Daily Inspiration: Innovation – “Fight your fear, not your future!”

“Fight your fear, not your future!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

2020 was a pretty fearful year, wasn’t it? My Daily Inspiration that Hallowe’en wasn’t terribly inspirational!

In any event, let’s focus on fear!

When it comes to the future, you might fail. Things might not go well. There will be things you will regret. Unanticipated detours. Sudden surprises. Twists and turns that will challenge your path. Setbacks and slams. Defeat, frustration, loss, collapse. Pretty depressing stuff!

But if you focus on those things, your fear of the future will hold you back, because you will start to fight for your future. The fight-flight-freeze response kicks into high gear – our genetics has wired us for inaction in the face of the unknown. That’s why you need to fight your fear of what comes next – because you can choose to fail, or you can choose to try to win. Concentrate too much on the former, and you might not spend enough time on the latter.

The problem with fear is that it is a barrier to your future.

Fear of new ideas can stall your progress.

Fear of the unknown can cost you opportunities.

Fear of the unknown can cause you to misfocus on the wrong stuff.

Fear of uncertainty can cause you to waste time trying to chase certainty.

Fear of making a mistake will make you take fewer risks which can be a bad thing from an innovation perspective.

Fear of making the wrong decision can accelerate your aggressive indecision.

Fear of change can cause you to become stuck in a rut.

As I will often say on stage, “people fear that which they do not know.”

All of these things will put you into a mindset where you are fighting the future rather than trying to align to what it presents with potential. And the thing about fighting the future is that the future always wins.

That’s why it’s important to try to abandon your fear, and focus on the future, not fight it. Spend more time trying to figure out where you are going in order to bandish fear through clarity. Understand the trends that provide peril and potential in order to reduce your worry and concern. Invest in trends insight so that you can better understand why you need not fear what comes next.

Fear is your foe, not the future!

Oh, and here’s a happy clown.

Happy Halloween!