Current e-Journal
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September 22, 2026
What if it’s actually not difficult?
In this week’s Systems Change Newsletter…
- Invitations and Announcements
- Catalytic Thinking Exercise: What if it’s actually not difficult?
- Resources to Further Your Practice
Invitations & Announcements:
Strengthen Your Board in these Uncertain Times (NEW WEBINAR)
Is your board tackling these tough times with energy and courage? Whether you are facing typical board problems (micromanagement, disengaged board members, overly cautious decisions) or you want to help your board move to the next level, this webinar is for you. Find out more here…
Consultants: Help Your Clients Find More Resources (NEW WEBINAR)
Are your clients reluctant to take action because of lack of funds? This final webinar in our consultants-only series will help you see resources in a whole new light, to guide your clients to resource streams they never thought of. Bonus: These approaches will help grow your business, too! Find out more here…
For U.S. Changemakers: Action Needed
The U.S. Census Bureau is proposing changes that will ignore the existence of millions of U.S. residents. The results for your community will be devastating, as federal funds and congressional district maps are based on those population numbers. The National Council of Nonprofits is fighting this proposal. You can learn more and take action with a simple signature at this link…
Catalytic Thinking Exercise:
It’s Hard. Or Not.
In her weekly email this week, Jill Konrath shared a mantra she has carried her whole life:
Never believe in never.
If ever there was a message we need in social change work, it’s that one. Do you think "that will never work?" Never believe in never.
It reminds us of one of the Pollyanna Principles at the root of Creating the Future’s values:
Unless something is physically impossible, it is possible.
We may believe in a cause. We may be fighting for that cause every day. And yet, we defeat ourselves with so many of our assumptions and beliefs.
- People won’t attend.
- Our board will never agree to that.
- There will never be enough money.
- It’s hard to build trust.
We hear that drumbeat of “It won’t work” during planning sessions, in staff meetings and board meetings, in everyday conversations. That drumbeat creates the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of why we’re not even going to try.
One of Creating the Future’s biggest champions, Bob Moore, puts it this way:
It’s hard. Or not.
We all know people who have faced what we might consider the most difficult of circumstances, yet they rise above it and prevail with grace. And we know others who have faced similar circumstances, who crumble under the pressure. It's hard, or not.
Those messages of what is going to be hard and what will never happen and what is impossible - they are all just stories we tell ourselves, that we have come to believe as “the truth.” In fact, though, those assumptions are just that – assumptions.
As Catalytic Thinking reminds us, those assumptions are actually the answers to questions we don’t even realize we’re answering. Those questions might be “Will we fail?” or “Will someone really fund this?” or “Has it been done before?” or “Will we look foolish?” or a whole host of other self-doubt questions.
Here’s what that means for your social change efforts:
By changing the questions you’re asking, you can shift from “That will never happen” and “That will be hard,” to “What will it take?”
That simple shift reminds us of one more quote, this one from Catalytic Thinking practitioner, Elaine Capes.
Future me knows how to do this.
So let’s all be “future me.” Let’s figure out what it will take for you to get past “never” and “that will be hard” and “that’s impossible.” Let’s figure out what it will take for you to make the future you envision an achievable reality.
Try this
The first set of questions to help you get past the assumptions that stop you is this:
What if it’s not true?
What could that make possible?
Breathing in the answer to those questions, you will begin to see through the lens of possibility. You’ll begin to see that there may be more than one way to think about that thing you believe is impossible. From there, you can ask the Conditions for Success questions of Catalytic Thinking:
People won’t listen.
What would it take for them to listen? What would need to be in place?
People won’t attend.
What would it take for them to attend? What would need to be in place?
People are over-engaged.
What would it take for them to engage? What would need to be in place?
Often we don’t actually know what it would take, because our assumptions have shut down the conversation before we even take that next step.
- We haven’t pursued it, because we believe it will never work. (Never believe in never).
- We haven’t pursued it because it is impossible. (Unless it’s physically impossible, it’s possible.)
- We haven’t pursued it because it will be hard. (It’s hard. Or not.)
- We haven’t pursued it because we don’t know how. (Future me knows how to do this!)
That’s where the power of “What would it take?” comes in. Because future you DOES know how to do this. Because it’s NOT physically impossible. Because it may be hard, or it may not be hard. That single question can shift your thinking from “never” to “maybe” to “YES WE CAN!”
Right now, your community needs you to step beyond all those stories of can’t, to be a champion for what is possible.
By asking that simple question, “What would it take?” you can get past those self-defeating beliefs and assumptions. And you can start stepping into your power to create the future your community deserves, all via the questions of Catalytic Thinking.
- WATCH: Some great examples of moving from “it’s hard” to “it’s possible.” Watch here…
- READ: A list of questions to help you determine what it will take. Get the list here…
- LISTEN: Stories of what is possible when you align your changemaker efforts with the community’s vision and values. Listen here… in new tab)
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