The future influences the present just as much as the past. Friedrich Nietzsche
In last month’s blog we explored the concept of Painting Done. The idea is simple and yet often overlooked. Before asking others to begin important work, we pause long enough to describe the finished picture. We talk about what success will look like, what it will feel like, who it will serve, and why it matters. We paint the completed work before the first brushstroke ever touches the canvas. This month, I would like to draw this concept inward. Instead of using Painting Done as a way to clarify outward expectations, let’s use it as a powerful way to build momentum toward the artist in you and the power you have to create a masterpiece before the year ends.
August is an interesting month ripe with opportunity to pause and before we know it, the final stretch of the calendar is upon us. I have noticed that more than halfway through the year, many senior leaders instinctively look backward, and I gently suggest this month as one of the best moments to look forward instead.
An Envisioned Future
Imagine it is December 31st. Looking back over the completed canvas of this year… You’re standing several steps back, taking in the entire composition. What do you notice? Not every color unfolded exactly as planned and some unexpected textures appeared and a few sections certainly required repainting. Every meaningful year does and yet somehow the finished work tells a story that is even more avant-garde than you could have envisioned. From this vantage point, teetering on the cusp of a burgeoning new year, answer the following questions:
1. What quietly happened beneath the surface that changed me as a leader this year?
2. Which decision am I grateful I had the courage to make and what became possible because I chose clarity?
3. Where did I create more space in terms of boundaries, habits, or ways of leading that allowed better thinking to emerge?
4. When I think about my team, what moments make me smile because of what we built together that feels larger than any individual accomplishment?
5. What surprised me in the best possible way and where did I leave room for sweet possibility?
6. What kind of energy became my leadership signature this year so that when people describe working with me, this is what they say?
7. Which relationship became stronger because I chose to invest in it?
8. What challenge ultimately became one of the year’s greatest teachers?
9. What did I finally stop carrying that will not be a part of this canvas landscape?
10. What is worth carrying forward, with even more energy and color and light, because it brought out the very best in my leadership?
Write in the past tense and describe what happened in as much detail as is motivating for you. Let your future self become your narrator. Our brains are remarkably responsive to vivid possibility so when we create a compelling picture of the future, our daily decisions begin, often quietly, to move toward it.
Artists often step away from the canvas because distance reveals what proximity cannot and I believe August offers leaders that same gift.
There is still time to deepen the colors, soften an edge, introduce a bold new idea, or leave behind something that no longer belongs in the composition. The picture is still unfolding in this brief pause before the rush of September.
Perhaps that is why Nietzsche’s words feel especially fitting: “The future influences the present just as much as the past.” The image you hold of December has the power to shape tomorrow morning’s decisions, next week’s conversations, and the leadership your team experiences over the months ahead.
I hope that when you eventually stand back on December 31st, you see more than a successful year. I hope you recognize a leader who created something meaningful because every choice reflected the leader you set out to become on this balmy August morning. Happy painting!
Contact me here if you would like a worksheet version of these questions for yourself or to use with your team.
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