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April 2 - April 29, 2024
“Assume the consciousness of being the one you want to be, and you will be saved from your present state.” —Neville Goddard1
During this period, science suggested that human beings are the direct byproduct of their own past. This view is known as determinism—the idea that human behavior is simply one domino toppled by the dominos that came before.
Research now shows that a person’s past does not drive or dictate their actions and behaviors. Rather, we are pulled forward by our future.
As human beings, we have a unique characteristic held by no other species on the planet. People have the ability to not only think about our own future, but to have countless potential scenarios for our future. Additionally, humans are able to contemplate deeply on our potential prospects.
Psychologists call this unique human ability prospection; as people, everything we do is driven by our prospects of the future.27 Prospection is based on a teleological view of the world, which views all human action and behavior as driven by goals—whether short term or long term.
Knowing the why is the deepest and most powerful form of knowledge because the why is always the driver of the what and how.
All goals or motivations fit within two categories: approach or avoid.29,30 The reason for doing anything is either to approach something you want to happen, or to avoid something you don’t want to happen. As a rule, 80 percent of people are primarily driven by fear or avoidance, while 20 percent of people are driven by approach and courage.
Your reason or goal, whether positive or negative, approach or avoidance motivated, is the driver of your thoughts, energy, and actions. In all instances, humans act as we do based on the future we see for ourselves. That may be a future we’re trying to avoid, or a future we’re trying to create. That future may be decades or seconds away.
Shifting our goals from fear-based, reactive, and short term to proactive, long term, and love-based is the path to a successful and happy life. Your view of your Future Self is the compass that draws you forward.
The quality of connection you have with your own Future Self determines the quality of your life and behaviors now.
Decisions and actions are best when reverse-engineered from a desired outcome. Start with what you want and work backward. Think and act from your goal, rather than toward your goal.
neuroscientists now agree the brain is essentially a “prediction machine,” guiding behavior toward the expected future.49 Learning is the process of updating and improving our brain’s predictions.
The clearer you are on where you want to go, the less distracted you’ll ...
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Many people are primarily driven by short-term goals, which are disconnected from the long-term repercussions of those decisions.
the more connected you are to your Future Self, the better you live in the present.
Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!
Memento Mori is an ancient Stoic term for keeping death always on your mind to fully value and appreciate this moment.
Seeing your current life through the eyes of your Future Self, you see opportunities you were previously blind to.
To do deliberate practice requires being deliberate toward a specific goal.
Author and philosopher, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, said, “Mental creation always precedes physical creation.”59 Anyone who has created something substantial did so by seeing it in their mind first, then working toward the image.
Whoever you’re being, right now is the evidence of your Future Self. Your level of faith in and commitment toward your Future Self is evidenced by everything you do, and every thought you think.
Know that whatever you want is already yours. Act as though everything you want can and will be yours.
Commitment is a statement of what “is.” You can know what you’re committed to by your results, not by what you say your commitments are. We are all committed. We are all producing results. The result is proof of a commitment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “When you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
The most fundamental threat to a person’s Future Self is not the loss of freedom but the absence of purpose and meaning.
impulsively seeking short-term dopamine to numb themselves from the pain of the moment.
Without a why to live for, every ounce of remaining life was used to escape the pain of the moment until they gasped for death like a drowning person gasps for air.
While a lack of purpose shortens life, having purpose can prolong and sustain life far beyond seemingly natural life expectancy. In the 18th century, the average life expectancy in America was less than 40 years. Yet, most of America’s founding fathers lived at least 20 years longer.
“Present events draw meaning from their connection to future outcomes.”
The present is meaningless unless connected to the future. It is the future that dictates which decisions you opt for.
As the Proverb states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
To be gritty, you’ve got to stick with something for a long time, overcoming setbacks and obstacles along the way. Someone who switches from goal to goal to goal cannot gain that vital grit.
The first and most fundamental threat to your Future Self is not having hope in your future. Without hope, the present loses meaning. Without hope, you don’t have clear goals or a sense of purpose for your life. Without hope, there is no way. Without hope, you decay.
What happened to you doesn’t matter as much as what story you decide to tell yourself about what happened. What happened to you doesn’t matter as much as what emotions you feel about what happened.
Your hardest moments can push you to truly learn from life and commit to something much better. Indeed, change often occurs when the pain of not changing becomes more unbearable than the pain of change.
Your pain can fuel your purpose and lead you to help others. This is what psychologists call post-traumatic growth, and it occurs as people proactively face pain and choose to view it with gratitude and appreciation.21 You have the power to choose the framing of any experience, and your narration of it, as a positive.
The Gap and the Gain.22 The gap is when you measure yourself or your experiences against what you ideally thought they should be.
Rather than being the byproduct of your experiences, your experiences are the byproduct of your conscious choosing. You determine what your experiences mean.
Threat #2 is having a reactive narrative about your past, which limits your future. Your past is a meaning. Your past is a story. How you frame that story will largely impact your Future Self.
the Pygmalion effect.25 If you’re around people who have low expectations for you, you’ll fall to those standards. If you’re around people with high expectations, you’ll rise to those standards.
Threat #3 is being unaware of the impact of your environment on your goals.
As the Wharton marketing professor Dr. Jonah Berger explains in his book Invisible Influence, “Just like atoms bouncing off each other, our social interactions are constantly shaping who we are and what we do.”
“Your input determines your outlook. Your outlook determines your output, and your output determines your future.” Better inputs lead to better thinking and ultimately better outputs. Garbage in, garbage out.
By proactively changing your inputs of information, experiences, and people, you become aware of what you previously didn’t know. You see what you previously didn’t notice. You seek what you previously didn’t want. You act in ways you previously didn’t behave.
Mindfulness is the skill of becoming aware of your context, and how that context influences you.31 What is the context you’re in? How is that context influencing you? What goals are you currently pursuing? What is the life you’re presently living? How did you choose your life?
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Humans adapt amazingly quickly. Who you align yourself with has massive repercussions.
To align yourself with specific people, you’ll want to be transformational and not transactional in your mindset.
Threat #3 is that your Future Self is the byproduct of your environment. Being mindful enables your environment to be the result of your conscious choosing.
Spending more money right now and eating something delicious right now—it’s appealing to do those things because we know we get the rewards right now. But to not do those things—to not spend, to not eat unhealthily—so that our long-run selves can be better off, well, that’s a hard proposition for a lot of people because the present is so powerful.”
