This is how to see the future (and 5 ways to be ready for anything) - Deepstash
This is how to see the future (and 5 ways to be ready for anything)

This is how to see the future (and 5 ways to be ready for anything)

Curated from: fastcompany.com

Ideas, facts & insights covering these topics:

5 ideas

·

293 reads

6

Explore the World's Best Ideas

Join today and uncover 100+ curated journeys from 50+ topics. Unlock access to our mobile app with extensive features.

When your mind feels stuck, make a ten-year resolution

When your mind feels stuck, make a ten-year resolution

The future doesn't start now or tomorrow. For professional futurists, it starts ten years from today. That is because it is enough time for society, and your own life, to become dramatically different.

  • It's enough time for new technologies to scale up.
  • It's enough time for social movements to achieve victories.
  • It's enough time for big ideas to take root and gain traction.

Thinking on a ten-year timeline will help you open your mind, take in new information, and reduce your blind spots.

14

84 reads

Be ridiculous, at first

Be ridiculous, at first

Any useful statement about the future should at first seem ridiculous.

It's easy to prepare for futures that are similar to today or make sense as they seem normal and reasonable. But, when a possibility makes us say, "That's ridiculous, that could never happen," or "I can't even imagine it", we have to spend time taking it seriously.

We need to prepare our collective imagination for "unimaginable" possibilities. Then, if they do happen, we're not frozen with anxiety or stuck in old ways. 

14

61 reads

Look for clues

Look for clues

Every form of creativity has its own raw material. A sculptor works with clay, a chef with ingredients, a futurist with clues.

Futurists collect, combine, and build future scenarios out of clues to how the future might be different. You can find future clues by spotting weird stuff that others overlook. Things that make you say, "That's strange", and "I wonder why that's happening."

13

51 reads

Turn the world upside down

Turn the world upside down

If your imagination feels stuck, spend time mentally immersed in “upside-down worlds.” Make a list of about a hundred things that are true today and rewrite them so that the opposite is true.

For example, libraries are mostly quiet spaces. To flip it, write ten years from today, libraries are loud, wild spaces. Then envision what makes libraries feel and sound so different.

16

51 reads

Build urgent optimism

Urgent optimism consists of three key psychological strengths:

  1. Mental flexibility is the ability to recognize that anything can become different in the future, even the impossible ones.
  2. Realistic hope is knowing which threats you should worry about and which new solutions, technologies and ideas you should be excited about.
  3. Future power is a feeling of control and agency to directly impact the future by taking action today.

14

46 reads

IDEAS CURATED BY

jacrai

Interior and spatial designer

CURATOR'S NOTE

We can be successful at anything through future imagination training.

James Craig's ideas are part of this journey:

Navigate Office Politics

Learn more about creativity with this collection

How to build positive relationships with colleagues and superiors

How to navigate office politics without compromising your values

How to handle conflicts and difficult situations in the workplace

Related collections

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Personalized microlearning

100+ Learning Journeys

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates