Category: future

action, decision-making, future

This just in: Live life one day at a time

Christa Avampato
One day at a time
One day at a time

I like to look out over the time horizon. I like to dream and plan and plot. I love outlining and developing a strategy. But truthfully all we can do is take life in one day at a time. Everything else is speculation, wonderful speculation yes, but speculation all the same. We don’t know what circumstances will await us tomorrow, and once we do know we’ll need to adjust our plans with the new information we receive.

That’s not going to stop me from making plans; it’s helpful and healthy to pick our heads up and see the possibilities of the future. But what I am doing is living much more in the moment, appreciating blessings great and small and everything in-between. The now has many gifts, and if we’re not careful we’ll miss them in the blink of an eye. I want to live fully, today and every day after.

creativity, future, goals

This Just In: Evaluating my goals at the end of January

Christa Avampato

Reflecting on JanuaryI set a goal to review my 2015 goals at the end of each month to check in and see how I’m doing. Here’s how I’m doing:

– I’m continuing to explore the Orlando market to see if it’s possible to build the kind of career I want to have here that’s rooted in content and product that builds a better world. While I’ve found some, it hasn’t been as much as I hoped so I’ll be spending a lot of time in February further evaluating my next steps.

– My writing, personally and professionally, is going well and I love every second of the time I spend on it.

– I’m starting to have more days when I hit 10,000 steps per day (my fitness goal) but not nearly enough days so I have to ramp that up. I am doing more weight training and exploring a variety of fitness routines, too.

– I’ve made a concerted effort to meet new people while also connecting with lots of friends far and near.

– I’ve started planning a few trips since I didn’t travel as much in 2014 as I would have liked.

– I’m reading more books, fiction and nonfiction, and loving it.

How are your 2015 goals going?

change, choices, decision-making, future

This Just In: Honor the space between no longer and not yet

Christa Avampato
Honor the space between no longer and not yet.
Honor the space between no longer and not yet.

Are you in the in-between, that place where you’ve stopped doing something to make room for something else, even if you don’t quite know what that something else is just yet? I’m with you! That place isn’t just something to get through; it’s something to be honored and treasured. It happens a handful of times in our lives after we’ve gone through an intensive learning period, made some changes, and now we’re turning our eyes to our future that’s just around the bend.

Before we plunge headlong into the future, let’s turn around and reflect. Let’s enjoy the view created by getting some distance from where we were. Let’s celebrate the effort it took to create that distance. It’s okay to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and congratulate ourselves for doing something that was difficult. The future will be here soon enough.

books, choices, future, history, story

This Just In: Why history is so critical to our present and future

Christa Avampato
Everything has a history
Everything has a history

I have started to work on several longterm writing projects. I wouldn’t call them book ideas just yet, but rather historical events that I want to deeply explore and write about. One of my majors at Penn was history and my reasoning for choosing it was very simple—everything has a history so no matter what interests me, not matter what work I do, history will always be important. We have to know where we’ve been to understand where we are. And where we are now is the start of everything yet to come.

choices, commitment, future, goals

This Just In: Manage your future like a pool player

Christa Avampato
Set up your shot
Set up your shot

The planning process of any aspect of life can be frustrating. Preparation can sometimes feel like just something we have to do before we get on with our real work. It’s not. It is the work. When my patience with preparation is wearing thin, I think about playing pool. When you play pool, you keep your eyes focused on where you want the ball to go, not where it is. He or she has to line everything up correctly. The slightest adjustment can make a huge difference. The same is true in life.

Right now, you may be making small steps and lining up your circumstances for that moment when you are ready to strike. All this planning may cause you to feel a lack of progress because you don’t actually see anything happening. It might seem so slow that you want to give up. But like the pool player, you need to give yourself the best chance at making the best shot with the landscape you have. That takes planning and patience. Rest assured that all this planning, all these small adjustments will pay off. Play the long game.

action, creativity, environment, future, innovation, technology

This Just In: The breakthroughs we need to build the future we want

Christa Avampato
Our future is in our hands
Our future is in our hands

A brighter and better future is before us because we have no other choice but to evolve and change. Our population is growing and the world is in need of innovative solutions to meet that growing need now more than ever. Our future is literally in our hands.

I read a report yesterday entitled “The 50 most critical scientific and technological breakthroughs required for sustainable global development”. If you are an entrepreneur, or just someone concerned about the future of our planet, this report is full of ideas to apply our creativity and efforts to build a better world. Many of the solutions center around energy, farming, and technology. Here are some of my favorites:

1. The need to desalinate our increasingly salty water around the globe.

2. E-textbooks that dynamically adapt content for different skill levels, languages and
other user-specific needs.

3. Truly smart smartphones that are cheap, need almost zero power, and do anything a computer can do. And truly smart homes that are cheap, built in urban environments, sturdy in the face of natural disasters and storms, and require very little power to be comfortable and functional.

4. New long-lasting chemical mosquito repellents delivered in novel ways. (As someone who is violently allergic to mosquitoes, I want these little buggers out of all of our lives!)

5. Solar-powered everything from medical devices to appliances to irrigation pumps to mini energy grids.

We start creating the future today. Let’s do it sustainably.

adventure, change, Florida, future, nature, photographs

Inspired: Find the courage to face change with photographs

Christa Avampato

When I began to think about relocating, my amazing friend, Sara, suggested I make a Pinterest board of every city that’s interesting to me. She had done that when she decided to move to Austin and it really helped her look forward to the change. I followed her wise advice and it’s working like a charm. Check out the board I made for Florida. As you can see, I’m looking forward to more time in the natural world!

 

dreams, future, time

Inspired: How to value dreams

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“You cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true.” ~ Justice Sonia Sotomayor

All dreams are difficult. If they were easy, we’d be able to check an unlimited number of them off our to-do list every day. They take time and heart. Sometimes they cause a great deal of difficulty. If working toward them makes us feel alive, if we the time we spend on them feels like time well spent, and if we learn something in the process no matter what the outcome, then they are worth every ounce of effort we put into them. Dreams are tricky like that. Their real value is not in their achievement but in how they help us evolve toward our best selves. 

fear, future, sleep

Inspired: Don’t believe everything you tell yourself late at night

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

3am can be a tough hour for me. That’s when some of my greatest fears surface. “What are you doing?” “That’s a terrible idea!” “You’ll be all alone!” And on they go. To exercise those little gremlins, I write them down in the notebook I keep next to my bed and then put an “X” through them. Then I lay down, focus on my breath, and silently say “I am okay” until I fall asleep again. Don’t believe everything you tell yourself late at night. At night, the good and bad rise up in our minds. We can’t control that. All we can do is get it all down, throw out what harms, keep what helps, and get some more sleep. Tomorrow needs us at our best.

action, adventure, career, choices, decision-making, determination, future, time, work

Inspired: Bet on yourself

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Sometimes the universe tests your commitment before it decides to back you. It’ll bet on you only after you bet on yourself.

I had just finished a call with my friend, Sheldon, about my decision to carve my own career path when an email popped into my inbox. The startup that offered me a job that I declined emailed me with a new offer that is exactly the role I asked for during the interview process. After I turned down the previous offer, I made the decision to build my own dreams rather build someone else’s. This offer tested my resolve. Without batting an eye, I thanked the startup and told them about my choice to double down on my own ideas and projects. The gut always knows and for the first time, I listened to it unequivocally.

Clarity about our own abilities and the value of our time radically simplifies our decision process. I know the road ahead of me will be rocky. There will be bumps, bangs, and bruises, and I will learn from every single one of them. I’ll be stronger, braver, and more capable for taking this path. I know that my future is safest in my own two hands. Yours is, too. Believe it. Your time is finite; your potential isn’t. Bet on you.