# Looking Ahead By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-03-08 Is the future enticing? Is your future enticing? The future holds a certain pull. Ideally, the future holds sufficient pull to entice one to work for its envisioned fulfillment. Doing things requires work. It can be fatiguing. The allure of the future can be what sustains effort. Looking ahead is what individuals and organizations tend to do when engaged in strategic planning. Another approach, often used by individuals, is to look backward. There is an issue when looking back. Even if one was successful in making the organization like it was, which isn’t likely but is possible, the organization wouldn’t fit in like it once did. It would be anachronistic. It is hard to make things go back to the way they were, and if one does in a limited way, it isn’t really the same because everything else around has changed. Looking backward is seldom fruitful for strategic planning. Looking ahead is the path forward. Looking ahead is informed beneficially from thinking about the past but isn’t constrained by it. Interestingly, there is little attention given to the right now. In terms of strategic direction, right now does not offer much beyond being the conceptual starting point for planning. It is chaotic and filled with work and hassles. The here and now is the only time, however, at which joy exists, so it does offer something. Past, present, and future each offer something of value. If one is focused on strategic directionality, looking ahead is the key. Taking the lessons from the past and combining that insight with the joy of the present can help one sustain the motivation to enact the enticing future. #### Related Items [[Time]] [[Strategy]] [[Joy]] [[Focus]] [[Planning]]