Permission not to know it all
E26: "Life is the study of attention. Where your attention goes, your heart goes also." Brian Tracy
Welcome to the new members of our Tilt community!
Thank you for accepting this weekly dose of hope in your inbox. Edition 26 was inspired by a writing prompt in Write of Passage: Answer a Frequently Asked Question. Keep the conversations flowing across Twitter, Instagram, email and LinkedIn. Share it forward, if that is your thing. And I’ll see you again next week!
Karena
Permission not to know it all
I'd been experiencing a serious case of imposter syndrome. I couldn't have felt more of a sham if I'd been sitting in a carnival tent, wearing a flowing robe and brightly coloured turban, staring into a crystal ball. As a strategist and futurist who imagines a range of possible futures, how had I not called the pandemic? I had factored in epidemics impacting the future of work. But a pandemic? And one that would shutter the globe for months and years on end? I did not see that coming.
What had I missed?
I was filled with guilt. What had I missed? Collecting signs and signals and playing with possibilities is the fun part of what I do. Variety meant I was not obliged to call everything perfectly. But, how do I make sure that does not happen again? I was focused on the gap.
But I was in for a surprise.
"Your inner vision guides the topics that most interest you," explained Futurist Thomas Frey That one sentence was like a light bulb. Suddenly a weight that I didn’t know I had been carrying since March 2020 lifted off my shoulders. I could not know everything about everything. I realized the overwhelm I was working myself into was all in my head, struggling to find the signals I had missed.
I might have missed the signpost to the pandemic. But my interest, passion and preparedness around the Future of Work since 2015 means I was perfectly positioned to help with myriad mindset shifts as families and employers negotiated everything from remote work and learning to gig work and managing transitions. The pandemic acted as an accelerant on the Future of Work - and many of the workstyle changes that I envisioned for 2030 were suddenly playing out in 2020.
So, I am writing this essay for you if you also needed to hear this: "You have permission not to know it all." You are here to do what you do best. Focus on ideas and concepts that light you up. Your obligation is to share those.
FOMO and overwhelm
How do we maintain our equilibrium in a moment of “hyper abundant content” (Paul Saffo)? Information is pouring in faster than we can process it. The challenge for us - and the generations coming after us - is how to surf the web effectively so that we get the thrill of riding the edge of the wave and not wipe out with overwhelm.
It turns out that there is a simple technique that can help us maintain this fine balance. It pulls together three basic ideas:
We have our personal list of favourite problems - a list as unique to us as our fingerprint.
We each have an inner vision that guides where we invest our curiosity. We are magnetically drawn to these.
We can solve for not knowing everything about everything if we connect to diverse thinkers giving us access to a collective consciousness
Consider adding the Feynman twelve problems exercise as a tool in your pack of 21st-century skills.
The essay continues, along with instructions on how to do the Feynman exercise …
P.S. “The more we know”. Knowledge shared helps various communities. Please contact me if you see an opportunity for me to share my messages around the Future of Work with a wider audience.
My book “Contours of Courageous Parenting – Tilting Towards Better Decisions” is available on your local Amazon site