A Simple Rationale to Uncover Future Trends

It’s no secret that our tastes and habits are constantly changing.  This change is driven in part by our innate desire for novelty but also largely by technology and the marketer’s need to constantly sell us new stuff.

Many times, our preferences and actions seem random…  Green sofas are popular one decade but not the next.  We all of a sudden become infatuated with pilates.  Whole Foods builds an organic food empire in the face of government-subsidized factory foods.

Curiously, what seems random at surface level many times is far from it.  If you look back over the course of history, distinct patterns start to emerge.

One such pattern is what I’m calling my “Bellbottom Theory of the Future.”

Trends and changes may be influenced by technology, business, and politics, but they almost always revolve around one thing:  dichotomies.

di•chot•o•my (noun) — a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

Here are a few examples:

1) Bellbottoms vs. Skinny Jeans — We often hear fashionistas refer to some article of clothing as “back in style,” but we never think anything of the saying at the time.

What this means is nothing is ever really that new…  It’s just a derivation of something that already happened in the past.

Take bellbottoms, for example.  These loose-fitting pants were all the rage in the 70s.  Guess what?  One decade later, you were considered a loser if you weren’t wearing skinny jeans.

With that in mind, it probably comes as no surprise that once again, lose-fitting, flared clothing is roaring back into style.

• Dichotomy:  loose style –> tighter fit –> loose style

2) Collective Transit vs. Car Ownership — Since I live in one of the most traffic-ridden metros in the US, I’m constantly battling the phenomenon of way too many cars in way too small of an area.

When you brainstorm solutions to this problem, what company likely comes to mind?  Uber.

Ride-sharing is tremendous.  But when you think about it, it’s not that new.  It just lies in stark contrast to what we have been used to for decades and decades (driving our own cars).

People have hitchhiked since the days we rode around on horses.  Cubans in Havana would laugh at Uber Pool because they’ve paid for collective rides since cars first appeared in their country.

Technology no doubt facilitated this process and took it to a whole new level.  However, what we’re witnessing at its core is nothing more than a transition between contrasting approaches.

• Dichotomy:  collective transit –> individual transit –> collective transit
  

3) Personal vs. Impersonal — Back in the day, there were two ways to interact with people:  face-to-face or via handwritten letters.  People talked amongst themselves because there was quite literally nothing else to do.

Then came telegraphs.  And before too long we had phones, videos, texting, emails, SnapChat, etc, etc, etc.

We’re now at a point where we have so many ways to communicate that we don’t even know what it means to communicate with other humans anymore.  Oh, the irony.

The pendulum started at one extreme and is now reaching the opposite end of the spectrum.

I’m convinced — in accordance with my theory — the next 5 years will give rise to a re-focus on the human element of conversation.  We’re already starting to see this trend come to fruition.

• Dichotomy:  personal –> impersonal –> personal

Friends, there are so many real-life examples of contrasting trends across history I couldn’t possibly highlight all of them in this short article — global vs. domestic, physical stores vs. e-commerce, guerrilla vs. formation combat, images vs. text, macro vs. hyper-local.  The list goes on and on…

I’m fully aware what I’m proposing with dichotomies and my “Bellbottom Theory of the Future” doesn’t provide the answer to all of life’s questions.  But it certainly helps us to better understand the world around us — or at least look at it through a different lens.

I encourage you to think about contrasting trends as they apply to your own life as well.  I guarantee you will start to spot dichotomies as you anticipate the future for your business, fashion, personal life, and more.

Happy predicting.  See you next Sunday at 8:30pm.  🙂