"When certainty becomes too uncertain, adaptability becomes your biggest opportunity." - Futurist Jim Carroll
Starting tomorrow, I will be wrapping up my 30 Megatrends series, with 5 more posts to go.
For those of you who use a Kindle, an e-book version of Dancing in the Rain is now available on Amazon.
We're more than halfway through 2025, and it's been a wild year for many.
And if one thing is clear, it's pretty clear that nothing is clear.
With that, let me take a moment to reinforce how you should be approaching things when volatility is the new normal:
- Embrace the chaos. Stop fearing volatility—start dancing with it! The fact that the future is uncertain shouldn't be a problem to solve but a reality to leverage. When everything around you is shifting, you have the ultimate freedom to reinvent, pivot, and create something extraordinary.
- Get uncomfortable. Complacency isn't just dangerous—it's a death sentence. If your reaction to uncertainty is "We don't need to do anything right now," then the future would like to have a word with you!
- Learn faster. Your most important skill isn't what you know—it's your ability to learn what's next. Right now, your knowledge expires faster than milk, but your capacity to acquire just-in-time knowledge is your superpower.
- Turn your fear into fuel. Every trend that terrifies others should excite you. While pessimists see threats everywhere, champions see opportunity in the same circumstances.
- Fall in love with your mistakes. Don't be scared of making mistakes—be terrified of not making enough of them! Early failure isn't your enemy; it's your teacher. A failure while trying beats failing to try every single time.
- Think bigger and start moving forward. Dream audaciously, then take one small step. Big things don't happen with small thinking, but they do start with small actions.
- Choose action over paralysis. Stop planning. Start doing! The solution to your indecision isn't found in avoiding it—it's discovered through movement.
- Fuel up with optimism. Optimism isn't naive—it's strategic. It's your fuel for the future and the oxygen for opportunity. Make sure your hopes for tomorrow always outweigh your fears about today. In a world of uncertainty, your unwavering belief in possibility becomes your greatest competitive advantage.
The question isn't whether you can handle what's coming.
It's whether you're ready to help shape it, despite not knowing where it's taking you.
As I've always said, we might not know where we are going, but we are making great time!
Futurist Jim Carroll knows that the foundation for much success exists in finding the big opportunities that exist in the cracks of volatile foundations.