Create Your Own Future In more than 3300 studies of leaders conducted over the years, there is a special quality that stands out, one qual...
Create Your Own Future
In more than 3300 studies of leaders conducted over the years, there is a special quality that stands out, one quality that all great leaders have in common. It is the quality of vision. Leaders have vision. Non- leaders do not.
Earlier I said that the most important discovery in all of human history is that, “You become what you think about — most of the time.” What is it then that leaders think about, most of the time? And the answer is that leaders think about the future and where they are going, and what they can do to get there.
Non-leaders, on the other hand, think about the present, and the pleasures and problems of the moment. They think and worry about the past, and what has happened that cannot be changed.
Think About The Future
We call this leadership quality “Future-Orientation.” Leaders think about the future and what they want to accomplish, and where they want to arrive sometime down the road. Leaders think about what they want, and what can be done to achieve it. The good news is that, when you begin to think about your future as well, you begin to think like a leader, and you will soon get the same results that leaders get.
Become A Millionaire
For example, if you save $100 per month from the age of 20 to the age of 65, and you invested that money in a mutual fund earning an average of 10% per annum over time, you would be worth more than $1,118,000 dollars when you retired.
Anyone who really wanted to could save $100 per month, if he or she had a long enough time perspective. What this means is that every single person starting work today can become a millionaire over time if they begin early enough, save consistently enough, and hold to their long-term vision of financial independence.
Create A Five Year Fantasy
In personal strategic planning, you should begin with a long-term view of your life, as well. You should begin by practicing idealization in everything you do. In the process of idealization, you create a five-year fantasy for yourself, and begin thinking about what your life would look life in five years if it were perfect in every respect.
The biggest single obstacle to setting goals is “self-limiting beliefs.” These are areas where you believe yourself to be limited in some way. You may believe yourself to be inadequate or inferior in areas such as intelligence, ability, talent, creativity, personality or something else. As a result, you sell yourself short. By underestimating yourself, you set either no goals, or low goals that are far below what you are truly capable of accomplishing.
Imagine No Limitations
By combining idealization and future-orientation, you cancel or neutralize this process of self-limitation. You imagine for the moment that you have no limitations at all. You imagine that you have all the time, talents and abilities you could ever require to achieve any goal you could set for yourself. No matter where you are in life, you imagine that you have all the friends, contacts and relationships you need to open every door and achieve anything you could really want. You imagine that you have no limitations whatsoever on what you could be, have or do in the pursuit of the goals that are really important to you.
Practice Blue Sky Thinking
In Charles Garfield’s studies of “Peak Performers,” he made an interesting discovery. He analyzed men and women who had achieved only average results at work for many years, but who suddenly exploded into great success and accomplishment. He found that at the “take-off point,” every one of them began engaging in what he called “Blue Sky Thinking.”
In blue-sky thinking, you imagine that all things are possible for you, just like looking up into a clear blue sky, with no limits. You project forward several years and imagine that your life were perfect in every respect sometime in the future. You then look back to where you are today and ask yourself these this question: “What would have to have happened for me to have created my perfect future?” You then come back to where you are in the present in your own mind, and you ask, “What would have to happen from this point forward for me to achieve all my goals sometime in the future?”
Refuse To Compromise Your Dreams
When you practice idealization and future-orientation, you make no compromises with your dreams and visions for yourself and your future. You don’t settle for smaller goals or half successes. Instead, you “dream big dreams” and project forward mentally as though you are one of the most powerful people in the universe. You create your perfect future. You decide what you really want, before you come back to the present moment and deal with what is possible for you within your current situation.
1. Imagine that there is a solution to every problem, a way to overcome every limitation, and no limit on your achieving every goal you can set for yourself. What would you do differently?
2. Practice “back from the future thinking.” Project forward five years and look back to the present. What would have to have happened for your world to be ideal?
3. Imagine your financial life were perfect in every way. How much would you be earning? How much would you be worth? What steps could you take, starting today, to make these goals a reality?
4. Imagine your family and personal life was perfect. What would it look like? What should you start doing more of, or less of, starting today?
5. Plan your perfect calendar. Design your year from January to December as if you had no limitations. What would you change, starting today?
6. Imagine that your levels of health and fitness were perfect in every way. What could you do, starting today, to make your vision for yourself into a reality?
In more than 3300 studies of leaders conducted over the years, there is a special quality that stands out, one quality that all great leaders have in common. It is the quality of vision. Leaders have vision. Non- leaders do not.
Earlier I said that the most important discovery in all of human history is that, “You become what you think about — most of the time.” What is it then that leaders think about, most of the time? And the answer is that leaders think about the future and where they are going, and what they can do to get there.
Non-leaders, on the other hand, think about the present, and the pleasures and problems of the moment. They think and worry about the past, and what has happened that cannot be changed.
Think About The Future
We call this leadership quality “Future-Orientation.” Leaders think about the future and what they want to accomplish, and where they want to arrive sometime down the road. Leaders think about what they want, and what can be done to achieve it. The good news is that, when you begin to think about your future as well, you begin to think like a leader, and you will soon get the same results that leaders get.
Become A Millionaire
For example, if you save $100 per month from the age of 20 to the age of 65, and you invested that money in a mutual fund earning an average of 10% per annum over time, you would be worth more than $1,118,000 dollars when you retired.
Anyone who really wanted to could save $100 per month, if he or she had a long enough time perspective. What this means is that every single person starting work today can become a millionaire over time if they begin early enough, save consistently enough, and hold to their long-term vision of financial independence.
Create A Five Year Fantasy
In personal strategic planning, you should begin with a long-term view of your life, as well. You should begin by practicing idealization in everything you do. In the process of idealization, you create a five-year fantasy for yourself, and begin thinking about what your life would look life in five years if it were perfect in every respect.
The biggest single obstacle to setting goals is “self-limiting beliefs.” These are areas where you believe yourself to be limited in some way. You may believe yourself to be inadequate or inferior in areas such as intelligence, ability, talent, creativity, personality or something else. As a result, you sell yourself short. By underestimating yourself, you set either no goals, or low goals that are far below what you are truly capable of accomplishing.
Imagine No Limitations
By combining idealization and future-orientation, you cancel or neutralize this process of self-limitation. You imagine for the moment that you have no limitations at all. You imagine that you have all the time, talents and abilities you could ever require to achieve any goal you could set for yourself. No matter where you are in life, you imagine that you have all the friends, contacts and relationships you need to open every door and achieve anything you could really want. You imagine that you have no limitations whatsoever on what you could be, have or do in the pursuit of the goals that are really important to you.
Practice Blue Sky Thinking
In Charles Garfield’s studies of “Peak Performers,” he made an interesting discovery. He analyzed men and women who had achieved only average results at work for many years, but who suddenly exploded into great success and accomplishment. He found that at the “take-off point,” every one of them began engaging in what he called “Blue Sky Thinking.”
In blue-sky thinking, you imagine that all things are possible for you, just like looking up into a clear blue sky, with no limits. You project forward several years and imagine that your life were perfect in every respect sometime in the future. You then look back to where you are today and ask yourself these this question: “What would have to have happened for me to have created my perfect future?” You then come back to where you are in the present in your own mind, and you ask, “What would have to happen from this point forward for me to achieve all my goals sometime in the future?”
Refuse To Compromise Your Dreams
When you practice idealization and future-orientation, you make no compromises with your dreams and visions for yourself and your future. You don’t settle for smaller goals or half successes. Instead, you “dream big dreams” and project forward mentally as though you are one of the most powerful people in the universe. You create your perfect future. You decide what you really want, before you come back to the present moment and deal with what is possible for you within your current situation.
1. Imagine that there is a solution to every problem, a way to overcome every limitation, and no limit on your achieving every goal you can set for yourself. What would you do differently?
2. Practice “back from the future thinking.” Project forward five years and look back to the present. What would have to have happened for your world to be ideal?
3. Imagine your financial life were perfect in every way. How much would you be earning? How much would you be worth? What steps could you take, starting today, to make these goals a reality?
4. Imagine your family and personal life was perfect. What would it look like? What should you start doing more of, or less of, starting today?
5. Plan your perfect calendar. Design your year from January to December as if you had no limitations. What would you change, starting today?
6. Imagine that your levels of health and fitness were perfect in every way. What could you do, starting today, to make your vision for yourself into a reality?
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