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How To Become Your Future Self
How To Become Your Future Self
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if you look at your present and future selves as two different people, then your
liklihood of making better decisions here and now will improve.
Why is this?
According to research done by Dr. Gilbert of Harvard, people are really bad at
predicting who they will be in the future. The reason is simple: it's far easier to
remember the past than to imagine the future.
Because we don't take the time to imagine the future, we assume that things will
pretty much be the same in ten years as they are now. We even erroneously believe
we will be the same person in ten years as we are right now. Gilbert and others
call this the end of history illusion and what it means is this:
-We recognize that we've gone through some big changes in our past
-We see our current selves as the finished and evolved version of ourselves
-We assume that in the future we will mostly be who we are now
If you look back on who you were ten years ago, you will likely see some
differences. You were probably in a different situation. You probably had different
goals. You likely had different friends and hobbies. Of course, some of what you
were doing is probably still the same as ten years ago.
As people get older, they tend to change less over ten year periods of time.
From age 15 to 35, you're going to seem some big change.
From 25 to 35, you're likely to see some big changes as well.
But from 35 to 45, the rapidity of change tends to slow down for most people.
Why?
According to research on the big 5 Factors of personality, as people age, they ten
to become less and less open to new experiences. They stop seeking novelty and
change. They stop imagining a bigger future. Their past becomes increaingly
prevalent in predicting who they are and will be. Their life becomes increasingly
routine.
Although routines are good for momentum, over time they are very bad for the
brain. The brain thrives on novelty, newness, and challenge. As someone seeking
rapid growth and progress in your life, you have to balance these two conflicts.
You need routines to move forward, but your routines need to continually involve
pushing beyond them. Your routine needs to be continually challenging yourself
beyond what you've ever done before.
The only way to create confidence is by pursuing what you've never done before.
As Dan Sullivan, founder of strategic Coach, said, "Personal confidence comes from
making progress toward goals that are far bigger than your present capabilites."
So, with that backdrop, it's time to start imagining a bigger and better future.
It's time to stop attaching yourself so much to the person you thing you are. It's
time to let go of the notion that your future self is going to be the same as your
present self.
It's just not true.
Your future self will be a different person regardless of effort and intention.
Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. Moreever as Dr. Gilbert explains,
rembmering is easier than imagining.
Albert Einstein said that "Imagination is more important than knoledge."
So the question is, how much imagination are you willing to create in your life?
The rest of this article will provide five powerful strategies for imagining and
creating your desired future:
1. Imagine who you want to be in three years
2. Feel, deeply, what it would feel like to truly be that person
3. Shift as much in your current life to reflect your future self.
4. Expect everything, attach to nothing
5. Measure the gain, not the gap
Let's start:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Imagine
who you want to be in three
years-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset your have.
without having a goal it's difficult to score." - Paul Allen
There is a growing body of research in psychology examining the difference between
our current and our future selves.
What the research shos is that:
- Your current and future selves are indeed two different people
- Viewing your future self as a fundamentally different person allows you to think
about what they would want
--------------------------------------------------------------------Feel deeply
what it would feel like to truly be that
person---------------------------------------------------------------
During your morning mediation/visualization, you want to see your future goals. You
want to see yourself where you ideally want to be. This is an important
distinction. All goals are not really desired outcomes but desired versions of
yourself.
That's all a goal is: a new you.
Your body is a chemical machine that becomes addicted to and accustomed to various
emotional states. Your body then subconsciously acts in ways to reproduct the
emotions it has become habituated to.
So, before you know it, you grab your cellphone and are back scrolling the
newfeeds. You didn't conciously choose to do this. Your body impulsively did it
because when you engage in that particular behavior, gets the chemicals it has
become addicted to.
If you want a new future and new you, then you need new chemicals.
This occurs through:
- Emotion based visualization
- Fresh environments/experiences
- Bold new behaviors
Each of these produces emotions. The new emotions can reset your subconsious
normal. You want and need a new normal because your sense of normal is your identiy
and reality.
Every day, you need to product the desired emotions of your future self. This is
what visualization is all about.
How often do you visualize?
It turns out only 3% of Americans have written goals. Only 1% write their goals
down daily. My guess is far far less than 1% have a vivid vision which they share.
Far less than 1% trigger the emotional state of their future self. Far less than 1%
courageously pursue their future dreams, right here and now.
Will you?
-------------------------------------------------------------------Shift as much in
your current life to reflect your futre
self--------------------------------------------------------------
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Expect everything, Attach to
nothing----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Measure the Gain, not the
gap--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The way to measure your progress is backward agains where you started, not against
your ideal." - Dan Sullivan, THE GAIN AND THE GAP
Every 30 to 90 days, a solid practice that DAn Sullivan teaches his entrepreneurs
in the stratgic coach program is to measure the gain.
Here's how it works:
Every 30 to 90 days, answer these quesetions:
- What were the five biggest wins?
- What about your current situation gives you the most confidence and excitement?
- What are the five jumps or wins in the next 30 to 90 days that will create the
biggest impact>
That first question may be the most importatn. It helps you frame your past ina
postivie way. It helps you selectiley attend to the progress you're making. MOst
people, regardless of their success, focus on the gap. They only see lack. The only
see what they're not doing well.
Of course, having high expectations can be good for preformance But a relentless
insitence that nothing is good enough is also bad for joy and even confidence.
You can keep moving forward in your life while at the same time enjoying the
process. IN fact, research shows that happiness bolsters motivation and success
Other resarch on endurance athletes shows that how they feel while performing
determines how long they can go. It their jaw is clenched and they feel they are
exerting lots of effort, they will burn out faster than those with a loose jaw who
feel calm.
Are you in the gap or the gain?
Are you emotionally attached to outcomes along the way?
Are you incessantly negative, despite your success?
Is happiness always somewhere in the futre, and never here and now?
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conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Success is a joyful process. Change is a joyful process. Without purpose, you will
persih. These five steps will help you achieve your dreams and find joy along the
way.
Enjoy.
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