberate choice to every part of our lives. To embrace the things we deem important, that give us life, fulfillment, pleasure, joy and curate around them, to invest in them, to share them. It is the path of intentionality – choosing and organising the tools, people, things and spaces that reinforce our values, desires and ambitions.
That is why we curate, as a discipline to life.
And what we choose to omit from our lives is just as important as what we choose to keep.
So what are some key things to keep in mind when curating our lives?
Know yourself, Observe yourself
Self-awareness is the starting point for all of this. It is impossible to curate if you don’t even know who you are. A sense of identity and purpose is absolutely vital. Know yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, interests, and know where you are trying to go, and what you are trying to do.
Take stock of what you have, of how things are right now. What can be improved? What needs to be adjusted, what habits do you need to drop, what rituals do you need to adopt? Look at areas where you can grow and take the necessary steps to implement them.
Curate all areas, Curate for Life
Have a holistic approach to curation and apply the principles across all areas of your life – your diet, your space, your habits, workflows, workspace, clothing, and leisure. Curate and improve every aspect of your life.
Don’t curate and optimise just for productivity and high performance, also curate for fun and pleasure, for relief, for rest and restoration. Curate your life in such a way that each part is balanced appropriately.
Seek Inspiration, Keep Evolving
It is okay to look at what others are doing. Look for inspiration and best practices, ideas that show you how great things can be in those areas of your life. They will help boost your interest and excitement and transform your life.
This is not a stagnant thing, to be done, set, and forgotten. It is a discipline, a philosophy, a way of life. To stay in tune with a sense of self, and to perpetually change and evolve the things around us in ways that stay true to who we are. As we evolve and grow over time, so we curate our lives to reflect that.
Embrace some level of chaos
We live in a world, we exist in community. Everyone has their own ideas of what is important and how lives should be. We have to exist in conversation with that. With the ideas and practice of curation, it is easy to design ourselves into isolated bubbles. But it is important to interact with things outside our curations, to have impact, to learn things we never would have, and to share our unique perspectives.
The power of curation is the ability to create the person you want to be. With it, you can significantly transform your life. It will help you hone your environment and routines in ways that will catalyse your growth and fulfilment. Add it to your toolbox, as you create a life by design.
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Side Note
*In our present-day culture, we understand the concept of curation from the art world, the process of selecting and organising artworks into a cohesive show or exhibition. The etymology of the word is from the Latin word curare, meaning to take care. This idea of caring for something persisted from the Roman times when it meant to take care of the bathhouses. In medieval times, it denoted the priest who cared for souls, by the 18th century it had come to mean looking after artifacts and art collections.
[In a 2014 interview in the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/23/hans-ulrich-obrist-art-curator#:~:text=It’s worth thinking about the,care of the bath houses.)*, Hans Ulrich Obrist posits that as a profession, curation meant at least four things. To preserve and safeguard the heritage of art, to be a selector of new work, to connect to art history, and to display or arrange the work.*
If I were to extrapolate those 4 key pillars to the idea of curating for life, I would say it means – to preserve what already works, to seek new ideas and practices, to connect to a deep sense of self/identity, and to be organised and deliberate in how we live.
