Who would try and predict the future at the moment? So why try? Why not do what the late management expert Peter Drucker said many years ago and create the future we want and desire?

Is that a fantasy dream, a pie in the sky hope? It doesn’t have to be.

From day to day our reality changes. Yet we so often think that if we can’t predict our future with some degree of certainty we are in big trouble. We are now living in a very different world and uncertainty and change are its middle names. Any future we might have lies in being able to live with those two realities, in fact embrace them and make them work FOR us not AGAINST us.

It’s all about the mindset we bring to our lives and work, whether we have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

Those who want to predict the future so they know what to do, when to do it and how to do it have a fixed mindset. They tend to believe that maybe we can get back to normal after this COVID episode, at least something approximating where we were before this whole thing started. They are threatened and fearful of change, overwhelmed by challenges that stretch them too much. They are the leaders who resorted to controlling styles of leadership during COVID in the belief that this will help them take back the control that this pandemic has wrested from them.

Those with a growth mindset have taken uncertainty and change on board and are pro-actively creating the future. They are making the road while walking, but doing it confidently and surrounding themselves with like minded empowered and empowering people who motivate and inspire them. They recognise that there are few absolutes today. There is little that is “fixed”, no black and whites, many shades of grey. If something they create today proves to be not helpful tomorrow they will shift with it and create something new. They are flexible and adaptable. They are resilient.

So do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? On the side, we can have a bit of both sometimes, and in certain situations can move back and forth, but we do find ourselves predominantly in one or the other. In today’s unpredictable world, however, those whose mindset is too fixed will find life and work very challenging and stressful.

So how do we develop or enhance our Growth Mindset and Create the Future? A few bits of inspiration to get you started.

1. Henry Ford once said: Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. So when we look to our future, look to our goal, our purpose and the kind of person we want to be and use that to create our future. We all know how those things are forever changing and evolving as we grow. Be open to those discoveries.
2. In the midst of all this change and uncertainty, we can’t walk into the future by ourselves. We will get lost. Surround ourselves with empowered and empowering people. Abandon all those negative people we meet who have a problem for every solution. Don’t engage with them on social media. As Dr. Steve Mariboli said: Let go of the people who dull your shine, poison your spirit, and bring you drama. Cancel your subscription to their issues.
3. Embrace grit, perseverance and commitment to make the future we want happen. As Jerry Bruckner said: Commitment is your unshakeable promise to yourself to achieve your goals.
4. Be open to learning new things. Alvin Toffler reminded us: The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn.

If you want to enhance your growth mindset, if you want to shift from a fixed mindset, if you want to create a future for yourself that will see you become the best version of yourself, then getting a mentor who has a growth mindset is the best way to go. He or she will take you on a journey of discovery full of aha moments and exciting insights about yourself that you never knew were hidden within you.

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