Time

On our hands. In our sleep. In the recliner or sofa. In front of the computer. TV. Book.


Time to see, read, think and ponder. Ponder. To put ideas together and create new ones. Wondering how to use the new ideas. To what end will the idea be placed?


What should be? What are we working toward? Is this moment the only thing we have to live for? Or is it a piece of life’s puzzle we feed on to live the next moment, and the next and so on?


Existential or not, what is the value that carries forward? Into the future we walk. Looking at what is there, feeling that which is available to feel, the people we encounter on the way while living in a succession of moments.


We can think on the past, but it creates the present. The future can only happen if we continue stepping forward. Whether we do or not, means little to the person who remains in present and past. It is the future that beckons. We build it as we will.


Build it on what? Good intentions? Logic and values carried with us? What will make the future more valuable than what we have already lived?


How do we improve the future? Can we? Ought we?


I play around with this thinking a lot. I’m a homegrown futurist. A strategic planner by profession, I have spent many years untangling organizations tied into knots. So many opinions from team members on what should be done, but poor decision making that orchestrates a collaborative team’s energy. Or in the end doesn't.


The primary need is simple: What would you like to see as an end result 10 or 15 years from now?  If our work was spot on, and we were good at it, what would be happening in 10 or 15 years?  If the team agrees with one articulate vision, then all that needs to be done is figuring out what needs to happen to get there from here. Work the problem backward.

What’s the role of your church? Or business? Or association, organization, etc.? Why are we struggling? Figure out what you wish it to be like or known for in 10 to 15 years, then work backward. All of a sudden, things we chatter about now are not in focus but what really matters. The team gets organized quickly thereafter.


Furthermore, this kind of thinking is fun. Rewarding.


Try it. I think you’ll like it!


April 6, 2020