How to use the hidden potential of the pandemic for a personal transformation
This post continues exploring the Three Horizons framework as it applies to the pandemic. Last time we spoke about the first horizon which focuses on building resilience. It is an essential foundation for overcoming turbulent times and for conceptual and creative thinking that is now needed more than ever. We also discussed how different narratives that we use to make sense of what is going on, create our images and expectations about the future, and hence motivate us to act in a way that shapes that particular…
Use futures, narratives and hope to boost resilience
Futures
The job of a futurist is to explore multiple alternative futures — different ways in which the world might evolve — and help individuals or organisations create better futures. I noticed from my work with clients that the pandemic made conversations about futures, and especially about personal futures, difficult. For some, it almost feels like “What’s the point? I cannot control anything at the moment anyway! I am in survival mode right now.”
Fair enough. When our zone of influence shrank to choices like “Shall I cook a healthy meal or…
Manage uncertainty like a futurist
As COVID-19 closes schools and shops, cuts salaries and jobs, and separates us from our loved ones, even the most positive of us succumb to gloomy thoughts about what comes next. What will the future hold? Will my family I and be healthy tomorrow? Will I be in lockdown for the next few months? What will the impact be for the following years?
Pandemic can be overwhelming… “Unprecedented” is clearly the word of the month as most of us experience this for the first time. A similar experience from the past that we can refer…
A basic toolkit of a hobby futurist
If I was getting a dollar every time someone said “disruption”, I would have a stable stream of passive income. We live in a time when, in many areas, what we used to do in the past stopped working, but we kept applying old frameworks until it was too late. Someone with a bigger picture and entrepreneurial spirit jumped on an opportunity and smashed the status quo into pieces. With ubiquitously accelerating speed of change, ability to adapt and transform is becoming a necessary skill.
In order to cope with the continuously increasing…
They Are Us
A Selfish Approach To Inclusion
Earlier this year, I was so looking forward to my first trip to New Zealand. Little I knew that by the time I get to my last stop — Christchurch — it would be carrying the bitter grief of the tragic terror-attack. Walking along countless tributes in front of Al Noor Mosque, which silently but firmly protested violence, I was wondering: why do some people welcome cultures different from their own, while others react with a threat response? …
Polina Silakova
Founder of personal futures planning course futurefromwithin.com | Senior Consultant @Futureye | I help people & organisations envision & create better futures.
