In "The Futures Effect", osteopath, body-centred stress coach and wellbeing futurist Tom Meyers shows how thinking about the future and increasing your future self-continuity can help you to flourish and thrive in this fast-changing world.
Tom illustrates the benefits with illuminating examples from his own personal history and experiences and underpins them with lots of research from other futurists, (mental) health experts, philosophers and scientists. These beneficial effects are not only for y'our health and wellbeing, but also for the wellbeing of the planet on which we depend.
Tom's clever use of "Y'our" rather than "Your" helps to remind us that our choices, decisions and actions influence more than just our own lives. So, as responsible people, we need be aware of that as we construct our future.
Tom starts his book by sharing his personal and professional concerns about our future, and especially the lack of consideration that is being given to how we will cope - both individually and collectively - with all the changes and challenges that lie ahead and which will, without a doubt, increase the already out-of-control levels of stress.
Stress is a survival response that is experienced when demands outweigh y'our resources. When left unmanaged, it leads to musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory and immune problems. Stress also adds to anxiety and depression, mood changes, memory problems and changes in time perception.
As changes and challenges increase, so too will stress levels, and thus also all the health problems that are related to and made worse by stress. Tom can already see in his osteopathy practice how this is playing out - and more change is coming!
Tom's concerns are valid - but he also has a solution, a solution that involves you. Tom argues that you have the power to make the future GREAT. You have the power within to empower yourself to evolve on purpose and become more resilient for the seemingly uncontrollable changes and challenges of tomorrow through your decisions, choices and actions today. That power starts with creating stability and clarity - something to hold on to while everything changes. Something to hold on to that doesn't change with time but can be expressed in different ways.
In this second book in the "Futurize Yourself" series, using language that is easy to read and understand, Tom provides an engaging and highly practical approach to how you can create this stability and clarity by creating a personal "DNA for the Future". A "DNA for the Future" on which you can create a preferred scenario and a guiding narrative for the future. In other words: by changing your story, you can change y'our future! Instead of leaving life and y'our future up to chance, you think about what kind of future you want, and through your own volition - through your decisions, choices and actions - make it into an ongoing reality.
In "The Futures Effect - Change Your Story, Change Y'our Future!", Tom provides a constructive roadmap for heightening your future consciousness and increasing your future self-continuity by utilising tools like forethought, foresight, backcasting and being futurewise. Tying this all together, futurizing yourself becomes an effective way to cope and be better prepared for the digital revolution's impact on our lives, including our employment prospects, in a VUCA world.
But the clock is ticking away - so the best time to start futurizing yourself is... right now!