Do you ever feel our world is stuck in a disheartening paradigm? That critical movements for change are stalled or moving at a crawl?
One contributing factor to this feeling is how the base ‘operating model’ for our brains is wired. For example, research has surfaced a cognitive bias toward linear thinking - the linear bias (1, 2) - and more broadly our minds struggle with dynamic complexities (3).
As Science Fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke put it…
“We tend to overestimate what we can do in the near future and grossly underestimate what can be done in the distant future. This is because the human imagination extrapolates in a straight line, while real world events develop exponentially like compound interest.” Arthur C. Clarke
This bias toward linear thinking means change can initially be deceptive and hard to see, with critical inflection points catching up on us unexpectedly.
So if you ever do feel our world is stuck, try zooming out to take a long view and learn from the past. Whilst the past is not necessarily a strong predictor of the future, as Mark Twain put it, ‘it often rhymes’.
History shows us that a lot can change in 10 years.
World-changing shifts DO happen in 10 years (see video).
Some changes are welcome, and some less so.
Where we land is influenced by us - by our individual and collective actions and choices.
We each have the power to be the captain of our personal and collective destiny, to harness the winds of change, and be the wind of change.
It starts with a vision of the future we want to create.
What would you like to see change over the next ten(-ish) years?
If you can answer this question, you are already on your way to a fresh tomorrow.
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