Steve Jobs, Connecting the Dots - Forward and Back
Jobs once said that you can't connect the dots looking forward, and the only way is to look back. However you can plant the seeds for dots to appear in your life.
This harkens back to the idea of "Phases" that I talk about in the 🧠 PIOS Omni-Brain, or Knowledge Management posts. Really because I knew that each person in the world did more than one thing, at least a career and hobby. They are at minimum a bimath, if not polymathic. Thus they need a way to visualize planning more than one endeavor.
I created the Phases concept to be a structure of planning out areas of interest, and/or areas of knowledge in life.
This is sort of a sequel post to this one:
The Concept of Connecting the Dots
You never one when one small situation or event that occurred in your life, will proliferate into something greater.
The consequences of every event are hidden to us, until they happen. That is the linear flow of time, and we can't change that. Thus how much we pay attention to them in the moment is crucial, and then reflection after the fact as well.
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward”
Think of the "seers" of old, the prophets, the fortune tellers. They were scam artists right? Right? Presumably so, and logically that makes a lot of sense to categorize all of those services as tricksters or snake oil. However like any industry, there are the ones who try to squander it by scamming people. Marketing is an honorable field, but there are a plethora of marketers who demean the whole industry with their tactics.
My point is that there may have been people who could to a degree, accurately guess where your trajectory was going. I would like to think it came from a more scientific understanding. Such as body language, listening to the person's story, and maybe even just intuition. Thus in their exchange the fortuneteller could then tell the person if they stay down "this path", that it then will come true.
As in they estimated what dots this person had in front of them, and the person themselves couldn't think big picture enough or understand it well enough. That they needed the "perhaps scammer" to show it to them.
Why I think you CAN connect forward
Again, there is this lingering feeling that predictive algorithms or systematic thinking could theoretically help you see the dots looking forward. It ISN'T seeing the future, rather it is simply quick visualization of what the possible futures could be. Then narrowing it down to the positive ones, and aiming your actions towards though.
Active planning is simply a byproduct of this, and people do it all the time. However they may not realize the implications of it on the grander scale. This post isn't a woo-woo, the stars will tell us, kind of thing. Though I can see some people interpreting it as that.
Why I think it is important!
I simply want to highlight that the actions you take now, in the present moment, are manifesting the dots currently. They also manifest the outcomes that will then later become the dots that you connect looking back.
It is a cycle, and it is predictable to some degree. If you can even achieve 1-10% predictability. Imagine what sort of outcomes you can then pursue, but with active persuasion of the dots of the future?
Applying the “Connecting the Dots” Philosophy to Your Own Path
Look you gotta listen to Steve too on this one, he talks about looking back, and not enough people take the time to do that. I am simply trying to exclaim that you CAN do it forward, to some degree.
I want you doing BOTH. However you need to look back on the connecting dots of your life to truly understand.