10 things you could not easily have predicted
Your future predictions can guide your ambition. However before trying to predict what might change in the future, it’s often useful to look back. Here are ten things few of us could have predicted would happen:
1. Taking photos with your phone – As technology has got cheaper, so manufacturers have bundled together quite unlikely combinations.
2. Baking a potato in three minutes – The microwave oven has revolutionised cooking. It’s created an industry producing frozen and chilled meals for people too busy to cook traditionally.
3. Satellite navigation – That friendly voice giving you accurate directions as you drive means we have few excuses for getting lost.
4. The internet – Research used to involve reading books and periodicals in a library. Know the world’s knowledge is at your fingertips.
5. Dockside redevelopments – Abandoned warehouses have become the most desirable places to live.
6. The pill – Before its launch in 1964 contraception was a hit and miss affair. The pill changed a generation’s sexual behaviour and is not taken for granted.
7. Instant free global communication – Voice over internet means you can talk for hours to someone on the other side of the world for free. Can you remember those flimsy airmail letters we used to send?
8. The coffee revolution – Pubs have been replaced by coffee shops as the place to meet, socialise and do business. Pubs are becoming restaurants or going out of business.
9. Digital music – The CD is comparatively new, but it is already being superseded by digital music players that offer infinite flexibility. This is revolutionising the music industry.
10. Return to religion – Across the world, people are re-discovering religious faith. It’s changing moral values as people seek a greater sense of purpose in their lives.
Finding tomorrow by exploring yesterday
History holds many clues about what the future holds. It has a habit of repeating itself as each new generation discovers things the predecessors had discarded. As you search for your future, consider looking hard at your past.
If you think about it, an average age for having a first baby is 25. This means that in every century, there are just four generations. In a millennium, there are only 40. Words, customs, traditions and beliefs are all passed down almost unnoticed. This is because we largely live for more than 75 years, so each life spans three generations.
Let me give you an example. I am 50 years old and got to know all of my grandparents. They knew their grandparents who were born 100 years before me. One grandmother in particular was a passionate gardener. She remembered how her grandmother was almost self sufficient in fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat. She was brought up to grow her own food.
Perhaps in another 10 or 15 years, I will become a grandfather. My grandchildren will grow up in a very different world to that my grandmother knew. However, I represent a direct living link between these two generations born a century apart.
Things for you to do
• Talk to your older relatives to learn about their past and their memories. Discuss with them your future and what you want.
• Look at how people used to live and work in your area or firm. Are there any clues you can pick up for the future?
• Collect stuff and put it away to show your grandchildren.
Bringing it to life
As a subject at school, history can be dull. As a way of understanding how you came to think and live as you do, it’s unbeatable!
Many of these tips and more can be found in my book The Life Plan.