We go where we look.

A strong relationship to futuring encourages a hopeful disposition to both setting a destination (the future we want) and preparing to overcome the obstacles between here and there.

Hope permits the recognition of dire conditions in the present and allows for skepticism that those conditions will better themselves, but it is powered by the ability of our clear purpose and our deliberate preparation to create the possibility for the conditions we deserve and the resources to them.

The impulse in times of crisis is to look at the urgent challenge or threat — the log on the ground in front of us – instead of on our destination. Anchoring our focus here may seem appropriate and responsible and may help us avoid the worst possible future. But we won’t get to the world we mean to create that way.

On the other hand, we have a habit in our field of creating “north stars,” “visions” of the world we are seeking to create. It’s a powerful metaphor from traditions of liberation (i.e., Black folks escaping slavery would use the North Star as a guide), as well as other forms of navigation. The trouble with the metaphor is that it cedes the possibility of achieving that vision. The North Star is a reference for triangulating where I am and where I am heading, but it is not itself a destination. If we design our strategies with the world we want to create as a “north star,” we are not mapping the path toward it.

So, we should orient ourselves, with our north-star values, toward the world we mean to create with the foreseeable obstacles in mind.