50 Life Lessons from a 50 Year Old Futurist

In late-2022 I turned 50 years old. Definitely a milestone and – I’ll be honest – it feels like I am just getting started. As I reflect on life and my work as a futurist I want to share 50 short and simple lessons from my life that have fed the passion to explore a life full of love, and imagine incredible futures.

1. Have humility and gratitude
2. Trust your gut
3. Share your excitement
4. Do not say ‘yes’ to every opportunity. Qualify.
5. Don’t bother with low value social networks – Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snap are all garbage corporate surveillance tools.
6. Do get that tattoo
7. Do get microchipped
8. Become friends with your clients and offer insights and help often
9. Be pro renewable energy and the circular economy
10. See the potential for change in everyone
11. Drive electric
12. Build and nurture community
13. Write every damn day
14. Invest in therapy
15. Try shamanic journeying at least once in your life
16. Develop your skills as a cook
17. Spend more on clothes and waste less
18. Invest and be excited about art
19. Embrace the countercultures that usher in changes in how the world thinks – music, street art/graffiti, fashion etc.
20. Learn from the dystopian stories and realities in which we live
21. Know that futurism is activism
22. Smash racism and sexism
23. Promote women and elders ahead of you
24. Listen to the kids – they are wiser than we ever will be
25. Read ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’
26. Wake early and sleep early
27. Realize that you can lose everything and be comfortable with nothing
28. Meditate
29. Ride bikes
30. Snowboard and/or ski
31. Promise nothing, deliver over and above expectations
32. Realize that everyone will underestimate you
33. Create understanding and tolerance
34. Know that love is real
35. Eat more plant-based foods
36. Enjoy that steak
37. Be real about where food comes from and always choose organic
38. Know that serendipity and magic are real
39. Embrace play
40. Exercise
41. Listen to a wide variety of music – popular to noise to jazz to ambient to hardcore-math-tech-death-metal (and always David Bowie)
42. Celebrate the craft of storytelling and cinema
43. Have a ‘tickle trunk’ and get lost in a forest with 4000 other people
44. Dance
45. Walk in nature often
46. Invest in lifelong friendships
47. Know that this too shall pass
48. Develop your own style and never falter from that path
49. Know that there are infinite futures
50. Embrace deep, lasting love

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Nikolas Badminton is the Chief Futurist at futurist.com. He’s a world-renowned futurist speaker, consultant, author, media producer, and executive advisor that has spoken to, and worked with, over 300 of the world’s most impactful organizations and governments. He helps shape the visions that shape impactful organizations, trillion-dollar companies, progressive governments, and 200+ billion dollar investment funds.

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Please contact futurist speaker and consultant Nikolas Badminton to discuss your engagement