"What if we get this right?"
An invitation to envision positive futures, share your thoughts, and download a strategy worksheet on Imagining Futures
Hey Changemakers,
Serious question here: How often do you envision the future?
How much time do you spend imagining alternative futures, using your powerful sense of imagination to speculate on what it might be like if the best were to happen?
This might sound futile right now, I know. When we feel a bit stuck and burnt out in our present moment, it can feel really hard (and certainly naive) to dream of brilliant, thriving futures. And, after all, we humans have a strong negativity bias, so we tend to think about negative things more frequently and make decisions based on negative information. So we overemphasize negative experiences and dwell on the worst possible outcomes.
As changemakers, these leads us to focus our attention on the frustrating barriers to change and the reasons why we can’t advance positive change in our work, our organizations, and our communities. And this leads to utter exhaustion, burnout, and a “doom and gloom” view of the future.
But what if we could learn to flip the script on our negativity bias, and begin to practice a sense of radical optimism?
What if we get this right?
In one of my all-time favorite episodes of the On Being podcast from June 2022, Marine biologist and environmental policy expert Ayana Elizabeth Johnson provocatively challenges us to look to the future with love, asking "What if we get this right?"
Hearing that question sparked me to think a lot about our work as changemakers in museums and nonprofits. What if we get this right? What if the best were to happen? What if the change that we’re fighting for happens to the fullest extent?
I have been thinking a lot these past couple years about the vital importance of imagining, envisioning, and dreaming about our futures. This radical practice of imagining our best futures in a vital part of our work as changemakers. Visualizing alternative, powerful, thriving futures can drive our energy and purpose when advocating for change, especially when we face challenges and barriers.
It is important to visualize the world we are advocating for, and remind ourselves what we’re fighting for in order to nourish our inner strength.
In so many of my workshops, including the upcoming Summer Institute for Changemakers, I bring in strategies to help people imagine the future. Here is a a simple strategy you can try out to get started in this practice of radical optimism.
Exercise: Imagining Futures
Try this simple exercise to envision your powerful future. These prompts are adapted from an exercise shared via Instagram from Intersectional Environmentalist and Circularity Community, both doing incredible community organizing work.
STEP 1: Take some time, and imagine your organization or work (even yourself) if the change you are advocating for happens to its fullest extent. All the changes you are dreaming of happen, just like that. Embrace your imagination, and give yourself permission to dream.
STEP 2: Visualize this future. It can be five years from now, twenty years from now, or even farther. You decide. Let yourself be immersed in this vision of the future. What does it look like, feel like, and sound like? How would your work and life be different? Let your imagination run here. And resist any negativity bias, or that voice in the back of your head that’s going to keep telling you “this is unrealistic” and “this is just not possible.” Tell that voice to be quiet.
STEP 3: Get some paper, and take time to write about this future. You can also draw, or get really creative and create a collage. Again, it’s important that you give yourself permission to use your imagination and creativity here. Have some fun with this.
STEP 4: Keep this piece of writing, drawing, or creative collage, and post it somewhere very visible to you (next to your computer, on your refrigerator, or near your bed). Return to this often, reminding yourself of that incredible, powerful, and possible future.
Download the Agents of Change worksheet below on Imagining Futures, including the prompt from Intersectional Environmentalist and Circularity Community.
Add Your Thoughts
Whether you have time to do the exercise above, or just simply take a brief moment to reflect on the future, I would love to hear from you.
I invite you to reflect on these questions below, and add your thoughts in the Comments. Thank you in advance for sharing with the Agents of Change community.
What is the future you dream of (for your organization, your work, your community)?
What if we get this right? What if the best were to happen? How would your organization or work be different?
Do you struggle with imagining positive futures? Tell me a bit more about why this might be challenging for you or your organization?
Register Now for this year’s Summer Institute for Changemakers!
If thinking about alternative futures and radical change excites you, then you should join our Summer Institute for Changemakers, which starts July 17th.
I know this is a busy time of year, so I want to share, up front, that we’ll include lots of asynchronous support and additional check-ins as needed for anyone who can only make some of the sessions in this year’s Institute.
The “Summer Institute for Changemakers: From Vision to Action” is a 4-part online workshop where where we will learn about human-centered strategies that can effectively drive forward meaningful change, come up with a vision statement for ourselves rooted in a set of core values, and leave the Institute with a specific and strategic plan of action for implementation.
During a series of four interactive, discussion-based online workshops (held on Zoom), we are going to:
Learn about the latest research on relational thinking, radical empathy, and collective action
Explore practical tools to put these ideas into action in your work
Identify key changes you can make in your own organization and work practice, and ways to address common barriers to change
Grow your support network to catalyze collective action
Develop a vision statement and create a detailed plan for implementation
The Summer Institute is designed to serve the needs of anyone working in nonprofits or museums — or in a related field like consulting. Early career professionals, those in leadership positions, as well as volunteers are all welcome.
Workshop Dates and Times:
Wednesday, 7/17, 1 pm-3 pm Eastern (10 am-12 pm Pacific)
Wednesday, 7/24, 1 pm-3 pm Eastern (10 am-12 pm Pacific)
Wednesday, 7/31, 1 pm-3 pm Eastern (10 am-12 pm Pacific)
Wednesday, 8/7, 1 pm-3 pm Eastern (10 am-12 pm Pacific)
You'll receive a Zoom link and follow up details shortly after you sign up.
Again, if you are thinking about joining but have scheduling conflicts, I’m happy to accommodate with additional check-ins. If you have any other questions at all about this or anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me at murawski27@gmail.com so that we can make accommodations!