On Wednesday I received a message on Twitter from Forum for the Future asking for comments on their new report “The Future of Sustainability”. Here’s what I replied:

My initial reaction is [the report] focusses on problems much more than solutions – The Future of Unsustainability? In my experience this narrows our field of thinking and drains our inspiration. Personally, I’d flip the problem/solution balance the other way – excite people about what a Sustainable world could look like.

I’ve never had clinical depression, but I know a few people who have. And, generally, when the black dog shows up, they struggle to do anything – even get out of bed sometimes. Much less severely, if I get down because things aren’t going my way, I know it really impacts on my productivity. I just find myself listlessly surfing the web instead of working or doing the easiest admin and avoiding the elephant in the room. It takes a massive effort to pull myself together and do something about the situation I’m in.

On the flip side, when things are going my way, that’s when I launch loads of new ventures. I feel great about giving things a go and seeing what works. All of my best ventures – mastermind group, books, online training etc – were borne of busy periods, not quiet ones.

So why would anyone produce a document which attempts to conflate everything that’s going wrong in the world in order to stimulate change? Yes, the stakes are high, but we need urging on, not beating down.