Daily Inspiration: “A futurist? My job is to help you build your future — inside my mind!”

“A futurist? My job is to help you build your future — inside my mind!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

I’m sometimes told that I’m not like other people. I get used to it. My wife can be working to carefully organize our kitchen in an elegant, logical structure – and I’ve already moved to the next phase of placing the wrong things in the wrong cabinet. I think it’s OK though – I think that after 32 years of marriage, she’s kind of used to it.

Here’s the thing – this weird career in which I find myself takes advantage of the fact that perhaps I see things entirely differently than you do. And that’s a good thing – because diversity is often the source of all creativity!

You see a barrier – I perceive a window.

You think it’s dumb – I think it’s brilliant!

You say ‘now what?’ I exclaim “let’s get going!”

You see a challenge – I envision a big opportunity!

You have an inner skeptic – I have relentless optimism.

You are stuck in this moment – I’m trying to live in the next one.

You can’t perceive what might come next – I’m obsessing over it.

You’re afraid of thinking too big – I’m terrified of thinking too small.

You’ll read the manual – I’ll just press the buttons to try to make it go.

You are living in the current moment – I’m trying to create the next one.

You have a careful plan to get you to the next step – I’ll just make it up as I go!

You’ve got some patience for making things work – I’m already on to the next thing.

You prefer to move slowly when confronting new things – I’ll just do it fast as possible.

And if you take all these weird attributes and put them together, then it makes sense that for over 25 years, organizations around the world have been hiring me to help them see what comes next – and what they need to do about it!

At least that’s my theory.