How can I think about now and the future at the same time?
I got asked this a few months ago:
How can I think about now and the future at the same time?
A lot of us can think about the now.
“I fancy a chocolate bar”, “I think I could do with a glass of wine”, “I'm going to go read a book” or “I’m going to stay in bed a bit longer”.
A lot of us can then think about the future.
“In 10 years' time I have a multi-million-pound business”, “In 3 years' time I am married” or “In 6 months' time I have a 6-pack".
How do we think about both at the same time?
Firstly, take your goal.
Secondly, what's your reason why, to have your goal.
Before being a Business Communication Coach, I was a personal trainer. I worked a lot around goal settings with my clients. If a client wanted to lose weight, I'd hear most of them say the reason they wanted to lose weight was to “look good”. I noticed that sometimes that wasn't a big enough reason for people to achieve that.
If you look in your business, the reason that you're telling yourself, is it a big enough reason for you to get out of bed in the morning? Or to do the things that you don't necessarily want to do in that moment?
The goals I have for my business, are around increasing my income and increasing how many people I impact – honestly, that doesn’t really do it for me to go above and beyond when the "going gets tough" - as Boyzone would say.
Do you know what my strong WHY is? The person who I will become. I believe that this will trickle down into different areas of life; this will impact a lot of my biggest relationships. After implementing this very strategy, I can tell you I was right, my experience of life has changed.
Have a look for yourself, is your reason why big enough?
I’ll share with you a great tec
hnique.
I wake up in the morning; this tends to be a Wednesday or Thursday, when I’m getting towards the end of the week – I'm sleepy, a bit tired. I have all these thoughts; I wake up and think “I could have 10 minutes extra... maybe even stay an extra hour in bed.”
I allow myself to think about two scenarios.
Disclaimer: (maybe "disclaimer" is a bit strong!)
Well-being VS Self-sabotage.
Before I go into these two scenarios, I want to share with you a side note. I believe there's a difference between resting and taking care of yourself VS that voice that wants to self-sabotage. Sometimes you should take extra rests. Sometimes you need that extra hour in bed.
I don't work evenings or we
ekends. I turn my phone on silent (most of the time actually). I sleep in on a weekend. I exercise at least 3 times a week and I eat well. I know that most of the time when I want an "rest", I'm avoiding and resisting something.
The only way you’ll know is by listening to yourself and starting to know your own body and mind.
So... there’s two scenarios.
I start to look at the impact of my actions right now on my bigger goal. My actions right now that impact my experience of life.
Scenario one:
I think, if
I stay in bed, and I don't do what I say I was going to do, I can see down this path that I’m going to be disappointed with myself. I’m going to be disappointed with myself because I COULD have it different. I’m going to feel frustrated and annoyed. Life just seems harder.
Scenario two:
I think about the other path. If I get out of bed right now and I start to put those practices in place. My life looks a bit easier. I can see that I impact that this one decision has on all the different areas in my life. Once I start training myself, to do what I said I was going to do, it makes things a little bit easier. I can see that I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of myself for doing something even though I didn't want to do it. I'm proud of myself for making the difference that I make. I can feel this confidence, and I can feel this lightness about my life.
But as Jim Rohn would say, 'What’s simple to do is also simple not to do.' The magic is not in the complexity of the task; the magic is in the doing of simple things repeatedly and long enough to ignite the miracle of the Compound Effect. - Darren Hardy
Okay, so I can see these two different futures. At that point we get to choose. We get to choose which future that we are going to go with. AND we're all human. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. When that happens, I invite you to give yourself some generosity and love. Notice the impact that it's going to have. Sometimes we don't do things that we say we're going do. It happens to everybody. Acknowledge it and move on.
Make sure that you're planning in all the other stuff. If getting up in the morning isn't something that's easy for you. Plan it in at the weekends. Be free with it and allow yourself to do whatever you want to do during that time. And I think for me, that really helps. And knowing yourself, knowing what you're like. You can apply this to anything; whether you're building a business or transforming a habit. It's knowing yourself and starting to look at the actions that you’re taking right now. Ask yourself in that moment:
What could happen down this path?
How will I feel?
What will be my experience?
Whichever you choose is whichever you choose. We are the only ones that can do it.
Will this one moment of satisfaction be worth it in the long run?
My Mum used to say “once you get there you’ll really enjoy it.” Don’t tell her... she’s right. Once you jump out of bed or completed the presentation or went to the gym, you enjoyed it! I invite you to allow yourself to discover over the next week how this could impact you.
Please share with me your experience!
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