The Rise. The Fall.

Be patient with yourself.

Nothing is fixed right now.
Nothing is normal right now.
Someone recently said that we can’t go back to normal.
Because that “normal” was broken.

So what comes after normal?

New.
New comes after normal.
Different.
Different comes after normal.
You were built for new.
You were built for different.
What if you didn’t think about normal?
What if you thought about what could be new and different?
What would happen?
What might you dream up?

What’s next?

When people ask, “what do you do?”
I help people (leaders, companies, associations, communities) to decode the future.
I have no secret decoder ring.
I am not a Futurist.
I am a Presentist.
I am a Humanist.

I have a notebook.

It’s filled with ideas.
Sources.
Inspiration.
Facts.
Quotes.
Things that don’t exist.
Things that should exist.
Things that do exist that not enough people know about.
People that more people should know about.
Lists of books that I have never read.
Lists of stories that I have never written.
Slides for presentations that I have never presented.
Some days those ideas rise.
Some days those ideas fall.
More fall than rise.

Ideas are not everything.

Execution is everything (the cliche).
These days, it’s hard to get to the execution.
These days, even having ideas feels luxurious.

Ideas are for someone who has the time to focus clearly.

The time to think.
The time to dream.
The time to be positive.
Flicking through Facebook seems easier.
Saving articles to Pocket that I’ll never read seems easier.
Even getting to inbox zero seems easier.
Four mile walks in the woods seem easier.

Everything seems easier than breaching ideas.

Ideas are lost in this dark.
Some days I rise.
Some days I fall.
Some days the idea rises.
Some days the idea falls.
Be patient with yourself.

That’s what I say to myself.