How to be Future Proof

Being human means suffering from, 'The Shock of the Unexpected'* Have you ever been surprised by events, to the point where you can feel your brain has shut down and your emotions are raging? Remember that time in a meeting when your boss/client threw in a random grenade from left field and left you speechless, unable to think of a coherent response whilst beads of sweat built up on your forehead and your stomach tightened?

What happens is that a bit of your old 'crocodile brain', towards the base of your neck, turns off the modern frontal bits. Have you heard the gibberish you speak when you are in that state?

...your brain has shut down and your emotions are raging...

Being an individual means suffering from excruciating embarrassment. How does it feel to be wrong? Go on, say your answer out loud. How does it feel to be wrong? Nope. Sorry You are wrong! You are describing how it feels when you discover that you are wrong.  Being wrong feels exactly the same as being right. There is no feeling at all. Horrible isn’t it to get that wrong? So evolution has invented a mechanism to avoid that horrible feeling. It is an added feature on ‘The Shock of the Unexpected’

What happens is that as you read or are shown that an opinion or conclusion you hold is bogus, not only does most of your frontal lobe logic power down but in addition, your brain runs a fast ego-based subroutine: ‘I can’t be wrong so you must be’. ‘I can’t be wrong so reality must be wrong’.  Then it instantly conjures up a scenario or story that keeps your opinion intact. You speak, often beginning your sentence with the word ‘So’. Often you will use the words ‘Everyone, ‘always’ or some other absolute in your argument. You are a bit deluded but in a good way to protect your ego. It's called cognitive dissonance and it keeps your spirits up – so it’s a good thing. You leave satisfied your opinion or conclusion intact

...it keeps your spirits up – so it’s a good thing...

But it’s also not a good thing for your performance – because now you are acting detached from reality so you can never excel, and a major learning opportunity missed.

Move from Forecast to Foresight

And I know about the danger of the shock of the unexpected. And I do know how it can devastate your performance and get you making dumb decisions. So I created two Performance Enhancement Tools (PETs) initially for myself. 

Future Mapping is the method I use to unearth unexpected consequences before they emerge and shock me. But this week’s PET Of The Week #POTW is Future Dreaming. 

See, once you have imagined an event, however unlikely, when it happens your brain doesn't get hijacked. In fact you will feel a bit smug and happy that what you predicted has come true! So in idle moments I #FutureDream.  Dreaming inoculates you from the emotional shock. But you must dream far and wide. Your happiest client chucks you out without ceremony. Your most reliable team member arrives at work drunk!  Everyone knows that more risk is more reward but you discover that’s completely wrong! 

This week would like you to spend all your travel time, coffee time and an half an hour before you go to bed FutureDreaming. Choose something important for you, say a meeting with your favourite client. Now imagine surprise events which could affect it. Start with the good ones, such as your client has been promoted, move to negative ones which could knock you off course, then move to slightly crazy ones and then back to positive ones. At each stage visualise yourself in the situation, listen to what's being said and note the it gives you . 

You're going to be unstoppable. You’re going to have a fabulous week of growth and learning. Enjoy!