Articles

Don’t Run Out of The Future

Don’t run out of the future.

Dark clouds don’t mean that there’s not a big blue sky that is up there, always present and much bigger than those clouds.
Dark clouds are just this moment.
We need those dark clouds.
You can’t have a big blue sky without occasional dark clouds.
That’s the deal.
That’s how it works.
If you’re you’re struggling with that concept today, check out the book, The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris.

We can’t cancel the future.

Don’t do it.
It’s ok to feel it.
Today.
Tomorrow.
A little past that.
These are truly weird and strange times.
Strange days indeed.
But you must find the good in today and the greatness in tomorrow.
If you’re struggling with that concept today, check out Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

The best ideas start today and harvest into the future.

This doesn’t mean that you have to be productive today.
This doesn’t mean that you have to crater everything that you did before and start again.
This does mean that opportunity is still abound.

This I believe:

The next great innovations are fermenting as these words hits your eyes.
The thinking.
The dreaming.
The daydreaming.
The walking.
The notes.
The time away.
The time to let ideas marinate.
Problems that you have been twisting in your mind’s wind are being solved inside of you right now.
Because of this moment.

The virus didn’t just stop work and the economy.

The virus stopped your hamster from being on its wheel.
The virus is now letting your brain have access to things other than your day to day work and regular schedule.
The virus is like a long, hot shower, and your brain is doing what it does.

Allow your brain to think other things.

Even negative thoughts that you haven’t had in a while will spark new and different thoughts.
Let your brain (and body) float down this stream.
Do not try to fight the current.
Float with the current.
There is nothing wrong with floating.
There is nothing wrong with the current.

You are floating towards your future.

The future will be different.
The future will be better.
The future will be filled with new ideas, innovations (and, yes, new challenges).
When your thoughts wander up to the dark clouds, don’t forget about the big blue sky over those clouds.
That’s where your future is.
Keep going.

Don’t run out of the future.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.