"There's always time to redefine your success from what you have done to what you plan to do!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

I've always believed that true success isn't about what you've done – it's about what you plan to do next.

Let me share some thoughts on how you can redefine success in your own life:

Embrace continuous learning. The world changes at lightning speed these days. Your past accomplishments are valuable, but they're not your ticket to future success or happiness! To truly thrive, become relentlessly curious and eager to teach yourself something new every day. Build your "experiential capital" by jumping into fresh challenges that prepare you for whatever comes next.

Challenge the assumptions you have used to define yourself. We all develop mental scripts about what success should look like. Take a moment to question these beliefs! Ask yourself: "Am I chasing this goal just because it's what I've always done or what others expect?" Don't get trapped in the "we've always done it this way" mindset. It might be time to write your own personal definition of success.

Focus on growing. Instead of defining success by achievements alone, think about how you're growing as a person. Are you gaining new skills? Expanding your understanding? Evolving into someone you're proud to be? True success is the journey of personal transformation, not just reaching destinations.

Maintain a future-positive mindset. Always focus on opportunity, not threat. When redefining success, adopt this same positive outlook! Rather than dwelling on past wins or losses, get excited about future possibilities. The most innovative people I've met share this trait – they see potential where others see problems.

Get unstuck. Too many of us get stuck in endless planning without action. Redefining success means actually pressing "play" on your ideas instead of just thinking about them. Take that first step, however small, toward your new vision of success. The future belongs to those who take action, not those who merely contemplate it.

Reinvent regularly. The traditional career ladder is rapidly fading. We're moving toward "itinerant careers" and "active life-design" where you can blend personal passions with making a living. Success might mean creating a flexible, fulfilling path that doesn't look like anyone else's. The question changes from "what do you do?" to "what do you love to do?"

In the end, redefining success is about switching from constantly looking in the rearview mirror to focusing on the road ahead. It's about being proactive, embracing change, challenging yourself, spotting opportunities, and having the courage to pursue what truly matters to you.

**#Reinvention** **#Success** **#Growth** **#Future** **#Mindset** **#Learning** **#Action** **#Opportunity** **#Change** **#Potential**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/03/daily-inspiration-personal-growth-theres-always-time-to-redefine-your-success-from-what-you-have-done-to-what-you-plan-to-do/

Make someone laugh. Even if it’s at you. Get used to it. You deserve to make others happy.

It’s not your imagination.

Things are harder.

By design.

https://smallbusinessbonfire.com/mal-millionaire-professor-scott-galloway-explains-why-getting-ahead-today-is-harder-than-ever-and-what-to-do-about-it/

A quotation from Zinn

   An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
   And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) American historian, academic, author, social activist
Essay (2004-09-02), “The Optimism of Uncertainty,” The Nation

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/zinn-howard/35668/

You don’t need to be rich or powerful to help someone. You just need to have empathy and be a hero to someone.

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.
-- Dale Carnegie

#Wisdom #Quotes #DaleCarnegie #Success

#Photography #Panorama #MotorMill #Iowa

Return to your former self. The inquisitive and curious one full of wonder and joy.

1 - I have earned the trust of my chinchillas
2 - I have a comfortable home
3 - I am 5 years sober next month
#3goodthings #success #winning #recovery #sobriety

"Where are you holding back your opportunities because you don't want to change?" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Last week, the National Association of Landscape Professionals had me down to Costa Rica for their leadership forum; you might have seen some information about that when I posted about their sandcastle-building competition!

It was a great event with a LOT of landscape-industry-specific insight. We had a few exploratory conference calls, which allowed them to build their confidence that I would provide them with a future-oriented keynote that would speak directly to their industry issues. It did; reports back from people in the audience, both via email and LinkedIn, are overwhelmingly wonderful.

The association just ran an article on my talk, found below. I'll share it - beacuse it captures the quote in today's quote which I made from the stage. In addition, I'll share a few of the slides from my deck to give a bit of a sense of what I do 'up there.'

Like Supertramp says in the song, 'And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable...'

No truer words have ever been said!

Read the article / see the slides in the post.

-----

How to Future-Proof Your Landscape Business in an Era of Fast Ideas
January 31, 2025

#Innovation #Change #Future #Growth #Technology #Leadership #Adaptation #Opportunity #Transformation #success

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/02/daily-inspiration-leadership-keynote-where-are-you-holding-back-your-opportunities-because-you-dont-want-to-change/

"#US Govt Dept to Tie Funding to #Marriage and #Birth Rates"

Jesus fucking Christ

I think what we can say about the #conservative view of #humanity is that they view #human #society as a fungal growth:

1. tons of kids

2. dumb as a bag of rocks

(since #Trump plans on gutting the Dept of #Education)

I'm wondering what #conservatives think their grand vision of humanity means for the #USA's future #productivity and #success

#Happiness of course means nothing to them

https://www.newsweek.com/us-government-department-tie-funding-marriage-birth-rates-2025015

Spend your time. Don’t waste it.
life #success

Considering Deepseek's speed, things are going really well for them #success #tech #innovation

"It's easy to embrace mediocrity, but harder still to resist its comfortable embrace!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

For someone who loves to rush into a project, the process of seeing a project through to completion can be sometimes maddening. With that in mind, my wife and business partner is a very patient woman.

More on that below, but first, your moment of mediocrity!

What do I mean when I say "It's easy to embrace mediocrity, but harder still to resist its comfortable embrace!" I'm suggesting that it is very easy for you to fall into a mediocrity trap - because it can just be so easy there! With that in mind, here's a risk assessment you can do - are you at risk of any of these issues, all of which lead to mediocre performance?

- Death by routine thinking: You know I hammer home the idea that the future belongs to those who innovate at speed. Yet organizations and people cling to legacy mindsets, muttering "We've always done it this way" while their competitors master emerging technologies and business models at light speed.

- Innovation paralysis: When confronted with disruptive change, many retreat into analysis paralysis rather than taking bold action. This "aggressive indecision" is corporate and career suicide in an era where market opportunities emerge and vanish in digital microseconds.

- Regular 'idea assassination:' Organizations are killing their future by strangling innovative thinking. In a world of rapid disruption, this is like choosing to compete with a bow and arrow in a laser gunfight.

- The 'comfort zone catastrophe': Seeking safety in the familiar is a fast track to irrelevance. Tomorrow's winners are those willing to pivot fast, fail fast, and accelerate through change.

- 'Purposeful deficit disorder': Running on autopilot equals death in the innovation economy. Without a clear future focus, you're simply managing your extinction.

- 'Decision velocity crisis': Over-analysis is the enemy of agility. While you're studying spreadsheets, your more nimble competitors are already executing and learning from real-world results.

The brutal truth: Mediocrity is a choice to become obsolete. In an era of relentless disruption, the only viable path for you is to avoid mediocrity or face extinction. Your future depends on which path you choose.

Read more.

#Mediocrity #Growth #Excellence #Success #Satire #Innovation #Leadership #Transformation #Progress #Achievement

https://jimcarroll.com/2025/01/daily-inspiration-book-update-its-easy-to-embrace-mediocrity-but-harder-still-to-resist-its-comfortable-embrace/

A quotation from George Orwell

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1944-06-01), “Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali,” Dickens, Dali & Others (1946), opening words

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/orwell-george/6617/

"It's easy to overpromise, but even easier to underdeliver" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Nothing great is ever achieved when the gap between expectations and reality is never closed!

Leaders can become trapped by their rhetoric - the more ambitious their promises, the more pressure they face to maintain the illusion of progress, often leading to cover-ups, denial, or doubling down on failed approaches rather than acknowledging reality. The lesson isn't to avoid ambitious goals, but rather to maintain a clear-eyed view of actual capabilities and progress, and to prioritize honest communication over maintaining appearances.

Yet too many leaders do that.

The situation becomes worse when the gap between promise and delivery is vast simply because of fraud, dishonesty, or plain incompetence. The fact is, leadership failures that are based on this of overpromised under-delivery aren't just setbacks - they can be extinction-level events for organizations. Just ask Elisabeth Holmes of Theranos or Adam Neumann of WeWork.

In the next few years, we are likely to see some pretty significant expectation mismatches. It's easy to make a promise - it's tough to deliver on it. Particularly so when people have high expectations that will be almost impossible to deliver!

Why does this come about? In some cases, it can be due to what I call the "velocity gap" - leaders make vast promises but underdeliver because they can't align the organization to the speed of change. In other cases, it underestimates the effort to achieve the stated goals - call that the "delivery gap." Elsewhere, it's an innovation mismatch - and the lack of a "perpetual innovation engine," such that the organization is not rethinking fast enough.

Remember, in 2025 and beyond, the gap between promise and delivery isn't just a credibility issue - it's a survival metric in the age of exponential expectations!

**#Promise** **#Delivery** **#Leadership** **#Expectations** **#Reality** **#Trust** **#Success** **#Performance** **#Accountability** **#Results**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/01/daily-inspiration-leadership-its-easy-to-overpromise-but-even-easier-to-underdeliver/

"Maybe you should do more than have a plan to create a plan!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

My news clipping service recently picked up this gem of insight from a Conference Board leadership survey:

----

"Outside of Japan, few CEOs are looking to raise prices in 2025. Instead, the focus is on innovation, tech, and product development.

Innovation leads: Worldwide, 37% of CEOs say innovation is a top priority for growing profits, followed by introducing new products/services (29%) and investing in technology, including AI (26%)."

----

This was a bit of music to my ears since it's always good to see an indication that one of the most important actions for future growth comes to the forefront.

On the other hand, this took me back to my post the other day where someone commented that 'we decided to do innovation this year,' implying it was a one-time thing. (It's not!). I thought it might be a good idea to look back at a lot of my guidance on innovative thinking to provide a detailed structure for organizations to pursue so that they are doing much more than talking about innovation - they are embracing it as a core value and key strategy.

Why is that? Because I have learned that many organizations when they come to decide that innovation is a priority, start to plan on what to do, but are never quite sure exactly where to start. In doing so, they often spend more time planning to have an innovation plan than actually pursuing any type of innovation activity!

With that in mind, I went back to GoogleNotebook LLM, which has now become one of my go-to AI tools, to ask it what it could find in my more than 4,000 posts that I've written about the future, trends, and innovation, as to what organizations should do to align to the innovation opportunity.
Given this, provide a list of 50 things that organizations should do at a strategic, planning, investment, and execution level to provide for successful innovation.

It came back to me with quite the list!

I'm often reluctant to share a lot of AI-generated material, but this was such a good result that I thought it would be worthwhile to include it in its entirety. I also summarized this into a 4-item strategic framework.

**#Innovation** **#Strategy** **#Action** **#Growth** **#Execution** **#Planning** **#Investment** **#Leadership** **#Progress** **#Success**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/01/daily-inspiration-admitting-stupidity-is-a-sign-of-strength-because-it-shows-that-you-are-brave-enough-to-learn/