“The very best way to become a futurist is to hang around until tomorrow shows up. Of course, once tomorrow becomes now, other people will probably dismiss that wonderful day as being merely ‘the present’.” once said Bruce Sterling.
Although suggestions like this may seem ridiculous, they have the key factor of futures profession in their essence that is hidden in the marvelous function of time. In fact we all can be futurists as we always live in the future! It is simple: the current moment is just the future of past moments!    
Becoming a professional futurist is undoubtedly something rather than practicing a glamorous and exciting job. One of the reasons that make futuring an awesome occupation is that you may not apply your past experience fully in this new job. Becoming a professional futurist is never like being a physician or a lawyer. On the other hand, there is no regulating institute which decides who is or is not a futurist. It sounds good? Perhaps it does! So what is it really like to be a
professional futurist?
I have summarized essential points that a pro should remember or do to accomplish his/her mission as a real futurist. The list may not be a comprehensive one, yet it covers many of the most needed necessities: 

1. Remember that the futurists aim to raise the level of human consciousness about the oneness of humanity. People today are part of a global society and, whether they like it or not, they share a common fate.

2. To become a futurist, imagine alternative possible futures and try to assess which futures would be most probable under a variety of conditions, including alternative actions that people might take.

3. Your main duty as a futurist is to add tools and knowledge that help people design and shape the future, to help them achieve good futures for themselves, and, most generally, for all humankind.

4. As a futurist you may use available knowledge from any field of learning and invent or adapt some methodological techniques distinctively aimed at the exploration of alternative futures.

5. Asking the right questions is the highest art of becoming a futurist. The right answers can only be found if we ask the right questions.

6. Refuse to answer those futuristic questions you have not proper answers for them.

7. Ask yourself: “Can I create the tools and methods for conscious evolution?”

8. Ask yourself: “Can I help change and influence the future in a meaningful way?”

9. Also ask yourself: “Which trends will be dominant for the next ten years?”

10. The Delphi oracle had the words “KNOW YOURSELF!” above its entrance. Do you know yourself?

11. Build your personal think tank and develop your unique way of thinking about the future.

12. Target a distinguished futurist journal and publish your articles there.

13. Attend futurist events especially those which meet your professional needs and areas of activities.

14. Remember that your task is not predicting the future, but refine your past forecasts periodically.

15. Arrange foresights for your life in next 1, 5 and 10 years.

16. Meet with other futurists especially those who may give you a new idea regarding the future.

17. Learn to be more patient for the present and even more for the future.

18. Focus on what the people want to know about the future of their life and job, if you want to market your ideas.

19. Market your books, articles, ideas and even comments you have made in different places, including futurists weblogs.

20. Activate your profile at futurist networks by posting new articles or commenting on others’ posts.

21. Depend on your own goals, interests and agenda and do not let others interrupt you by their sudden and usually baseless thoughts.

22. Your most noble task as a futurist just as the American futurist Bruce Sterling has said is “to predict the present”.

23. Focus on the future in order to redirect attention to the present and create a kind of self-evaluation of society.

24. Improve your ability to change or so-called “future fitness”.

25. Provide images, analysis and “truths” at a meta-level. This will be your job for a long time.

26. Create a vision as “a taste for the potential of the future”.

27. Think about rewriting the social contracts in your society in the era of knowledge economy.

28. Imagine free work from the claws of its old dependency on salary.

29. Remember that the future is created out of consciousness and a process of clarification. The unconscious is transformed into the conscious and acts.

30. Think about a reliable and simple system for communicating ideas about the future from this generation to next generations.

 

Notes:
1. Strathern, Onna. "A Brief History of the Future", Robinson, London, 2007
2. Bell, Wendell. On Becoming and Being a Futurist: An Interview with Wendell Bell, Journal of Futures Studies, November 2005, 10(2): 113 - 124