Maybe it sounds a bit odd. Can you choose your future? Do I have to use a Fortune teller? Or is it connected to some kind of alchemy? My answer to the first question is , yes, I can choose my future. To the other two my answer is no.
If you are curios let us see if I can give you some more clarity to the sentence in the headline.
’For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today'
African proverb
Why bother about the future? It is something that will occur later and will have little impact on my, or ours, life right now. I do not have the time to vaste on the blurry future. This might be a description of a common thinking today. All too common, but a dangerous one to follow.
Future will have an impact on your life, and in our rapidly changing world it might have a great impact if you are not prepared. Moving from not to be prepared to actually have clarified your possible futures, sets you in a completely different situation. Create the possibility to choose your preferred future seems even better. I have these options of future and with all my heart I feel this possible future the one that resonates best. What do I need to do to get there?
This is a completely different approach to just do nothing, but it will take some effort from you. It will not come for free, even if there are forces that will come to your help once you have traced your path.
There is a good helper in the process in the form of the law of attraction. The laws of attraction has at least three parts, or it consist of three, or more, laws if you like that better. The parts are, ”Like attracts like”, ”Nature abhors a vacuum” and ”The present is Always perfect”. The idea is that a positive view of your situation, regardless how bad, and a positive image of the future, will bring positive energy to you. What we think about and believe in, we also tend to put it into action. The law is in action regardless if your thoughts are positive or negative. That is what’s behind ”Like attracts like”.
The work to find out your possible futures starts with knowing yourself in a deeper and more profound way than you are used to. Really get to know yourself, asking other, honest persons, to give you feedback on your behavior and your expressed values, and how you live by them. Take time to really figure out what your real interests are. Find out which your most important qualifications are, as well as finding out which your really important social qualifications are.
Reflect on them, find out if you actually are living according to them. Or do you have a working and personal life that differs from what really is closest to your heart? If you are fortunate to have a complete match , lucky you. You only have to look into the future to find out if there are risks that could overturn your present situation. You can find opportunities along the path you have. It might look easy, but it will require you to take a look on the area you are working within to see if there are adaptions you need to conduct. A significant task that requires awareness and reflection.
If the match is poor, or even missing, there will be some more work for you to conduct and challenges to follow, regardless if the mismatch is in your personal, or in your working life. When you compare your inner wanted position, relating to your heart, with the work or life situation there is a Delta. A difference between the situations that might have a big impact for you.
It is time to elaborate a bit over the inner wish. What can it mean? Where can I find inspiration to outline another future? There is actually methods to help you to start the work. Here I will focus on work related things, even if the result will have great impact on your personal life in all aspects.
As you have a better idea of your real interests, your individual and social qualifications, you have established a good starting point. Together they provide you with an image of what you can do and what you are good at. If you compare this with the best guesses of skills for the 21st Century, you will find some of them that attracts you more than others. Write them down in your memory, or on paper, for future use.
It’s time to take a look into the future in different areas by making use of Megatrends, big trends that will have impact on society, in one way or another, if or when they occur. Megatrends are used by futurists as a tool to seek and understand possible futures.They have a timespan of 10 years or more. Find the ones that relates to the areas you have noted down. Merge them together, draw your conclusions, reflect on them and start to outline a picture of possible futures that go along with your inner wishes. It might surprise you, but there will be several, possible futures to choose from.
The process does not stop there some steps remain. If you have chosen an image of the future of what you want to become, it is time to outline the steps to get there. All steps will have to be described and executed in the present leading towards chosen future.
A crash course in personal development maybe, very briefly described. You can make use of ”scenario planning” to outline possible futures if you really want to dig deep. But it all comes down to really know yourself and find out what your inner dreams are. From them you can seek out the future, your future. The one that gives you a sense of fulfillment and meaning. Off course it can mean that you will have to make som profound changes about your occupation, your ways of behaving or in the way you relate to other human beings.
There are decisions to take, decisions that have to be taken by you. If you prepare your future and take actions to get there you have gained more control over your life. You have the responsibility for your own
The future has been waiting long enough. If we don't take care of it, other hands will do it.
Inspired by a quote of Adlai Stevenson
But what if I am not in the position to make any profound changes in my work life. I really need to have the work for my outcome, even if I do not like it. Then you have to find ways of how to change your mindset about your situation, find out ways that can change your mind about how things are. Outline an image of how it could look like if you would like the work you have. Outline it and transform it into small steps of action to get there. Moving yourself into your preferred future, in the very small sense. Remember ” The present is always perfect”.
Be conscious! Ulf
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