The daily habits of future thinkers

What creative lenses can you use to consider the future and its possibilities? This framework can reveal what’s next.

The Grey Swan Guild, a global think tank of future-focused people from all walks of life, has created a roadmap to show us the way: A framework of 30 daily thinking habits to help us think broadly about what’s possible.

This tool set gives you a library of mindsets, behaviors, inspirations, disciplines and perspectives that you can use to explore what’s possible.

Explore more potential paths to a profitable future!

Most importantly, it can knock you out of your habitual paths of thinking to consider your challenges and future opportunities from a variety of creative perspectives.

Three habits stood out to me and are worthy of a closer look:

Entertain wild cards and possibility: Ask yourself “What if?” questions on a regular basis and then think through their potential answers. As you frame your questions, imagine a rich range of possibilities, even some that may sound ridiculous or impossible at first. I’m a big believer in this type of thinking, because it can often lead to surprising insights.

Do you need help coming up with “What if?” questions? If so, consider using the SCAMPER framework. It’s a mnemonic for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate and Reverse/Rearrange. It gives you numerous ways to rethink your current challenge from creative perspectives.

Read my SCAMPER article to learn more about this creative thinking technique — and access an interactive mind maps with over 200 prompts.

Journaling: “Regularly documenting observations and insights can lead to a powerful trail of bread crumbs.” In other words, externalizing your insights and ideas in a notebook or digital note-taking tool makes it possible to think about them in new ways.