An artist has no problem occupying, diving into, or even setting sail into the vacant, the open, and the unknown.
Such pursuit of discovery is a beautiful way to unwrap the gift that is called possibility.
Today, may you and your discovery horizons be blessed.
Seaside, Florida 2015
We often ask how the world will be different 10 years from today, but rarely discuss what will still be the same.
None of us know what will be hot 10 years from today. Some of us think we do, but hot things aren’t necessarily predictable. So the questions is what will still be warm? What will be constant?
The most probable answers are things like: respect, relationship, service, response, speed, communication, and experience. 10 years from today they will be warm. 100 years from today they will still be warm.
It’s much riskier to put all your chips on the hottest platform, media outlet, or trend than it is the things that are warm and constant.
That is not to say we should ignore what’s hot. We just can’t forget that entrepreneurship and good business is embracing what’s hot in the pursuit of what never gets cold.
All things, including our lives and our businesses, were never meant to be about us.
A funny thing happens when we start with the needs of others and go create, cultivate, and work in our businesses from there…and by funny I mean the world becomes a better place.
The old model was this: Start with you and go do something from the there. Thanks to mass market advertising this worked.
However, the new model that is working is backwards: Start with the customer and go do something for them from there.
A lot is changing, but finding a group need and fulfilling it is still very much in style.
To move forward we all need to work backwards in the new model.
Truth > Trend.
Is this fiction or non-fiction?
That’s a great question for our moments of thought and vision.
Asked another way, are we seeing things as they truly are or as we choose to see them?
Seeing fictionally is typically grounded in assumptions of others, things, and circumstances.
On the other hand, seeing non-fictionally requires empathy, pause, and bravery – there is no harder work out there.
Take a moment to step out of your story. Revisit the past pages and then please dive head first back into the non-fiction you gleaned from your pause.
Sometimes we must actively step out of our story to read it and find the character we’re becoming.
George Washington once said we should “Labor to keep alive in your chest that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”
For most purposes, the world will call today the last workday of the year.
But I’m hearing 2013 whistle at us to come on, keep going, and water and grow what was sown in 2012.
Open your chest and put another log on the fire.
#LTMP
Ashton.Gustafson 