Imagining the future

Human beings are always imagining the future. Abraham Lincoln said: ' The best way to predict your future is to create it'. 

Here is a great example from the comedian, Sarah Bernhard speaking in 'The Observer Magazine' :

'As a five year old I would lie in bed fantasising about performing on stage in big musical comedies. You could say I knew what I wanted from a young age.'

If we cannot imagine a positive future, we cannot create it. The way in which we imagine the future (our own or that of the organisation we work for) affects what we do today. 

Here is what a Bradford child in the documentary 'Poor Kids' (broadcast by the BBC on 7th June 2011) has to say about her future (as reported in 'The Guardian Weekend'):

'I think my future is gonna have loads of bad things in it. And then a few good things. I'tll just get everything my mum got except for bedrooms that have ripped wallpaper. I've just got to wait for my future to come.' Courtney (Bradford)'.

What both Sarah's and Courtney's quotes tell us is that if we want people's life chances to improve we need to be working on the dreams of our children.