A New Year, the Boy Scout Promise, and the Case for Just Getting On With It: Reflections on Dhiraj Mukherjee's episode

By Sandy Glanfield

I’m blaming my New Year state of mind for this. You know the one. That slightly over-hopeful, mildly reflective headspace where everything feels like it might be adjusted, improved, or at least thought about with a bit more intention.

Listening back to this week’s Let’s Reboot the Future conversation, what I found myself honing in on wasn’t so much the headline moments, but something quieter. What Dhiraj was saying about the ethos and principles we gather and carry with us. For him, it was the Boy Scout Promise. That early, simple orientation towards contributing and giving back.

And it made me wonder how many of us carry something similar.

A seed of an idea about how we want to live, or what we feel called to contribute. Sometimes it sits in our hearts as a hopeful nudge. Sometimes it sits rather uncomfortably in our stomachs as guilt for not doing more. Often, it just travels around with us, unnamed but persistent.

In a very on-brand New Year move, I’ve recently downloaded BBC Maestro and have been listening to Oliver Burkman talking about time management. One of the things he points out, which feels uncomfortably familiar, is how often we wait for the right conditions before we act. We’ll do it on the weekend. Except we forget. Oops. Or when we’re not so busy. When does that ever happen? Or perhaps when we retire, which feels like a long way off.

Burkman’s suggestion, which I find liberating, is that we stop waiting. Accept that our time is finite and just get on with it. Find a bit of time today. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but doing a little bit of something makes it real.

That thought kept circling as I reflected on the conversation. It connects with something else I’ve been holding onto, from Rutger Bregman’s Reith Lectures, his rousing wake up to our world. Our actions are needed. Not someday. Now.

This is where the idea of enthusiasm being contagious really comes to life for me. Not enthusiasm as noise or hype, but the kind that’s created when people work together towards a goal. When we notice small wins. When we tell stories about what’s already happening. When one person doing a small thing gives another person permission to do the same.

It feels deeply aligned with the Golden Rule, even if we don’t name it as such. Acting today in a way that recognises others matter. Contributing now, rather than waiting for ideal conditions. Treating the world as if what we do makes a difference, because it does.

Perhaps that’s what those early mottos and principles are really for. Not as lofty ideals, but as reminders. Nudges to act before everything is figured out. To give a little something back today. To contribute in whatever way we can, even if it’s small.

At the start of this year, that feels like a good place to begin. Not with grand resolutions, but with real, imperfect action. Because all of us, giving a little bit back today, can add up to something much bigger than we expect.