Future-paced content. An energy drink to readers.

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What I say here is no doctrine, but the chances are high that you would experiment with it the next time you write a piece of content. After the pandemic, I see that many content writers have consciously adopted a highly impactful technique– a natural one. Imaginary writing, somewhat justified by our current and past thinking.

Future pacing. The best writing style that creates energy beyond expectations is future-pacing a reader to a world of new possibilities. We could acknowledge the current state and then set a future state, letting our words pace the reader towards it– just by reading the opening lines. 

Wherever possible, we can write content that future-paces the readers effortlessly. We can enable the right dreams with imaginary wording. For example, the general approach in writing a Case Study on a completed project will not (usually) permit time travel into the futuristic utopia. Readers expect to know the past and review the solved problems. That said, there are several ways to make the readers visualize and feel a new breed of futuristic problems that can be solved in addition to the past ones.

Here is an example from one of my writings, a few years ago, when Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was relatively new. A company that offers RPA solutions wanted content for their website. Let me see if you could extract the oil from it–

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…Your happy four-day workweek employees add a human touch to your business. The customers enjoy the shift in your service-excellence. As it gets to deliver the real value 24/7, your IT infrastructure calls itself an autonomous entity.

Here is how our RPA solution will pave the way into the future, though we do not have a shortcut yet…

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To some, it may appear as sugarcoating, but you know what? The technique will future-pace the readers briefly, let them feel it, bring them back to the moment, and discover the immediate next steps. In the example above, it is a new breed of RPA solutions, as you note. And do you see the point I am making in the opening lines?

1. Workdays in a week shall reduce, but employees will not lose jobs to robots. 
2. Customers enjoy the ease and upright improvement in speed, transparency, and personalization.
3. The infra robots will automate all they can, and companies enter a new business process optimization era.
4. …sure you get it.

If you need one, the caveat is to provoke a realistic-imagination for the readers such that they voluntarily think futuristic. Sounds oxymoronic?

Note: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) uses the future-pacing technique widely to enhance lives, I read. The idea presented here is what I experienced and practiced from childhood to make my “content” sell. I am yet to research the parallels with NLP if I ever will.

Happy future pacing your readers!