Do you ever stop?

Thinking backward to go forward is an important activity you can perform only if you stop.

Our lives are now ruled by VUCA, a turn of the century acronym meaning Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

Some called it the permanent whitewater.

Scary thought!

I have always refrained from doing that rafting thing… it looked too dangerous.

How courageous of me!

To think that I jumped in the entrepreneurship band wagon with no second thought on one side and to be afraid of rafting on the other… yeah right!

But I digress … let’s go back at the complexity of our lives.

Dave Snowden has created a great model to explain it all : the cynefin model. Complexity cannot be planned to the dot. You cannot write a procedure to complex processes. You can only build a system that will be able to respond to the uncertainty and the ambiguity of the complex situation that will arise.

Then, you think back and extract a few insights for the next wave.

Planning ahead is simply assembling your insights into a coherent picture to avoid too many mishaps.

Taking the time to think about possibilities is a sure fine way to succeed.

Taking this precious time to think.

Again.. slow down to accelerate.

Did you ever stop to think about the future?
Did you ever stop to reconnect with the past?

Do you ever stop to enjoy the present?

Stopping and thinking… two challenges in our ever after way of life.

Stopping and thinking… two essential strategies to succeed.

Summer is a nice time to ponder slowly.

The slow pace of your reflection will probably proof you to write down a few things…

  • Things to do
  • Things to stop
  • Things to start
  • Things to complete

THIS IS NOT WORK!

Thinking slowly is simply a way to clear your mind. Once accomplished, you will feel free. More free than you have felt in a looooong time.

THIS IS NOT WORK!

Thinking back to go forward is a normal activity that is not compatible with smartphones, electronic planners, sonic reminder, recurrent alarms and weekly Monday morning soporific team meetings.

THINKING IS NOT WORK!

It should be part of the work but thinking is first and foremost an individual activity. A personal and intimate intellectual and non-fattening candy. We all crave this. We do not indulge in it frequently enough.

IF you cannot do it now, plan for it during your next month.

Start by taking half a day alone in your vacations (if you were wise enough to take vacations this year).

Bring pen and paper or, better yet, a NICE pen and a journal, an expensive one or at least of precious one.

Once you feel good afterwards, schedule your next thinking trip RIGHT AWAY.

After a few of those, I promise you will get addicted.

GOOD FOR YOU!

Thinking back to go forward will become a routine.

Thinking back to go forward will remind you of your humanity.

Hey, thinking back to go forward might even stimulate you to write a blog….

Think of all the goofs things that might come out of this.

Why didn’t you start sooner?

HYPERLINKS

Why are those links NOT integrated in the text? I find hyperlinks ruin my concentration when I read. I know, I know… this is NOT trendy but hey… being fifty has its advantage … I just do not follow trends.

VUCA : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity

The cynefin model : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin

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