Raising its nasty head the Sham SyndromeSM is shaking up the bedroom to the boardroom. Hidden for years during Boomer Boomtime, we didn't have to confront this monster laying in wait. Now facing our 40's, 50's and 60's with the window of opportunity shrinking, we find ourselves in a Perfect Storm.

"Is it me?" Don asked. "I guess I'm not the "maverick I thought I was." He sounded just like the SAP ads on TV lately. He's down and worried. How does he ride this "wave" out this time? It's been hard before. He's always picked himself and started again. Only now he confronts the age wave beginning to crest. What does he do next?

Over a Starbucks, Donald, a 55-yr old serial intrepreneur, tells me again how he's got to change jobs or make more money, he's got a cash flow problem, a marriage under siege and two kids in college.

It's no longer just the 6-figure folks feeling the strain of our times, but more and more 8- and 9-figure executives and entrepreneurs bemoaning their lost edge, worrying they will be found out. Read NYT article: It's Not So Easy Being Less Rich

Across the spectrum of success, super stars and leaders fear the once hidden truth about them will be revealed-like the Wizard of Oz, all show and no substance. For the those who have tasted being on the top, falling out of grace - being "found out" - having your persona ripped away, revealing that you are a "loser," not the winner you've pretended to be all these years is a fate feared more than death itself.

None of us are Shams, of course. We've just gotten put on notice by the Universe that a shake up is in progress and we best get very much in sync with ourselves, our dreams, and our times.

Whether it's your business you want to ramp up or you find yourself in a disappearing industry on its last breath or the lone visionary in a den of past-tense wolverines, you must choose consciously. If you allow yourself to be taken over by your unconscious Sham Complex, you will make choices destined to fail.

Let's face it, if the Sham's got your tongue, you can't hear your SoulSpeakSM and your brain goes into freeze-frame mode. So how in the world can you make conscious choices? You certainly can't ride the winners or recognize the losers when you are in the clutches of your Inner Sham.

You can tell when the Sham is taking over: Instead of moving into the future armed with new paradigm thinking and an arsenal of information, strategies and tools, we tend to go back to what has worked in the past. Key word: past.

When we need to step back and pay attention to what is so, we jump into high gear with a reactive flurry of shotgun-like attempts splaying all over, or we get side-swiped one too many times and want to jump ship or get a job.

What we need most is to stay in our groove, not necessarily stay in the same game. For some, it's a matter of taking our bat and ball and going to a different playing field. For all of us, these fleeting times demand greater clarity and razor-edged discernment.

Most important of all, remember that as John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Things don't work like we were told: The shortest distance between two points is a straight-line. Just look at your life and career and I'm sure you'll agree, the only thing that is truly straight-lined is our chronology. The rest is made up of cycles and circuitous routes, most of which are highly synchronistic. But we can miss the cues, the important messengers, if we are weighed down by outmoded thinking and caught up in the stranglehold of the Sham.

The only way to slay the Sham monster is to get in our groove, make sure we are sync with what matters most, and take the time to do a "Reality Check".

Take the time to do your own due diligence - tweak what has to change, learn from past mistakes, and reaffirm your own wisdom. Get back in your own shoes and stand tall. It is only then you will attract in what you need to manifest what you envision.

One caveat, only when we accept that the slow road is the faster road can we get where we want to end up. What a bitch! It takes a whole lot of trust.

For us Boomers and New Sixties, it used to be that we could take leaps and break ingrained paradigms because we always knew there was another trapeze coming and a safety net to break our fall. Reality is setting in now as we face these uncertain times. Now our safety nets are gone and there's no assurance that a new trapeze will come in time, if ever.

The paradigm shift rate is now doubling every decade. Surprisingly few people account for? That idea in their projections.
—	Ray Kurzweil WFS conf. Aug 2004

Rethink safe. It is so easy to go into a kind of paralysis because it becomes so hard to choose our next step and our pathway when we are overwhelmed by choice.

The swings are closer together and of greater intensity. We are being shaken up. We can be buried by it or overtaken by a surge. I'd rather stay ahead of the curve of change.

Most boomers aren't planning to retire…either because they can't yet or because they don't want to…

70% between ages 45 and 70 said they expected to work beyond their traditional retirement years.
—	AARP poll '03

As the perturbations get more intense, you'll need to become an Everday FuturistTM. Key to your staying ahead of the wave of change will be mastering FUTURE SKILLSSM just like the pros . One of those skills sets is to do the required self-assessment and situation analysis so that you can self-correct.

Each of us, in our businesses or job, even in our most significant relationships, needs to do a routine Reality Check to be sure we are on course so we can keep the Sham where it belongs - back in Oz.

I'd like to share one of my futuring exercises with you which reveals profound aha's about what your Success CriteriaSM truly are. Please make it part of your routine check-up.

Once you've tried for yourself, consider doing this for your work and your personal life. Compare notes with your partner and colleagues - even your spouse or significant other. You may be surprised.

This Top 10 Must Have'sSM exercise is deceptively simple. So please don't take this lightly. When the Sham is in play, its important to go back to what's fundamental.

Each of us needs to understand our Inner Sham, embrace change, and gain mastery in futuring, if we are to become agile Future-MakersSM

So if you want to make wise, conscious choices and monetize rock solid tomorrows, you too must become an Everyday FuturistTM.

You can do it, all you need is a hand. We can do it, Mama is gonna see to it! Curtain up! Light the lights! We got nothing to hit but the heights! I can tell, wait and see.
—	Bette Midler Everything's Coming Up Roses