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Brain Circuits
Where you look is where you go: Advice from the Saskatchewan Drivers’ Handbook
2025 could be summed up as “OMG, did that really happen, too?” As the new year begins, it’s tempting to focus on battening down the hatches and mitigating the uncertainties. Instead, says Amy Bonsall, focus on where you want to go, not the obstacles around you.
The Saskatchewan Drivers’ Handbook
The Saskatchewan Drivers’ Handbook emphasizes that it’s imperative to focus on the road ahead, not potential hazards. It’s not that you should ignore any stray cats, but rather that you’ll arrive faster and in better health (as will all wandering felines) if you’re aware of the obstacles but focused on your destination.
In fact, this is a basic tenet of any physical activity. The Inner Game of Tennis (a 50-year-old classic described by Bill Gates as “the best book on tennis that I have ever read [with] profound advice [that] applies to many other parts of life”) advises exactly this: know your direction and trust your body to get there. When you serve, focus on where you want the ball to land, not the angle of your arm as you swing.
Where you look, your body follows
Even those of us who are bad at sports know this adage to be true. So, why does it feel harder to follow in our careers or work when uncertainty is high?
It’s easy to be inundated with scary messages about the market. “There are no jobs.” “Consumers aren’t spending this year.” There’s not just one stray cat meandering in front of the car – there’s a whole litter. The truth is more nuanced: there are always jobs for the right fit, and people always spend on what matters to them.
Attention determines trajectory – a sound touchstone for when you’re facing uncertainty of any kind.
- Want a new job? List three things that matter most to you and center your search on those. While you’re at it, see if you can make one or two of those things happen where you are right now, because small steps build momentum.
- Facing challenging market uncertainties as a leader? Ask what AI could do to make your processes more efficient or serve your clients better. Pick one possibility and dedicate team time to prototyping it, because what you’ll learn will illuminate the next step.
Key learning
Looking ahead leads to forward momentum and gets you where you want to be faster: you create the future by focusing on it.
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