“It is a mistake to look too far ahead.  Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.”  - Winston Churchill

The Chain of Destiny

“I have a son here.” – Derald Anderson said.

“Our grandkids are here.” Alicia Short agreed.

Both have a reason, a link, a plan for today and tomorrow.

Planning for the future is important.  That’s for sure.  When planning for the future, people often concentrate their efforts on what they want to accomplish in their work, or what they want to be able to purchase.  It is focused on self.  Yet, Derald and Alicia laid bare another kind of planning for the future related to humankind's greatest asset.  The human asset.

People are the creators of value.  After all, without people there would be no one to manufacture goods for.  No one to create art for.  No one to appreciate natural beauty.  Perhaps that why most people live in a congregated environment, assembling themselves in cities, large and small.  Such amalgamation is the most efficient way to personally benefit from the unique individual skills offered by other people.

It’s also a showcase of hopes and dreams.  A place where a person can frequently observe new, personally unthought of, potential futures just by watching what other people have or are already doing.  It all works together to allow all participants to conjure new mental pathways for dreaming the way into a better personal future.  Yet, Derald and Alicia are participating in a different kind of planning for the future.

They have decided to consciously forego many of the more alluring benefits offered by a solely unipersonal form of planning.  They have discovered the power of living now, in what Winston Churchill called ‘the chain of destiny.”  They’ve discovered the power of Multigenerational Link Strengthening.

Multigenerational Link Strengthening is planning for the future, beyond the unipersonal.  And, it requires the mastery of at least four critical interlocking qualities to succeed.

First, see beyond yourself.  Look to become closer to the younger, contemporary and older people you love the most.  Concentrate on giving of yourself to them.  Help them meet their own personal goals and dreams by participating with them each day.  In short, give them your greatest asset, your time.

Second, interact with tomorrow, within the current moment.  We’re talking about more than one current moment and more than one future here.  For example, if you are actively engaged in seeing beyond yourself with another person, you have effectively doubled the current moment and the coming future, right now.  Think about it.  Consider its possibilities.

Third, create stronger interpersonal relationships.  The Chain of Destiny is strengthened one link at a time.  Winston Churchill said, “It is a mistake to look too far ahead.  Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.”  If you truly want to have greater success, focus on one relationship, in the current moment.

Finally, glimpse an unseen, yet participatory-planned-future.  Alicia and Derald have chosen to focus their current moments with younger loved ones.  Alicia once told me, “My greatest joy is to see the growth of my grandkids, moment by moment.  Sometimes they offer me a glimpse of what they’re capable of, what they’re becoming.  It is the most satisfying thing I could ever imagine!  It allows me to feel expanded, part of something much greater and longer lasting than my individual, short life span could ever offer.”

“I have a son here.” – Derald Anderson said.

“Our grandkids are here.” Alicia Short agreed.

They are living a participatory-planned-future, one link at a time. Both have firm grip on the Chain of Destiny.