Welcome back, dear friends and new friends!
This should be fun and easy to read. We are a community that explores trends for the future, and shares ideas that position our families to prepare for and thrive in it. It has two sections:
š The Karena Arena - where we share jokes, resources and ideas
š The longer read: #MakeTakeTalk offers us a roadmap out of the overwhelm
If youĀ arenāt yet subscribed, the link below will helpĀ you solve that problem. š
Reply with a Y in the title if you find something valuable in this weekās message. If you find yourself with extra time, please also share your biggest takeaway, one suggestion to improve this read and one item of interest. And please share freely!
Till next week!
Karena
š The Karena Arena:
Thank you for the feedback on this newsletter design. It seems that many of you liked the short intro recap, followed by the longer essay. The Karena Arena is our shared meeting space to trade any of the following. Keep an eye out for material I can share with the others!
Something fun: A Dad joke / family-friendly humour
Something interesting: Share articles, books, apps, self-development tools in the spirit of Always Be Learning
š Something fun:
Daughter: Dad, look at my lily plant! It has beautiful white flowers!
Dad: Oh wow. I thought you had overwatered it when all the leaves started falling off.
Daughter: I know. I thought it had died. But I repotted it and watered it, and voila!
Dad: So I guess that would make you a Lily Potter?
Daughter: š¤¦š½āāļø
š§ Something interesting:
Should we call it the Climate Care Industry? As the conversation around climate change gets more polarized and the green economy grows, Artur Piszak asks can we positively rebrand this new economy as the Climate Care Industry? It is the industry of innovation and growth for the future.
šø Something beautiful:
Gratitude Friday: This is a beautiful photo of author Sana Fayyaz in the exquisite New York Public Library
š Read this essay (and the archive) on my website
Why is positive self-talk important? It is a tool that develops resilience in ourselves and our youth.
š #MakeTakeTalk
We can find ourselves feeling powerless in the face of some of the big issues facing us these days.Ā
I repeatedly find myself spiralling into a position where I question whether there is anything I could ever do that would make a difference. Over time, however, I have found myself gravitating towards a set of three verbs. These allow me to take back a little control in this state of despair. Make. Take. Talk. Pick one. Do it.
#MakeTakeTalk? What is that?
How do you solve a problem as wide as the world, as deep as the oceans? We feel futile, unable to make a difference relative to the scale of issues such as global poverty, education for all, easy access to medical care.Ā
To which my inside voice responds āYou always have a choice. Do nothing. Or do something, however small. So, Karena, what is your smallest viable action?Ā
This chatty inner voice is what first inspired my action equation:
Make. Take. Talk.
No! Not āMake a TikTokā (though that might be the best option in the right hands.)
Make. Take. Talk.
Choose a verb. Move into action. It supports my motto āTilt the Future in your favour.ā Tilting requires that I change the vector, apply force, move out of the status quo. It asks me to make the choice - to do nothing or something. In the face of analysis paralysis, it gets me moving.
Make. Take. Talk.
Now I can chunk down the problem. I put my effort, however small, out into the universe. And then let go and lean into hope. Now it is up to fate.
Getting it to work
It was 2 pm on the final day of the class. I had invested eleven weeks in study projects, videos and structured group zoom discussions. All that stood between me and the certificate was the personal capstone project. It was due by 5 pm, and I was still staring at the blank sheet in front of me:
What is the "impossible" you dare to imagine as "possible"?
What is the story about the future or an alternate reality your manifesto will tell?
What will help you sustain and thrive throughout this work?
Not a small ask. I had placed no boundaries around my vision for the future. I found myself getting overwhelmed. I was still struggling to find words to wrap around the challenge that is climate, the opportunities we must step in to quickly around re-skilling our current and future workforce across the globe for the new shape of work. But I wanted to highlight hope rather than despair.
I felt small. Insignificant. Invisible. Ineffectual. Again inadequate to the task.
In the face of challenges as big and unwieldy as these, who was I? I am only one person in a world of 7.8 billion. What could I do? I was no closer to my big idea or great saving plan.
āWell, if I am going to fail anyway, I might as well get these feelings down on paper,ā I thought to myself.
ā#MakeTakeTalk, girl. Better get cracking.ā
I opened my laptop, chose the verb ātalkā and started ranting. My emotions were raw as they poured out. I didnāt wordsmith or censor my feelings. I threw it into a video about how minuscule I felt and titled it āI am a dotā.
At 4:11 pm, mentally exhausted and physically spent, I recorded my manifesto āI believeā. With minutes to spare I hit send and shut down my machine.Ā
āThis is as good as itās going to get. Now let the chips fall where they may.āĀ
Make. Take. Talk.
We cannot fix it all - whether our problem is big or small. But we can often take a small step to get into action:Ā
Make: Ā a commitment. Make a video. Or make a cake.
Take: action. Ask after a co-worker. Take a class to learn more. Forward a post.
Talk: Ā about the issue. Call a friend or a family member. Talk about your ideas.Ā
The mix and match possibilities become endless. In fact, I have begun to merge the verbs into the hashtag #MakeTakeTalk you will often see as a call to action at the bottom of many of my posts. Consider it shorthand for āThe ball is now in your court. Pick one, any one, of the three verbs. And do it.āĀ
Can a small action make a difference?
So what happened to that capstone project?Ā I woke the next morning to a flurry of classroom DMs:
āI am a journalist - can we talk?ā
āWeād like to use your "I am a dot" video for our marketing material.ā
āCan I use your part II "I believe" as a challenge for my Engineering students?ā
It turns out that doing a little something was better than nothing. I had hit a nerve of helplessness that many others had also been feeling. Via the manifesto, however, they touched a little of their own faith and got ready to re-engage.
Rediscover hope
In taking action, we regain our agency. We tilt the future in our favour. Now we position ourselves in the path of serendipity. We take back our power, moving the impossible towards faintly possible.
And that is where we rediscover our hope.Ā
#MakeTakeTalk
You know what Iām going to invite you to do now, right?!
Apply #MakeTakeTalk to something that has been on your mind - do the smallest something.
If youĀ arenāt yet subscribed, the link below will helpĀ you solve that problem. š