In 2010, to guide me along on my fifteen-year creative project (aka Retirement), I set out a grid of words that seemed most important to me at the time. Some words were linked to interests, some to processes.
Referring back to these words, as things moved forward, gave me a sense of being on track to some, as yet unknown, destination; opened up new lines of thinking; and acted as a very loose form of self-assessment around being on the right track.
As time went on, these words influenced my thinking, my approaches to topics, the subjects of my books, and exerted leverage in a number of other ways.
In 2025, as this phase of my creative development was drawing to a close and it was time to pivot on to new adventures over the 2025-30 period, the set of words still seem just as relevant as steering references. Only 4 of the original 135 guiding words were dropped (2025, twitter, undertaking, and -Stans). A few others had minor adjustments (‘business models’ became ‘models’; ‘art’ became ‘arts’, ‘potry’ became ‘poetics’ and ‘lodged’ was extended into ‘nested’).
This still gives me a flexible and supportive vocabulary with which to think my way forward towards 2030.
fragments aspects flexibility constructions linkages networks contemporary arts writings poetics creativity careers public curated content transitional developmental progress photography authenticity serendipity exploration wanderings walking capacities capabilities support simplicity expertise consistency aspirations puzzling research knowing evidence what might work outcomes impacts innovatory understandings interpretations solutions imagery being/doing models enterprise conversations policy implementation multi)layered representations ideas people ethnography social practices emergence ambiguity complexity uncertainty contingency structurings regeneration renewal reshaping organisation leadership managing places spaces locations neighbourhoods cities urban resilience smart hesitancy doubt maps landscapes meanings sense-making storytelling meanings histories cultures identities wellbeing flourishing interesting thoughtfulness reliability responsibilities value gain changing thinking forward differences worth reportings recordings (non) fictions archive lodged/nested pursuit concern outputs eclectic broad-based geographies psychological personalities design features electronic publication readings peripheral usability documenting articles notions plannings contributions made Birmingham engaging globalisation scale/pace learning pull/push up/down/across shared existences alternative future picturings granularity services employability caring/careful quality/qualities observations accounts journeying resource(s)/fulness state(s) sides/edges gaps changes/changing patterns range variety constellation quirkiness extending framework inter-connected conceptual relational real/virtual indicators options/choices.