The Quest for Endless Possibilities
Ask yourself, What if?
In a world fraught with uncertainties, even before COVID, how comfortable are we not knowing? Not falling into ‘not knowing’ but acting and leading from a position of ‘not knowing’ — and holding that tension between wanting certainty and clarity, and letting that wilful ignorance be a beacon to help us explore new directions.
Not letting the self-talk about failing, looking bad, and being seen poorly by peers and others, dominate our mental windshields but staying & struggling in that ‘zone of uncertainty, so that we can ‘break through’ into heightened creativity, something bore out by the science of the four stages of flow cycles, those heightened states of consciousness where we feel and perform at our best.
Keeping our hopes and visions alive by asking ourselves the ‘what if’ question.
Two words offer the greatest possibilities. Possibilities to stretch our imagination. To keep our ambition alive for exceptional outcomes. To expect nothing less than breakthroughs every time we suspend judgment by asking that question.
One more thing though — letting our ‘anchor’ for the above question be driven by purpose, rather than just intellectual stimulation — gives it rocket fuel. How? Well, let’s remind ourselves of the parable of the three bricklayers.
A traveler came upon three men working and asked them what they were doing.
- The first man said he was laying bricks.
- The second man said he was putting up a wall.
- The third man said he was building a cathedral.
When guided by purpose, we see the big picture, and we understand how each small act builds up to something extraordinary. It gives meaning to our work.
In the same way, asking the ‘what if’ question anchored by our purpose, gives our mental wing-suit the firepower it needs, to go to places it wouldn’t have otherwise. It allows us to broaden and reimagine our horizons.
Especially since we all have assumptions about what we and/or our organizations can achieve, and these assumptions become our default framework for evaluating what’s possible — whether we’re aware of it or not.
This may appear to be the domain of futurists or scenario planners but what if (!) the “what if” phrase becomes the preamble for any response to a complex problem. Problems such as those labeled wicked problems.
Climate crisis. Education for all. Food security. Refugee populations.
Challenges that don’t (seem to) have a clear pathway for resolution. That requires us to nurture fertile conditions for inviting and expanding intrigue, wonder and possibility.
The question that then arises is how we can potentially build platforms, living labs if you may, for prototyping and constructing the pathways that show up as a result of asking the what-if question. Platforms that can seed an emerging class of system experiments for spawning a new ecosystem approach for better living.
With or without COVID.
