Future Tripping
No… This is not about mushrooms, weed or going into the future through Quantum Physics.
Future Tripping is a psychological term describing a fear associated with the future and it can cause anxiety or stress. It is characterized by worrying about something that has not happened yet.
The Urban Dictionary defines it as: “to worry/freakout about the future instead of enjoying the present.”
How often do you spend time worrying about the future based on a current event?
We’re all guilty of it. No sooner do we finish one project, one month, one season and we start worrying about the next. Sometimes we have a poor day, a poor week and start projecting that into the future. We begin future tripping. I have also witnessed good results and instead of building momentum and confidence, it is viewed as a more random occurrence.
I was watching The Cleveland Browns and the new defensive coordinator had a rule that each success had to be celebrated. Early in the season that strategy appears to be working. If we celebrate our success it builds momentum and also sets our mind to positive rather than negative thinking.
Future tripping can happen by over-thinking and can evolve into a cognitive distortion like fortune telling, where you predict a negative outcome without a realistic regard for the actual odds. As Earl Nightingale, a famous American motivational speaker famously said, "You are now, and you do become, what you think about."
Psychology has actions you can take to calm the anxiety of future tripping. I have found one easy one is to recognize that it is happening in the moment and then tell yourself this is future tripping and move forward.
Failure is an event, not an ongoing occurrence, unless you let it rule you.
Learn and move on. With our clients here at M1, we call it “failing fast”. There is opportunity in failure. There is an opportunity when an obstacle presents itself. It is how we step back, approach it, don’t overthink it and do not allow it to become our future. Some of the greatest achievements in human history were born from failure and obstacles.
I have witnessed over 35 years when Indie retailers choose to respond rather than react, choose to solve rather than allow negative circumstances dictate their future, and behave with resilience and perseverance, they are most often rewarded.
I have found that fundamentals, using data to understand, measure, and solve, have helped me immensely in the most trying of times. By giving myself permission to step back, understand, seek counsel, and then dive enthusiastically into the future.
Finally, when I have succeeded, out of some mythical fear that I will jinx myself, all I have done is deny myself the most wonderful feelings of all: Joy and gratitude. Ironically it was a hard lesson to learn, but I am happy to have finally learned to share that joy and gratitude with my coworkers and family.
If you would like to schedule a meeting to discuss this topic and how to apply it to your retail business, here is a link to my calendar or contact Management One for more information.
Onwards, and Upwards,
Marc Weiss - Co-founder, Management One