Welcome to the Personal Futures Network! Methods for learning about the future have been available and in use by businesses for decades, but the process has simply been too complex for most individuals. The Personal Futures Network introduces some new, easily understood approaches that will help you to think like a futurist and learn about your personal futures. Think like a futurist? What does that really mean, think like a futurist? Well, each futurist may have some different thoughts, but generally futurists think about longer term futures, usually 10 or more years ahead. Futurists believe that the future is not predetermined, but that several futures are possible. If several futures are possible, then one of those futures may be better than the others, or a "preferred" future. Very important; futurists believe that individuals or groups can take actions in the present that will help determine the future. That brief paragraph helps explain why most futurists don't make predictions about the future, but rather suggest multiple possible futures, often in the form of "scenarios" or stories about the future. The next page, Personal Futures offers a brief outline showing how to use futures methods to explore and prepare for YOUR future in three steps: Understand your life Explore plausible futures (personal scenarios) Plan to achieve the future you want (personal strategic planning) Pages on this web site The PERSONAL FUTURES page describes the overall process of exploring your own future, including the three key steps: Personal Research, Creating Personal Scenarios and Developing a Strategic Plan that will lead you to the future you have chosen. The LIFE STAGES page is the first step in understanding the rest of your life and the lives of your family members. Here you will develop images of your future. The PERSONAL DOMAINS page describes and explains the six primary driving forces in your life. Here you will learn how each of these forces will affect your future. The LIFE EVENTS page discusses events that will probably occur in your life that can, in many cases be anticipated. This section helps you to understand the different kinds of life events and which events you should prepare for. The FOUR SCENARIOS page will show you how to create scenarios and stories about your futures. With the information from your personal framework you will construct four scenarios that describe your plausible (including one about wild cards) futures. The STRATEGIC PLAN page is where you will create a vision of your future, then develop plans and strategies to achieve that future. Then you will create contingency plans, just in case a wild card pops up The AUTHOR page explains the who, how and why relating to the creation and future of this site The DOWNLOADS pages offer  the most recent version of the Personal Futures Workbook as well as the new  Small Business Foresight workbook. These downloads are free. The BOOKS AND ARTICLES page lists some books and articles theat you may find interesting and helpful as you explore the future. Links to web sites that relate to Personal Futures will also be on this page. Personal Learning  Personal Futures offers three types of learning: Learn about your own future Learn to think long term Learn to use futures methods These three types of learning are important not only in your personal life, but also in your career. Explore this site, and see what you think. Verne Wheelwright, Istanbul, November 2008

WINNER! APF 2012 "Most Important Futures Work" Get Ready for YOUR Future! This site is about planning for your future. You will find a system that uses the same methods that futurists have used for decades in business and government. This is not advice about how to run your life, but  methods and tools that will let you anticipate and plan for your future. . APF judges select It’s YOUR Future... Make It A Good One! as "Most Important Futures Work" for 2012 The Association of Professional Futurists announced awards at the World Future Society conference in Toronto on July 28, presenting an award certificate to author Verne Wheelwright, PhD. The international panel of judges selected It’s YOUR Future... Make It A Good One! as the "Most Important Futures Work" for 2012. . This book is the "how and why" of Personal Futures. Each chapter explores concepts and methods for exploring the future, then shows how to apply those methods in your own life. Examples are provided, showing how to fill in worksheets in the workbook. Over 100 diagrams, tables and examples are included. At the end, you should have a good understanding of futures concepts and methods; tools that you can use for the rest of your life. It's YOUR Future... is now available in paperback at most online bookstores and at www.vernewheelwright.com.  as well as on this site. Click on the picture of the book below to view the table of contents and read the first chapter or order the book. Author Wheelwright will sign books that are ordered from this web site. . Free Workbooks The Personal Futures Workbook will lead you step-by-step through the personal futuring process. The new Small Business Foresight workbook ill do the same for your business. Visit the "Free Downloads" page and the "Small Business Foresight" pages.  The free download makes these workbooks available to everyone, everywhere, at the same price, free. These  new editions include new worksheets, more graphics, and parallel the book, It's YOUR Future... Make it a Good One! The Workbooks are in PDF, so you can fill in and save your information on your computer. Translations of the Personal Futures Workbook are available in Spanish and German. Now Available in Spanish and Turkish!  It's YOUR Future... Make it a Good One! has been translated into Spanish and Turkish and is now available at www.Amazon.com and most other on-line bookstores. O Senin Gelecegin is the Turkish title, translated by Ufuk Tarhan and Fusun Kilicturgay, with a forward by Ufuk Tarhan. Paperback books are available now at Amazon.com, with E-books to follow later. Es TU Futuro is the Spanish title, translated by Dra. Guillermina Baena Paz and Psic. Alethia Berenice Montero, with a forward by Dra. Baena Paz. Paperback books area available now on Amazon.com, and E-books will follow soon. Other translations are underway, and an audio book (English) is being edited now and prepared for release in the near future. Click on the picture to see the author's web site in a separate window. INTERNATIONAL price is $30.00 and includes Priority Mail postage. U.S. price is $20.00 and includes postage in the U.S. A short video  While at the World Future Society conference in Toronto last July, Olivier Esclauze from France interviewed me about the course in Personal Futures I was developing for a French university. On the same YouTune site you will find interviews with a several well known futurists. Click HERE To view a short video filmed at the Toronto WFS conference in July. Speaking about the future... Over the past several years, groups have contacted me and invited me to speak about Personal Futures.  I have enjoyed each of those opportunities. As a result of those workshops and presentations, I've developed images and materials to offer a professional presentation.  If you are interested in a speaker for your organization, contact me at verne@personalfutures.net.  While at the World Future Society Conference in Toronto, I was interviewed by Olivier Esclauze, who asked about plans for my lectures for Masters of Foresight and Innovation in France. Here's the video link:http://master-foresight-innovation.fr/team/verne-wheelwright/  I spoke about "Leadership and the Long Term Perspective" at the World HRD Congress in Mumbai Here's a clip from that meeting on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moy4X2hLoVo . Blogs If you are interested in readingabout the future, I've compiled a list of over 230 blogs about the future or written by futurists from around the world. The list is posted on my personal web site, www.vernewheelwright.com.