{"id":1047,"date":"2025-10-17T21:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/?p=1047"},"modified":"2025-10-19T20:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:15:12","slug":"a-vocabulary-for-moving-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/?p=1047","title":{"rendered":"A vocabulary for moving forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 (&#8216;business models&#8217; became &#8216;models&#8217;; &#8216;art&#8217; became &#8216;arts&#8217;, &#8216;potry&#8217; became &#8216;poetics&#8217; and &#8216;lodged&#8217; was extended into &#8216;nested&#8217;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This still gives me a flexible and supportive vocabulary with which to think my way forward towards 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>fragments\u00a0\u00a0aspects\u00a0\u00a0flexibility\u00a0\u00a0constructions\u00a0\u00a0linkages\u00a0\u00a0networks\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 contemporary\u00a0 arts\u00a0 writings\u00a0\u00a0poetics\u00a0\u00a0creativity\u00a0\u00a0careers\u00a0\u00a0public\u00a0\u00a0curated\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 content\u00a0 transitional\u00a0\u00a0developmental\u00a0\u00a0progress\u00a0\u00a0photography\u00a0\u00a0authenticity serendipity\u00a0\u00a0exploration wanderings\u00a0\u00a0walking\u00a0\u00a0capacities\u00a0\u00a0capabilities\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 support\u00a0\u00a0simplicity\u00a0\u00a0expertise consistency\u00a0\u00a0aspirations\u00a0\u00a0puzzling\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0research\u00a0 knowing\u00a0\u00a0evidence\u00a0\u00a0what might work outcomes\u00a0\u00a0impacts\u00a0\u00a0innovatory\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 understandings\u00a0\u00a0interpretations solutions imagery\u00a0\u00a0 being\/doing\u00a0\u00a0 models\u00a0\u00a0enterprise conversations\u00a0\u00a0policy implementation\u00a0\u00a0 multi)layered\u00a0\u00a0representations\u00a0\u00a0ideas\u00a0\u00a0people\u00a0\u00a0ethnography social practices\u00a0\u00a0emergence\u00a0\u00a0ambiguity\u00a0\u00a0complexity\u00a0 uncertainty\u00a0\u00a0contingency structurings\u00a0\u00a0regeneration\u00a0\u00a0renewal\u00a0\u00a0reshaping\u00a0\u00a0 organisation\u00a0\u00a0leadership managing\u00a0\u00a0places\u00a0\u00a0spaces\u00a0\u00a0locations\u00a0\u00a0neighbourhoods\u00a0\u00a0cities\u00a0\u00a0urban\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 resilience smart\u00a0\u00a0hesitancy\u00a0 doubt\u00a0\u00a0maps\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0landscapes\u00a0\u00a0meanings\u00a0\u00a0sense-making\u00a0\u00a0storytelling meanings\u00a0\u00a0histories\u00a0 cultures\u00a0 identities\u00a0\u00a0wellbeing\u00a0\u00a0 flourishing\u00a0\u00a0interesting thoughtfulness\u00a0\u00a0reliability\u00a0\u00a0responsibilities\u00a0\u00a0value\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 gain\u00a0\u00a0changing\u00a0\u00a0thinking forward\u00a0\u00a0differences\u00a0 worth\u00a0\u00a0reportings\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 recordings\u00a0\u00a0(non) fictions\u00a0 archive lodged\/nested\u00a0\u00a0pursuit\u00a0\u00a0concern\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 outputs\u00a0 eclectic\u00a0\u00a0broad-based\u00a0\u00a0geographies psychological\u00a0\u00a0personalities\u00a0design\u00a0\u00a0features\u00a0\u00a0electronic\u00a0\u00a0publication\u00a0\u00a0readings peripheral\u00a0\u00a0usability  documenting\u00a0 articles notions plannings\u00a0\u00a0 contributions made\u00a0Birmingham\u00a0\u00a0engaging\u00a0\u00a0globalisation\u00a0\u00a0 scale\/pace\u00a0\u00a0learning\u00a0 pull\/push up\/down\/across\u00a0 shared\u00a0\u00a0existences\u00a0\u00a0alternative\u00a0 future\u00a0 picturings\u00a0\u00a0 granularity services\u00a0\u00a0employability\u00a0 caring\/careful\u00a0\u00a0quality\/qualities\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 observations\u00a0\u00a0accounts journeying\u00a0\u00a0resource(s)\/fulness\u00a0 state(s)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sides\/edges\u00a0\u00a0gaps\u00a0\u00a0changes\/changing patterns\u00a0\u00a0 range\u00a0\u00a0 variety\u00a0\u00a0 constellation quirkiness\u00a0\u00a0extending\u00a0\u00a0framework\u00a0\u00a0inter-connected\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 conceptual\u00a0 relational\u00a0\u00a0real\/virtual\u00a0\u00a0indicators\u00a0\u00a0options\/choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1047"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1070,"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordsthething.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}