How to get ahead of trends

Is the world moving more quickly, really?

I've been thinking a lot about the speed of change lately, largely because every book or podcast seems to lament how quickly things are moving and the challenge this poses in keeping up.

You've heard it too, no doubt. "Things were so much simpler 10, 20, 50 years ago".

Yes and no.

What if the pace of change is an illusion?

Like this. The image appears to be moving, but it's actually not.

Why we never get ahead of the curve

Where a lot of businesses go wrong — where WE go wrong and exhaust ourselves in the process, is assuming people operate at only one speed.

Fast. 

That they are always chasing the new thing and the latest trend.

As business leaders, that means we have to divine what's next. What's the next big social media craze or yo-yo/fidget spinner/fidget popper or crypto currency?

The result? You feel like you're always chasing your tail.

The only way I can see to slow things down...without actually slowing them down...is to dispel the illusion.

Because people don't operate at one speed, they operate at two.

Yes, there is the incessant thirst for the new. But that's the shiny toy stuff.

What businesses haven't been capitalising on enough is the stability of human wiring.

That people 10 years ago, 20, 50, 100 were largely driven by the same wiring as they are today.

Lazy, scared and confused 

Humans are lazy, scared and confused(*). That's how we're wired.

Once you know this — once you see the illusion for what it is — it will feel like the world has slowed down.

You'll have more space and clarity to make decisions.

You'll design better solutions.

You'll stop jumping at shadows.

*I teach the behavioural economics behind these terms (why they're not pejoratives) and why they're important to your business (and life) in my course, Influencing Action.