It’s been a quiet week in Freehuman land and so I’ve been balancing my time by soaking up some vitamin D and catching up on my microcredential on ‘Systems Thinking for Climate Change and Sustainable Decision-Making’. Some of the models and concepts are familiar to me – having done some climate learning already (Climate Coaching and Climate Fresk facilitation) but some are new. My brain is having a little tantrum and refusing to take it all in, so i have to manage my focus quite deliberately to avoid reading the same paragraph 14 times!
One of the things that’s really struck me today has been about foresight, and the skill involved in talking about the future(s). And i keep pluralising deliberately here because the thing that’s challenging me most is the fact that the future(s) is only in our imagination. There is no data or evidence of what happens in the future, only what we can think up. I thought I was cool with this type of thinking as a fan of Marvel, but its taking a bit more effort to make it ‘real’.
Take a moment to think about the future. Do you see it as a fixed point? How many years ahead? Is it entwined with a life event – like retirement? Are you moving towards it? Or is it moving towards you? Does it feel inevitable? Is it clear, or fuzzy looking? Do you check your retirement pot multiple times a year, counting down the years until you can watch Homes Under the Hammer at 11am on BBC without a sense of guilt? Is that just me?
For the most part, we think about the future as a continuation of our current timeline. We extrapolate data from the past and project it onto the future. Essentially we are looking in the rear view mirror to try and predict the road ahead.
But we know from recent experience that big old events can come out of the blue and change the road ahead completely, leaving our ‘predicted future’ car to roll of the verge and into the shrubbery.
Instead – systems thinking encourages us to think about the multiple possible futures – not as a fixed point in time to barrel towards, but like a wave to ride and adapt to. Some of those futures might be more probable or plausible, some might be preposterous. And one in particular might be preferable.
When we begin to imagine our futures like this, it allows us to begin to plan, to begin to build our resilience and flexibility to adapt, to make decisions now that make a preferable future a probable future (but also have plan B and C). That’s foresight.
From a Climate Change perspective, this actually helps me to have more hope. The science data can be complete overwhelming and lead to a kind of inertia because no action feels like enough. But when you’re able to imagine a future where change has happened (drawing on the fact that pockets of change are happening now), it’s easier and much less depressing to make a plan. If policy makers, governments and social movements can think like this, then we have more and more chances of getting it as right as possible from this point onwards.
But I also think this is an amazing tool for coaching. I often ask clients to imagine themselves 2 to 5 years into the future. And my response, and the response of others is usually a projection of current trends in our lives. I may have finished fixing this house, the dog may finally be trained, I’ll be 5 years closer to retirement. But where’s the fun in that? How does that prompt me to do anything differently? Thinking about all the possible futures opens up the mind to so many more possibilities and a real sense that I can make a difference in my own life.
If you’re interested in thinking differently about your futures, or the futures of your organisation – get in touch for a free consultation and idea sharing session.
PS sorry for playing fast and lose with the Fleetwood Mac lyrics there.
