It Seems Easier to Reflect than to Project

Turns out that the future doesn’t exist, it’s a concept. It’s impossible to process data on something that doesn’t exist. What do exist and can be analyzed are our perceptions of the future. Under the right circumstances, these perceptions can be collected, studied, and used to identify goals and design intentional change. That’s what our company, Futures Research does. We study how and what people think about the future. We study people’s ideas about the future.

Interestingly, there are relatively few ways to think about the future. Like the past, the future is a construct in our mind. Thought is required to access the past and the future; we reflect on the past and we project in to the future. There are a million ways to think about the past. We have blogs, diaries, cable news, books, songs, poems, the history channel; they all help us think about and process what has happened. Beyond science fiction, forecasts, and the Magic 8 Ball, there aren’t as many tools help us think about and process what will happen, what can happen, and what changes are required to make it happen. It seems easier to reflect than to project.

One way to think about the future is visioning. Those who want to invent a better future need a way to focus on and achieve the conditions they want. They need a “vision.” A vision is a framework for managing change, it’s what you need to be intentional. Without a vision there’s nothing to be intentional about.

A vision is a narrative of what the future can (and should) look like and how it can come to be. The more clear, consistent, and convincing the narrative is, the more likely the vision will be attained. HOWEVER, visions are merely snapshots taken in time, and the passage of time brings change. It is important that visions be current and regularly updated. Futures Research provides tools and services to help clients build and maintain their visions through their ideas about the future.