THE PRESENCE OF PRESENCE: How Awareness Moves You from Survival to Creation

When was the last time you felt truly present in your decisions? Most leaders operate in survival mode—reacting to immediate demands while missing the bigger picture shaping their future.

Awareness isn't just another buzzword. It's about recognizing the forces driving change and stepping into the driver's seat of your future rather than being dragged along by it. Without this awareness, you remain stuck in reaction mode, always one step behind the changes affecting your organization and life.

Breaking Free from Survival Mode

Mindlessness emerges as a response to overwhelm. When information floods in, our brains shut down and operate on autopilot—just trying to survive the day. I've experienced this myself. Despite studying these patterns as a futurist, I'm not immune to feeling overwhelmed by the pace and complexity of change.

The difference comes in how we respond to that feeling. Do we retreat further into survival mode, or do we step back to gain perspective? Moving from survival to flourishing requires shifting from passive recipient to active creator. When you operate from awareness, you're no longer just trying to survive disruption—you're shaping it.

Protect and Maintain vs. Grow and Transform

Leaders typically fall into two categories when approaching the future:

The first category—"Protect and Maintain"—focuses on defending what you've built. This mindset anticipates change primarily as a threat to hunker down against. Leaders in this category make decisions from a place of preservation, trying to sustain the status quo because they don't know how to think about future disruptions.

This protective instinct makes perfect sense. We build something; we want to protect it. Nobody wants to see their hard work destroyed. But the critical question becomes:

Am I protecting something that won't survive in the long run? Am I holding onto something with diminishing relevance in an emerging future?"

The alternative category—"Grow and Transform"—recognizes everything built while asking what could be. This mindset doesn't advocate destroying everything and starting from scratch. Instead, it builds upon existing foundations while asking tougher questions about what's possible rather than clinging to what once was.

The Power of Internal Awareness

Expanding your awareness requires looking both externally at trends and internally at your own thinking patterns. To create the future you want, you must recognize your own flaws and biases—the mental constructs built from past experiences that limit your imagination.

Having biases doesn't make you flawed—it makes you human. The problem arises when those biases lead your decisions without being challenged. When you operate on autopilot, letting unchallenged biases drive your choices, you engage in mindless activity.

True awareness comes from recognizing the limitations in your thinking and imagination. This awareness creates breakthroughs that help you envision possibilities beyond your mental constraints.

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TAKE Action 

1. Identify which category drives your decision-making: "Protect and Maintain" or "Grow and Transform."

2. List three assumptions about your industry's future that might limit your thinking.

3. Schedule regular time (weekly or monthly) to step back from daily operations and consider broader trends and possibilities.

4. Practice challenging your biases by seeking perspectives that contradict your beliefs about what's possible.

The future belongs to those who can move beyond survival into conscious creation. Will you protect what was or create what could be?

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