Why I Wrote Create Shifts — and Why This Book Found Me Too
I’ve always been drawn to design.
Not graphic design. Not interior design.
But the design of experiences that wake people up.
Long before I called it anything fancy, I was a young teacher watching students come alive—not because I lectured well, but because something I built helped them see themselves differently.
I still remember one of my first class activities: no slides, no speech, just a simple game that made even the quietest students laugh, debate, and finally speak up. That day, I didn’t just see learning happen.
I saw identity shift.
But I didn’t have a name for it yet.
So I spent years searching—studying instructional design, diving deep into learning theory, running workshops that sometimes worked like magic and sometimes flopped without warning. I devoured the best from Thiagi, tinkered with the worst PowerPoints, and experimented with every tool that promised “engagement.”
But something wasn’t sitting right.
In 2011, I delivered a leadership workshop that looked perfect on paper. Everything was there: clear outcomes, strong facilitation plan, even a few games for interaction. But when I looked at the room, I could feel it: people were smiling, nodding, even laughing—but they weren’t shifting.
That night, I sat alone in my hotel room and asked the question that changed everything: “What if I stopped designing learning experiences—and started designing transformation?”
It was a subtle but seismic shift. Because when you start with transformation, you stop focusing on information. You start creating moments people can’t unfeel.
That’s when SXD began. Not as a framework.
But as a quiet rebellion.
In 2020, while the world was on lockdown, I was walking barefoot in our yard, muddy hands planting okra, James Clear and Dan Kennedy in my ears, and something clicked.
We don’t need more content.
We need more moments of clarity.
We need more intentional shifts.
I started sketching new experiences—not as modules, but as movements. Games that didn’t just teach, but test identity. Stories that didn’t just inform, but mirror someone’s silent battle.
Exercises that didn’t give answers, but unlocked decisions.
I called it Shift Experience Design (SXD).
It’s what happens when learning design meets behavioral shift,
when workshops stop being lectures with slides and start becoming labs for identity change.
This book—Create Shifts—isn’t just a guide. It’s a declaration.
A declaration that what we build must move people. That strategy without shift is sterile. That facilitation without felt experience is flat.
Inside, you’ll find tools, frames, scripts, and scenes I’ve tested across hundreds of trainings— but more than that, you’ll find a rhythm. A way. A belief that transformation is not an accident. It’s a design decision.
If you’ve ever felt that your work as a trainer, facilitator, or leader was missing something—if you’ve ever whispered to yourself,
“This should be deeper…” then this book is for you.
You don’t have to entertain. You don’t have to impress. You just have to move someone. One shift at a time.
Let’s begin.
—Jef Menguin