Foresight is the ability to see and anticipate the future.
As a strategist, I would like to build on this definition. I define foresight not only as the ability to accurately perceive what is coming, but more importantly, to translate and apply those future demands into today.
This is important. It is not good enough to anticipate what is coming. You must be able to action those demands into your everyday life and schedules.
If something is important to you, and is likely to be true, then you must factor that future demand into today’s time, even if it is far away.
When something is certain to happen, it becomes inevitable. And when something is inevitable, it becomes easier to plan.
In fact, the moment something is inevitable, you may as well begin immediately, regardless of how far off it is.
The further away something is, the more tempting it is to assume you will cater for it tomorrow. We normally put off something that is far away because of two reasons.
The first is temporal discounting, which is when our brains value an immediate reward much more than the exact same reward promised in the distant future.
The second reason is due to emotional disconnect, which is when goals that are far away feel abstract.
This makes it hard for the logical prefrontal cortex to connect with the future self who will handle the work.
In other words, distant goals feel like someone else’s responsibility, even though that someone else is you.
Do not fall into this trap.
Today has enough time and potential to cater for the needs of today and for tomorrow’s demands.
What should be done eventually must be done immediately.
