The Future Is Imaginary (Always)

Any time we think about the future we’re imagining it.

Our imagining is a function of our mood.

Present tense mood colors future period imaginations.

It’s so viscerally real, it’s so touchy-feely tangible, that you can press pause in the present tense, mad-lib out your mood, and see your imagination totally change.

The other day I was working through some next year planning and starting feeling terrified and overwhelmed.

I stopped. I thought about it for a second. And I Mad Lib’d.

Swap terrified and overwhelming for—excited and check -listed.

Next year, here’s what I’m excited for and my checklists to accomplish it.

Did terrified and overwhelmed go away? No, not exactly. I can still feel them pretty strongly to be perfectly honest.

But, if the future is imaginary, knowing we have control over the inputs is everything.

Somebody call the Surgeon General, and tell them Peter Atwater put an idea in the suggestion box.