How much of our lives do we live worrying about the future and trying to take control of it? It's a natural human characteristic to attempt to know what's 'round the next corner and have some influence on the unfolding of future events. Problems arise when rather than anticipating and preparing for what might be coming we fear the future. When fear clouds our business eyes resources are misallocated and opportunities go ignored. While the future is an unknown property the present is the basis from which it unfolds. Control your present and the future evolves within promotional guidelines you have established.
It's not for nothing that human interest in fortune telling, horoscopes and any others on the long list of fate-defying activities are popular to this day. While looking into the future can hold value a focus on times ahead can also result in a denial of the present. A fear of the future can degrade our experience of the present and reduce our appreciation of the strengths we possess in favour of a focus on what we might lose.
In promotional marketing terms we can translate these thoughts on personal development into a broad business philosophy. Be aware of your strengths, focus on the tasks at hand and concentrate on the detail before you. Following these basic steps the future comes of your work not in spite of it.
From a promotional products standpoint the clear message is the connections and efforts at engagement you make today will bear fruit in the future. Whether it be sweet or bitter is a matter of how one conducts today's activities. As branded merchandise is as much a personal relationship builder in business as it is a direct financial motivator you have the opportunity to inform, educate and embrace your market. All aspects of the business development cycle which can have a profound influence on the success of your venture going forward.
So while much of the objective of human endeavour and philosophy has been an attempt to grasp or control the future, the reasons for this focus is often fear or indeed the frailty of the human condition. Regardless of your past efforts you can change the focus of your future in a second by changing your focus on the present. While new-age philosophers tell us to "live in the moment" it's a lot easier said than done and attempts to do so generally end in the realisation that "the present" is not a place we can easily inhabit.
So often an attempt to focus on our promotional future ends as a reaction to unfolding of events. How much of our business day is explained by this phenomenon; that things "happen" which are "beyond our control" and we react to them so that little of what we do and hope to achieve matches what we had planned for our time?
How do you control the promotional future of your organisation and how is it that we can shield ourselves from living a life of reaction to things we don't initiate? Focus. So simple, yet perhaps the most difficult thing for human organisations to achieve.
Focus on what it is that is important now, trust in your best efforts and the uncertainty of the future can become your ally.