A natural disposition, one which may affect us all at one time or another, is to hold the belief that once you pass a certain point (and whilst we are talking about business, it could equally apply in life generally), that demands on your time will ease and things day to day will somehow open out and become easier. Everything will miraculously "work out in the end" and the future will be undoubtedly bright.
Now, my intention is not to write a miserable analysis of why these beliefs are wrong, or to burst a whole bunch of bubbles with an objective reality pin. My intention is to look at what really makes futures brighter and more importantly, makes the present brighter too.
My intention is to look at what really makes futures brighter and more importantly, makes the present brighter too.
But whilst I just said that, I will have to start that way….
A Better Tomorrow
The maxim of “it will be better tomorrow” is full of hope for the future, the type of hope that makes tough times feel a little easier or the general struggle and strain of day to day life more bearable. It is easy to see why this is a commonly held belief.
There are many versions of this belief system, once you start listening for them you will hear them all the time.The system works something like this:
- We take a future event or circumstance.
- Then pin an expectation to it, generally one which is positive but undefined.
- After the event or action we assume life will have improved.
- Once the event or circumstance has occurred we conveniently forget the expectation of improvement or find a perceived improvement to justify the expectation.
- REPEAT.
To identify this, I will list a few good day to day examples of these beliefs:
When I get this new job things will be easier.
Once this deal is complete I’ll have more time.
After we hit a million in revenue I’ll be able to think more about the future.
When my boss hires this new sales guy I will be able to think clearer.
When we move offices it will be easier.
They go on and on.
The major issue with this belief system, is that it is built on a foundation of hope or expectation rather than any clearly defined plan. The desired outcome may occur or it may not, but why it did or did not was neither planned prior and more often than not, was never really analysed after.
What is often even more prevalent is the fact that the desired outcome is often not even defined in any way that would allow any objective viewpoint of whether or not the passing of the event or time produced the outcome.
Samurai Wisdom
As a long term martial artist, the wisdom of Eastern philosophy has almost been an unavoidable influence in my thinking over many years. The teachings of Confucius, Sun Tzu, Lao Tze, Menicus and others often permeates decisions and thought processes now without the requirement to review them but in writing this article one less lofty piece of Eastern wisdom springs to mind.
“It’s like a finger pointing to the moon, do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory”
Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon.
There are many ways you could interpret this quote, however within our context here often the event or time point we look to pass has become the finger and the period of life that is held until such a time is the heavenly glory. A simple way of saying this is “Live now”
The more we look to a future event or the passing of a certain point in time to signify the dawn of a new era, then the more we rely on it to be the catalyst for the positive change we may desire. It is rarely the event that makes this possible but the intention behind the actions you may or may not take once this event occurs.
If the above is true then the answer to solving the riddle and making positive futures occur is solely intention followed by action.
“In every situation, consider what precedes it, what will follow and then act”
Epictetus
The antidote for terminal frustration
The antidote to the flawed philosophy of blind hope is intentionality.
If we analyse the earlier part of this article where I set out the sequence of the mindlessly optimistic “It will be better tomorrow scenario”, it really doesn’t take much to see how this goes wrong and can result in either a very pessimistic outlook, terminal underachievement or what is actually most common, unbridled frustration and the type of mental illness we see enveloping our society, especially in men.
Once we endeavour to strip away the idea that “things will get better” after a certain point, accept our individual responsibility to make the changes we want, and more so have serious intent about altering or even removing habits that are not serving us, then we have the best chance of seeing the outcomes we desire.
However one thing precedes all of the above. We need to be very serious and clear about the outcomes we desire.
The major cause of frustration for many in my mind is a lack of clarity about desired outcome in the first place. The major reason for the belief of a better tomorrow is often a dissatisfaction with the present.
Often there is little intention or action towards an outcome, only a desire for there to be some form of a miraculous improvement based solely on subjective emotional response to circumstance at the time. The emotional response to circumstance is often the overriding factor in the later view of whether or not something was successful.
Simply put, if your goal is vague and the outcome subjective to your emotional response then satisfaction is far from guaranteed.
Whilst being robust in our thought processes about whether certain outcomes are right for us as individuals, then we will have gone a very long way toward becoming free of our own bullshit. Our relationships will improve, our situations will often improve but most of all our mindset will alter.
The major way of achieving this is intentional living.
How to achieve intentionality
If we look at the process of mindless optimism shown earlier we can find an easy answer in terms of counteracting this flawed philosophy with a sounder approach.
We look at what we actually want from most of our days, understanding the elements that fulfil us whatever they are. Purpose, reward and reflection are often good starts in this process.
We look hard at which parts of our lives we are not satisfied with and commit to eliminating them. Importantly, we do not pin this to an event, material item or another person.
Whilst we may accept that life will never be 100% perfect we DO NOT accept barriers or excuses to the elimination of factors that we are not satisfied with.
We separate events and future occurrences from life goals. Goals are there to be achieved, but we accept our feeling about them may be unexpected.
Do not assume life will improve past a certain point, assume it may change and be ready for it to do so.
Most importantly learn from your own response to events and changes to modify your goals and desired outcomes.
A combination of clear goals with a strong view of how achieving them will affect you and how you will grow as a result, with a dedicated approach to intention toward those goals in your present on day to day basis with a consistently objective look as to where you are heading and why, has the most chance of giving you long term fulfilment.
Actively expecting bumps in the road and seeing the journey as part of your process and knowing emotional response to be exactly that, neither a mark of success or failure will leave you with what is real.
Live strong, keep moving and remember to refer to the map, For the longest journey starts with a single step but remember if you go of course to adjust your direction.
Sometimes getting lost for a while can have its own benefits, sometimes it can find a place you never would have discovered, but mindless optimism will often lead to mindful disappointment and frustration.
The Anarchist Entrepreneur 