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Predict the Future By Inventing It

Don't Predict the Future - Invent the FutureThe best way to predict the future is to invent it—and we had better start now.

“Aude aliquid dignum” – Latin: “Dare something worthy”

How do you create your future? Do you predict your future based on what’s happened in the past? Have you limited what you imagine about your future to protect yourself from failure? Have your “good ideas” been steeped in a context of “realistic mediocrity?”

A powerful way to “predict your future” is to invent it from a compelling vision big enough to impact Humanity. When you fully commit to your vision and step into Visionary Leadership, then every fiber of your being and all your actions are magical expressions of that vision. As a visionary leader, who you are is created from your vision, and that you, in turn, manifests your vision.

A vision goes beyond a “good idea” by not only the unprecedented nature of the vision but the commitment of the person articulating it. When a visionary leader speaks, our listening is based on our trust in their credibility. When Steve Jobs spoke, people listened. When Warren Buffet speaks, people listen. When you speak, do people listen?

Vision touches, moves and inspires people and engages them to act. When Kennedy said in 1962, “The time has now come to send a man to the moon and return him safely again,” the needed fuel had not even been invented yet! And then, launched by his Visionary Leadership, in 1969 a man stepped on the moon. Vision is pure possibility with no need for historical evidence to support it. It is in the realm of the impossible; in other words, expect miracles.

Children are brilliantly optimistic about possibility. Unfortunately, we turn our children into adults who become “realistic” and fight for no possibility. As adults, we want to avoid the risk of a Vision and seek the protection of certainty. But, certainty is an illusion, and it is the feast where our EGOs and protection dine.

Do you talk about doing things rather than making them happen? Are you always getting ready to get started? Or, do you commit yourself in spite of your doubts and Ego? Do you live unstopped by obstacles and unfazed by other’s opinions?

Dream big. Risk boldly. Create a compelling vision worth living into. Be willing to fail. Expect miracles. Be unreasonable. Have it matter that you lived.

“An individual has not begun to live until he can rise above the narrow horizons of his particular individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others? – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Lori Todd

Transformational Links

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By |2019-10-16T00:08:44-04:00February 18th, 2015|
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Leaders Declare the Impossible

Dr. Lori ToddLeaders Declare the Impossible and Make It Possible

Making and Managing Promises Leaders make powerful promises from their vision, from outside their historical box. Leaders don’t wake up in the morning and say; “The sun is going to rise in the east!” Of course the sun is going to rise in the east. Leaders wake up in the morning and declare a man on the moon, the end of world hunger, 100% literacy, and equality for all. The power of a promise is that it brings a possibility into existence that was currently not in existence. A promise is what will tangibly occur within a specified time frame. A transformational promise is outside the box and is the first step in the manifestation of a vision. Leaders then take action consistent with the promise and stand responsible for the ways of being actions and results. Leaders declare the impossible and make it possible.

Most people do not make a promise. Most people say, “I’ll do the best I can. I’ll get the highest raise I can. I’ll be a little more open. I’ll try to go to the gym this week. I’ll try to have a date.” When a leader makes a promise, the leader is putting his or her butt on the line. When the time frame for the promise is complete, if you have the promise you can celebrate all that worked, and learn from all that didn’t work or from what was missing. If you do not have the promise you can celebrate all that worked, and learn from all that didn’t work or from what was missing. What didn’t work is something that was done that you would want to not do again, what was missing is something that can be added next time. With a benchmark called a promise, we can quickly learn and grow and cause magnificence. There is always growth when someone reinvents himself or herself even without the result happening. Leaders do not always achieve their promises. When leaders play 100%, they may not always have it happen. Michael Jordan only makes 50% of his shots. His intention is 100%. Do not assign meaning to the result not happening. Once the results are completed and the space is clear, there is space for a vision to be re-created and new promises to be evoked.

Leaders lead from their vision and manage their ways of being and actions from promises. Make powerful bold promises from vision and make powerful coaching requests from vision. Live your promises with unwavering intention. A promise needs to be specific, measurable and stretchy. It gets to be exciting, juicy and currently not possible from your historical box. There is no formula to have this happen.

The first step in inventing a future is to make a promise about the future. This is a promise about something outside of the box, outside of guarantee. This is not a “I want, hope, wish, would like, this to happen.” This is a bold promise of commitment. This requires courage and intention. Leaders stand as if the promise is a done deal and is accomplished. You need to live your word to have it happen. That means you do not gesture at the promise; you put every thing into place, as much as possible, ensuring that it happens. Vision and promises call us forth and determine where we come from. We are not getting to the future. We are not trying to achieve a goal. We are coming from the invented future, now.

The person who makes a success of living is the one who see his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly – Cecil B. DeMille

By |2019-10-16T00:20:12-04:00September 9th, 2014|
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Steps to Creating an Unprecedented Future

Unprecedented Future Dr Lori ToddSteps to Being Successful and Creating an Unprecedented Future
Envision it -> Big Promises -> Big Requests -> Make It Happen

1. Envision it: What do you really want? What is your vision?
2. Big Promises: What is the tangible manifestation of your vision? Invent a new place to operate from by making bold promises and then embodying the promise. Interact in the world by standing in this promise and allowing yourself to engage with forces both seen and unseen in an entirely new way.
3. Unconditional Commitment to Make It Happen. Be willing to risk everything. Operate without any guarantee. Be willing to “go for it anyway” and be committed, even though the odds of failing are high. If the odds of failing are low, you are not operating in the arena of an unprecedented future. “I have no guarantee, I make my commitment my guarantee.”

4. Set a powerful intention and Be The Source. Own your “unprecedented future.” Own that you are the Chessboard upon which all pieces play. You are not a pawn. Own that you are the writer, director and producer of this magnificent production. You are the Source. Get out of the way and allow the universe to support you.
5. Make Big Requests. A request could be for a coach to support you, for a $100,000 donation, for someone to enroll in the Journey. As a leader, you seek a committed response from a person who has the authority to deliver on that commitment. If you don’t think you need to make requests, if you don’t think you need to ask anybody for anything, you are playing a very small game. If you don’t use powerful coaches, you are playing a small game. You are also playing a small game if you only make requests you think will be accepted.
6. Be a space for Authentic YES’s or Authentically NO’s. What allows people to authentically say YES is that they have the authentic opportunity to say NO. With the freedom to say NO, both people are empowered. If you don’t let people say NO they have no space to say YES. Once you integrate into your way of being the knowledge that anyone can say NO, you will be transformed. You will begin to make bold requests, which may be a huge departure from your previous way of operating.

It doesn’t matter whether people say YES or NO. A clear request and answer moves your promises closer to manifestation. Yes-buts, maybe, I’ll think about it, I’ll call you sometime, etc. stalls the process. A NO is committed action. A NO moves things forward because it is clear without the fog of interpretation. A NO may bring issues to the surface and gives you the chance to clearly move on to what is next.

Break the cycle of your addiction to interpretations. There are no shoulds, shouldn’ts, rights or wrongs. You are inventing this future. When there is a breakdown, obstacle or NO, distinguish “what happened” from your “interpretation” of what happened. It’s important to remember that you made a commitment to “have it happen”, not to “have it happen by looking a certain way.”
7. Make corrections along the way. Make it Happen!

By |2019-10-16T00:19:25-04:00September 3rd, 2014|
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