BETWEEN IMAGINING AND ACTING: How the Brain Builds — Or Blocks — The Future

Between Imagining and Acting

🧠 BETWEEN IMAGINING AND ACTING

How many times have you thought about changing — and actually managed to carry that change through to the end?

Have you ever imagined a complete project, visualised the final outcome and, still, did not manage to get there?

It may have been trying to become more disciplined, healthier, more productive, more aligned with what you want to build. Or even building a house, starting a business, growing a company, presenting a project, studying, moving.

And despite all the effort, not managing to follow through.

Calm down. Do not panic and do not let that frustration take over. This process is common — and deeply human. 💛

And there is a question that often remains unanswered:

If we can imagine the future so clearly, why do we so often fail to act towards it?

The answer is not only in motivation, discipline or willpower.

It lies in the way the brain builds — and executes — the future.

---

🧠 The brain is a simulator of futures

Simulating Futures

The human brain is such a complex and fascinating organ that it was not designed only to react to the present, but also to anticipate, prepare and create future scenarios.

It constantly anticipates, projecting possible scenarios and simulating these future possibilities with different outcomes. And, usually, the one that appears closest to our current capacities tends to become the clearest.

However, the other simulations, no matter how distant they may seem, are still possible — but depend on certain adjustments to be realised.

This entire process of creating and projecting scenarios towards possible realisation is known as Prospection.

Based on past experiences, the brain creates scenarios of what may happen — and, more importantly, who we may become.

This process involves the interaction between:

• Hippocampus → retrieves memories

• Prefrontal Cortex → organises possibilities and decisions

• Default Mode Network → constructs internal narratives

In other words, the brain uses the past not only to remember —

but to simulate the future.

---

⚖️ 2. When imagining helps — and when it paralyses

When Imagining Paralyses

Imagining the future can be extremely powerful — more than we usually realise.

When the scenario feels possible and close, it:

• increases motivation

• activates reward systems

• guides behaviour

But it does not always work this way.

This process depends on internal and external factors, including cognitive resources and environmental conditions.

When the imagined future feels distant, outside realistic capacity, becomes abstract or out of reach, the effect may be the opposite:

• feeling of incapacity

• procrastination

• paralysis

The brain does not react only to the future we imagine —

it reacts to how possible that future feels.

Here lies an important point: creativity also needs to remain grounded in reality.

This is not restricted to the personal context, but also applies to the broader market. Creativity cannot detach from reality, otherwise it may generate frustration, demotivation or even paralysis.

---

🚧 3. The gap between imagining and executing

From Thought to Action

Here we reach one of the most important — and least discussed — points.

IMAGINING IS NOT THE SAME AS EXECUTING.

Imagining primarily activates networks associated with reflection and simulation, such as the Default Mode Network.

Executing, on the other hand, involves:

• Active planning:

  The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) must be engaged to transform what was imagined into a practical and executable plan

  
  

• Motor action:

  The execution of the plan in practice, within one's own capabilities

  
  

• Environmental feedback:

  Understanding how the environment responds to the action and whether it is suitable

  
  

• Continuous behavioural adjustment:

  Learning the limits, progress and constraints required in the plan — and when

This is where many people get stuck.

They can visualise the future, but cannot translate that simulation into concrete behaviour.

Mental planning itself can already generate fatigue. When combined with the difficulty of the first execution and the absence of rewards throughout the process, it makes everything even more challenging.

And without action — and without reward — the brain does not update its predictions.

---

🔄 4. The power of action in the brain

Action Reshapes the Brain

The brain does not change through intention.

It changes through repeated action.

It is repeated execution that activates fundamental processes such as — and especially — Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganise itself over time.

Action generates reaction:

• Sensory feedback

  The brain receives and processes information about how the body responded to the action

  
  

• Behavioural adjustment

  Based on this information, the brain evaluates what is possible and adjusts responses — both biological and emotional

  
  

• Strengthening of neural connections

  With repetition, new connections and adjacent neural circuits are strengthened

  With repetition, new pathways are created.

  
  

And, in some cases, old habits may also be reinforced.

What once required effort gradually becomes automatic.

In addition, action has another crucial effect:

👉 it updates the perception of possibility

When you act, the brain begins to interpret:

“This is possible.”

And this change is not ideological —

it is deeply biological.

⚠️ Warning: Pay Attention to Feedback.

New neural connections and circuits will be created within the individual possibilities of each organism. It is important to recognise that sometimes the body does not respond as expected — and this may be a signal that the plan is not adequate, or that intermediate steps are still required before full execution.

Again, pay attention to the responses of your body, your system, your audience, your client. What is planned cannot be rigid. Adaptation is key.

Because the process of creating new habits can also generate behaviours that fall outside your control or reinforce old, inadequate patterns.

---

🌱 5. Why change is possible in adulthood

Learning is Always Possible

There is a persistent myth that the adult brain is rigid and not very adaptable.

Neuroscience shows exactly the opposite.

Neuroplasticity remains active throughout life.

Do not be afraid — and do not limit your goals because of your biological age.

What changes is not the capacity to adapt —

but the need for intensity and repetition.

The environment shapes behaviour, and experience continuously shapes the brain.

This means:

• new habits can be formed

• old patterns can be modified

As a result, new ways of acting can be learned.

The ability to create, desire change and achieve goals should not — and cannot — be interrupted.

Keeping the mind active, projecting and building the future, is associated with cognitive health and a reduced risk of degenerative diseases over time.

But all of this depends on one central variable:

the power of action.

---

✨ Conclusion

Acting Transforms

The human brain is capable of imagining futures with remarkable richness of detail — at any stage of life.

But imagining may not be enough.

The future you visualise only begins to become real when you interact with the present through action — becoming the protagonist of your own transformation.

Because:

✨ imagining prepares

✨ acting transforms

✨ reacting consolidates

Every small action is a silent update of the brain about who you can become.

And, contrary to what is often believed,

it is not the clarity of the future that changes the brain.

It is the movement towards it.