Contours of Tomorrow

May 13, 2025

It’s graduation season again. You can almost hear the folding chairs creaking in the gym, the buzz of nervous energy, the speeches echoing off the walls of rented stages on football fields. Caps are tossed, cameras are out, families are tearing up. It’s a beautiful, chaotic rite of passage.

Every year around this time, I think back to the graduations I’ve been part of—some as a student, more as a guest. And I think about the speeches. Most of them were well-intentioned, some even moving. But honestly? They tend to blur together. Same themes. Same advice. Reach for the stars. Follow your passion. Change the world.

Still, every now and then, I catch myself wondering what I’d say if someone handed me the mic. What would I offer to a younger version of myself—or to someone just about to take their next leap?

I think it would sound a lot like The Contours of Tomorrow.

At its core, the philosophy behind Contours is simple: the future isn’t something we wait for. It’s something we help shape.

There’s something unique about us as humans. Scientists have tried to define it—tool users, storytellers, thinkers. But other animals use tools. They communicate. They even show signs of dreaming. A lot of the lines we thought made us “special” have faded over time.

But one thing still stands out: we imagine things that don’t exist yet, and then we build them.

We look at a stretch of empty land and picture a home. We stare at a blank page and start writing. We think, “What if?” and then—crucially—we act. That ability to imagine a different future and then work toward it is hardwired into us. It’s how we lit our first fires. It’s how we built cities. It’s how we keep going.

Now, to be clear—I don’t buy into the idea that you can manifest your dream life just by wishing hard enough. This isn’t The Secret. That kind of magical thinking feels like a shortcut that skips the best part: the doing.

What I do believe is even better.

You don’t need magic. The real power is already in your hands. You have the ability to picture something better—and then take steps, even small ones, to move in that direction. It won’t always be fast or easy, but it’s real. The future shifts based on what you do today.

And that’s the part I wish more graduation speeches emphasized. You don’t have to wait for a eureka moment or a grand plan. You don’t have to know exactly where you’re going. What matters is starting. Taking that next step. Making one good choice, then another.

The world changes more through thousands of quiet, purposeful actions than it does from a handful of headline-making breakthroughs. So yeah, dream big. But also: act small. Start where you are. Use what you have. Move the needle—even if it’s just by a little.

You don’t have to change the whole world. Just focus on your part of it. The future isn’t handed to you—it’s something you help build. One choice, one effort, one day at a time.

So if this is your graduation season, or even just a new chapter in your life, here’s the real takeaway: don’t wait. Don’t drift. Don’t assume tomorrow will take care of itself. You get to shape it. And it starts now.