Imagination - The Key to Crossing Bridges Ahead Before Getting to Them
We are told never to cross a bridge until we come to it. But look at the lives of men like Martin Luther King Jnr, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. This world is owned by men who have ‘crossed bridges’ in their imagination far ahead of the crowd. These men crossed bridges way ahead of the societies and times they lived in. Life demands of us to be prepared for our time when it comes. Nothing is more beautiful than the site of a human being fully engaged in purpose when the timing is just right for that purpose. The truth is that in order to be prepared we must be able to cross bridges before we get to them. Crossing bridges before we get to them means having a healthy imagination full of ideas on how we can solve the challenges of today and avoid the obstacles of tomorrow.
I’ve always challenged myself to continually develop the capacity to block out time in my day where I can get into my creative space and do nothing but cross bridges in my imagination. Any thinker should be able to do this. That’s the key to leadership - being able to see farther than everyone else and then communicating the dynamics to those around you. I think that we can all develop that capacity to cross bridges before we come to them. Putting in that extra effort in the beginning will save us from lots of trouble and heart-ache in the latter part of our various missions in life.
