The invisible thing that runs us: our dreams

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In the hardest times, the best thing you can do is imagine the impossible and try to bring it to life.

Today I read on a wall in a co-working space: "Our main job is to invent our future and pull it into the present."

I liked that thought. After all, almost everything that feels ordinary today once seemed impossible to someone. There are thousands of examples of that.

And I think this is exactly what politicians, entrepreneurs, public figures, opinion leaders — and yes, we, the managers of apartment buildings — should be doing.

Look at what fills our days. Fixing breakdowns, sorting through complaints, chasing money, negotiating with contractors, solving the problems we didn't get to yesterday. Month after month, year after year.

Now think back: when did we last get the building council together not to discuss yet another problem, but to think about what we want our building to look like in five years? (By the way, this "let's dream" exercise works just as well for a family, a team, or really anywhere.)

I see that my colleagues have grown so used to managing the here and now that they've almost stopped dreaming about the future — not their personal future, but the building's 😉

We'll keep repairing the same engineering systems year after year, arguing (yes, we will, don't worry) about tariffs, and raising money for the next emergency — without ever asking ourselves how to change our whole approach to running the building.

But we could try it differently. Let's try.

For instance: bring the building council together and ask everyone to picture what the building should become in five years. Ban any talk of money, contractors who haven't shown up, and reasons it won't work — and first agree on what we actually want.

Then look at the building's current state and ask three questions:

1. What do we already have that moves us toward that future?
2. What are we missing?
3. What can we change in the next three months?

From that meeting, pick at least three concrete tasks, assign owners and deadlines, and check back in 90 days to see what came of it.

That would be a first small experiment in strategic building management. (Read: in family life, in a team, in any business process.)

I keep thinking that our problem isn't always a lack of money or opportunity. Sometimes we're simply so consumed by today that we don't even try to picture a different future. Sadly, that's true for many of us.

But before you can change anything, you first have to allow yourself to believe it's possible.

And I wonder: how many buildings today have not just an approved annual budget, but a picture of what they should become in five years? Your dreams. And if you haven't done this in a while — now is exactly the time.

Time to put your strategies into words.

The invisible thing that runs us — our dreams 🌿🌿🌿