What is Foresight? How to Write a Better Story for Yourself

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In this episode:

Foresight, in a nutshell, is about envisioning the future you want to create and then practicing prioritization to take action towards your goals. As you hone your foresight, you gain the ability to make decisions and pursue opportunities that work for you, for the specific reasons that matter to you.

This distinction is important when we are talking about careers. Without foresight, the societal tendency is to focus on surface issues when experiencing dissatisfaction at work. For example, we may identify salary, location independence, prestige, trendy office space, etc. as the primary problem.

However, most career tension will never be resolved by addressing these issues alone. Sure, a raise in salary is always welcomed. But to truly find enjoyment and long term fulfillment in your career, you need to develop your foresight muscles.

The practice of narrative foresight

A whole body of research exists to expose our human tendency to make sense of our experience by placing ourselves within a storyline. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, my first book was about how to identify your life's storyline! Rather, the goal is to make you aware of how your brain naturally works so that you can make it work for you. Because if you don't actively contest the storyline, you will just follow the default.

Narrative foresight is the practice of choosing which stories you use to make sense of your past, present and future.

Narrative foresight has been studied and proved to be effective, but rarely practiced. The main reason for this is that the majority of the population doesn't recognize how significantly they are influenced by cultural stories and the status quo.

If you don’t realize you’re living in alignment with a poor story, it’s hard to change it!

That’s why this year on the Career Foresight podcast I’ve been asking every guest to speak consciously about the stories they recognize in our culture. Each guest that has been on the show has answered the following two questions:

What is a story about our relationship to work that you would challenge people to leave behind in 2019?
What is a FRESH story about work you challenge people to embrace in 2019?

These questions were narrative foresight in action. And the responses I received were truly powerful. I’ve listed a handful of them below and linked to the episodes so you can hear for yourself!

What I hope you’ll see from these responses and this podcast episode is why foresight is so critical.

Instead of looking at your current situation or your past to figure out what's holding you back, foresight looks to the future. You get to envision what success and freedom look and feel like for you. Then, working backward, you can strategize how you will get there.

Examples of narrative foresight from previous podcast guests:

Stephanie Hicks

Old story: Working is a means to an end. We trade work for money, and that is its main purpose.
Fresh story: Open your eyes to new ways of work. There isn't one single path to success. But you need to understand yourself and what success means to you so that you can create it.

Genecia Alluora

Old story: Believe your self-doubt. Don’t step out of your comfort zone.
Fresh story: Be willing to be coachable. Move past your pains and self-doubt. Embrace collaboration rather than competition. You do not lose by other people experiencing success. Success is possible for you, too, no matter what other people are doing.

Nechelle Bartley

Old story: I'm not good with money.
Fresh story: Don't put limitations on yourself when it comes to money. You might not have it today, but that's okay. You can change and grow to get where you want to be.

Linda Rossetti

Old story: I am not enough.
Fresh story: Pick one or two affirmations and practice them fully, in every situation you find yourself. This will start to transform your mindset.

Vanessa Bush

Old story: "Balance" is the mark of success and how you know that you're doing things right.
Fresh story: Different things require more or less attention at different times. Practice being present to the needs at hand, rather than trying to create a perfect balance that will always be out of reach.

Meredith Noble

Old story: Your past dictates your future.
Fresh story: You deserve to go after your dreams.

Theresa Delaney

Old story: Your day job should be the most fulfilling, passionate part of your life.
Fresh story: Allow yourself to identify as a creative person. It doesn't need to be part of your day job, but it's still a descriptor you can own.