Skate to the puck
Have you ever had someone tell you that you're thinking two-steps ahead?
Did you ever follow up and ask what made them feel that way?
Perhaps you spotted a pattern that revealed an insight, maybe you clearly understood the dynamics of the situation you were dealing with and the impact of cause and effect.
Or maybe you simply see the interconnectedness of life and cant help but forge new networks and connections that help you formulate higher levels of understanding and allow you to respond to challenges in a calculated manner because you have ran the simulations of events in your mind beforehand… maybe.
Wayne Gretzky certainly thought this way when he proclaimed he wanted to “skate to where the puck was going” he didn’t just ask ‘whats happening right now’ he was thinking about how that was going to impact what was going to happen next.
Anticipation isn’t always celebrated in society because as much as we want new things, we also do not wish for things to change too dramatically. In a sense a lot of what we are striving to do is to be comfortable and anticipation is likely an indicator that circumstances are about to change.
If you look at early adopters of new technology for example, they are often criticized at first when things are moving so fast they cant help but break because new boundaries for the future are being created.
But then what happens?
Those same people are looked at as geniuses in retrospect now that they have risen to a certain level of success because they clearly saw something few others did.
A wise man sees a storm coming and seeks shelter…
Right now we are looking down at our screens and into false realities, if a storm were to come it would take us in our sleep. We ought to be looking up to God and out to the future so we can see not only the storms but the opportunities coming and be prepared for them.
We are distracted by the overwhelming amount of noise in our environment; cars, planes, trucks, ships, trains, music, movies, news and blahhhhh. Its too much.
The real insights about life come in the dark when its quiet and you’re alone, theres nowhere else for your mind to go but inside you.
That’s when you figure out what you really need to do and who you truly want to be.
We all have things that we are putting off that we know we need to do, important things too and we sit and wait for permission as observers at a sports stadium. Cheering everyone else on who is choosing to participate in life.
In order to create the future, you need to be able to see it first and develop a vision for it and then you can align your behavior with your beliefs because they are attached to something you can actually see.
We need to see failure as feedback and encourage more experimentation in life.
The only failure is being so filled with fear that you refuse the calling to create a better and more hopeful future.
Taking the leap forward takes a certain degree of faith, and faith is the only foundation worth building a life upon.
-B