Your Richly Imagined Future (Part Two)
Robert M. Gignac
Taynac
& Associates
54
Crawford Rose Drive
Aurora,
Ontario
L4G
4R4
(905)
841-0837
In the November/December issue we examined
ideas surrounding ‘horizons’, and the first two steps in creating a ‘Richly
Imagined Future’. Step One - Current reality: know it, understand it, make it
clear - then let it go. Step Two - Your Richly Imagined Future: creating a
mission of service for others. Let’s move to the next steps.
Step Three - Learn to Disrupt
How many times have you been here, a company
hires a ‘motivational’ speaker for a corporate meeting, they whip up everyone
with the standard buzzwords: “Don't stop at the top”, “Today is first day of
the rest of your life”, “If you can dream it, you can achieve it”. Feel free to
substitute whatever slogans you might have heard. Everyone’s pumped up, hands
linked, we sing “Kumbya”. Followed by the ritual distribution of sweatshirts
and coffee mugs, having shown you pictures of the ‘Promised Land’.
It usually takes about 48 hours and then
someone writes a caustic e-mail or makes a totally arbitrary decision and
everyone comes swooping back to reality. All we have left for our time is
another sweatshirt, coffee mug, and a vision of a place we can’t go.
I urge you not to show people the Promised
Land if they can't go - it's cruel. But it got me to ponder the question - Why
don't they go? I doubt it is a question of intent or desire, so why don't they
make it? They don't know how to disrupt where they are. In life we have two
options: 1) You can disrupt yourself, or 2) You can wait for the world to
disrupt you. In either case you will be disrupted. If the world disrupts you -
good luck. If you disrupt yourself you get to make the choices about your
future. Chose wisely between these two options.
Too many of us say we want to set out on a
cruise, yet we want to leave the boat tied to the dock at the same time. If
we're going on a cruise we must untie the boat, we must disrupt our lives if we
are going to experience something different.
I like the metaphor of Lego. Flash to your
house on a rainy Saturday morning - “Dad, there's nothing to do!” and your immediate
response is “I've spent more on toys for you in the last year than my parents
spent on me in their entire life, when I was your age we had to make our own
toys!” Their response: a blank stare. Finally they dig out their Lego, and make
something for us, usually some sort of flying vehicle. They’re excited to show
us where the pilot sits, how the wings fold up, etc.
On the way back to their room, you take one
last look at them, and what are they doing? Flying their creation down the
hall, crashing it into a hundred pieces. Our response: “What are you doing, you
just made it?” Here is what kids know about Lego that we seem to have
forgotten. It is as much about taking it apart as about putting it together.
Not us though, we're adults. We use glue.
If you and I are going to create a ‘Richly
Imagined Future’ we have to start disrupting things in our life. The truth is
we are all stuck in our routines. We can't move someplace else until we untie
the boat. We are too comfortable. We want everyone else around us to change
while we get to stay the same. We have to disrupt if we want to go someplace
else.
Step Four - Making Choices
Making choices is the bridge between
‘Current Reality’ and your ‘Richly Imagined Future’. Choices can be hard to
make. Did you know that ‘choice’ and ‘power’ are synonymous? The people with
power are the people who are making choices - not recommendations, not being on
the advisory committee - there is no power in that.
What people want today is to make choices,
not to be treated like paint-by-number sets by their organizations. I see
plenty of anger and signs of depression in many of the companies in which I
consult. Some of this depression is anger turned inwards. We get angry with
ourselves. It seems so self-defeating, why would we do that? We get angry with
ourselves because we have choices to make and we are not making them.
I’m confident that every person reading this
article right now has a choice to make and they aren't making it - including
me. Some of them aren't that consequential - “Should you buy the printer I saw
on sales at Staples/Business Depot yesterday?” Answer: “Yes!” Others are gut
wrenching, life changing choices - “Should I stay in my current job?”, “How do
I deal with a difficult client/co-worker/employee?”, or “Should I pursue my
writing/consulting fulltime?”. These are difficult choices - ones that can
scare us deep inside.
The timing for all of these difficult
choices will be different for each of us, so please don't ask me when to make
them - I'm not the Amazing Kreskin. But I do know this: deep inside we already
know what the answer is. You already know.
If I could put two buttons on your desk
right now “Go/Stay”, “Buy/Sell”, “Red/Green” - Bang! You know which one to push
already. You’ll claim you are waiting for more data. No, some of us are waiting for somebody else to push the button
for us - that way we can become a martyr. Then we can say, “Do you believe what
they did to me, I had no choice!”
We have to start pushing our own buttons,
making our own choices in order to move from our ‘Current Reality’ to our
‘Richly Imagined Future’. Bringing inspiration and meaning to the people we
interact with. Ultimately, it all comes down to choices - which are what
magazines like this are all about. Read. Learn. Do something. Make a choice.
If we look inside we’ll realize that it is
up to us to continue expanding our horizons. When we learn to get connected
with and impact the people around us, we’ll worry less about linear planning
models, data and all of the things we've been taught business was supposed to
be about. When we learn to positively impact other people, creating a mission
of service, only then will we be able to confidently find our ‘Richly Imagined
Future’.
Copyright 2002 - Taynac & Associates