Here’s a powerful truth: every one of us lives in a self created space.

You could say it’s your Ispace, in the sense that it reflects and manifests your individual uniqueness, values, essence and accomplishments.

Essentially a fusion of your past, present and imagined future, your Ispace runs your life. It informs, shapes, spends and directs you, intentionally or not. Every one of us is a combination of ancient, modern and future in that we tend to either live in yesterday, today or tomorrow. We do this at least in our minds if not in our daily lives. For example, you may be strongly attracted to “retro” trends, your heroes are all people from the past – ancient – but you also love sci-fi and anything to do with the future. The place you least enjoy is today’s world. You would then be an ancient/future/modern. Or maybe you spend eighty percent of your time imagining what the world will look like two hundred years from now, with the remaining twenty percent given to studying Roman history. You would be future/future/ancient. This would tell me a lot about your personality, where your needs lie, and what it could take to keep you inspired and fruitful.

As a Culturalist, I’m always fascinated to discover and understand people’s Ispace. Not only does it help me appreciate where they’re coming from, it also better equips us as leaders to make sure we’re placing people in the right seat on the bus. For example, I wouldn’t put an ancient/ancient/modern in charge of the IT department! And I definitely wouldn’t hand the HR role to a future/future/ancient.

Which combination makes up your own Ispace? The way you can discover, better understand and even appreciate your combination is by answering some key questions:
Imagination: where do you spend most time in your mind when you daydream?
Heroes: across all of history, who would you most want to be?
Possibility: if you had total freedom to choose, what would you most desire to do?
Practice: how have you spent your time and money over the years?
Legacy: look back at how these four things have actually played themselves out in your life to create your present Ispace. You may be surprised by what you discover ..

Allow me to suggest a fun, informative and helpful exercise. Whatever context you work in, get your teammates together around a great meal and do this:
1. Each of you write down what the combination of your own Ispace looks like.
2. Have each team member write down what they think the Ispace of every over member is.
3. Go around the table and share what you wrote about yourself and about them.

Trust me, it’ll be rewarding, encouraging, depressing and liberating! And please share your experience in the comments below.

With respect from a future/ancient/modern.