This is how you shape a future, a vision
One way to break through our thinking and introduce a different kind of thought that doesn’t deal with everyday worries is to ask provocative questions to see the possibilities that exist and try to grasp them, to document them, just before all the defense mechanisms and excuses come into play! Here are some tips on how to answer the questions without falling into your usual patterns.
- Ask yourself why, why, why do I want this?
- Answer questions about what is yes and what is no.
- It is advisable to fly, to dream. Not everything has to be on the ground. Not at this stage. It will come, don’t worry. The freedom for creativity is precisely in the dream stage.
- Ask yourself, is this my desire or someone else’s? Is it really interesting to me? Is it important to me?
- And dwell on this thought for a moment – would it make me happy, would it make me joyful if it were a daily part of my life?
And now, in a beautiful notebook on a computer or mobile phone, with sticky notes, pictures and words only, on the bed or outside, with coffee or a small glass, music in your ears or the quiet of being alone, a few breaths, relax, and answer from the heart without self-criticism, and enjoy a moment of a wonderful future.
10 questions for shaping the future
Stage 1 – 10 questions for shaping the future
- What is really important to you in life? Not what should be important, but what is important.
- What would you like to have more of in your life?
- If we ignore money for a moment, what is your ultimate career?
- What is your secret dream, your passion?
- What would bring more joy to your life if it happened?
- What your meaningful relationships should look like
- These are the qualities you should develop.
- What are your values, what do you really care about?
- What are your skills, what is your uniqueness?
- What is most important to you to achieve in life?
And a bonus question for advanced students – what is important to you to leave behind for your children, friends, and environment. What will they say about you behind your back or after you are gone? Traits, behaviors, values, actions, materialism… and it will do you good.
Living the chosen future...
Step 2: The future is here, the story of your life in X years.
This day has come, your life as you imagined is happening exactly like that. From that, you were able to achieve, how does it feel about yourself, who are the people around you, how does it feel that they are part of your life? What does your physical environment look like, what is the style, what is important there?
They came to film you for the program “A Day in My Life,” what does it look like? What is your mood, what is different from today? What makes you happy, smile, get up in the morning and go out into the world? What does life look like in the chosen version. Write as many characteristics as possible about how you look, how you feel, and how you do things.
Your future has already happened...
Phase 2, second version, looking back, how I got here – your success story
We are in 2020+ X This is your life in the best version you planned. And here are some questions to help you understand how you did it.
What important decision did you make in your life that allowed you to get to where you are today? What did you have to learn along the way? What actions did you take to get here? What beliefs about yourself, others, and life have really changed over time? How long did it take you to figure out what exactly was best for you? What steps along the way helped you achieve these results.
Step by step
Now that there is a slightly clearer picture of what the destination is that we are aiming for, we need to look at where I am and what is the first step that will advance me towards the future that I hope for. The “law” says that it is important to think one step or years ahead but no more! If you think too far ahead, it scares, paralyzes and you do nothing. At this stage where there is direction, the process becomes one small step further possible each time.
Dream maintenance
It’s important to check this future that’s written there every now and then. Will something change, maybe a version needs to be updated? This is not a dream on paper, this is not a Hollywood version, none of us are princes or princesses, life is accompanied by changes of its own accord. Yes, sometimes we are surprised and surprised, yes, sometimes it no longer fits or does not arouse desire. It is alive, it is dynamic, life and dreams. Check yourself once in a while. But I must say that if you took the first step from a place of honesty and connection to yourself, to who you are, to what is truly important to you, it will hold water even after a long period of time.
Life as a design project
Doing nothing is not really doing nothing. Rather, it is doing the same thing. If the current situation is great for you, great. You don’t have to change, you don’t have to change just for the sake of it. And maybe it feels like uncertainty because your understanding of your strengths and abilities isn’t there, and when that doesn’t exist, the sense of control over life disappears. It’s time to design a future for yourself from which new possibilities will emerge. Life is an ongoing design project. It has fashions and seasons and budgets and space.
It is not easy or simple to do this process alone. We usually fall into traps, excuses, explanations, and our own assumptions for ourselves. In this case, it is better to ask for help. Someone, a close or distant friend, a professional personal trainer, I will gladly help, but in any case, whoever you ask for help, ask him to be attentive, available, and free with patience for the process and truly curious to ask and delve deeper to understand what really stands behind the words. With pleasure and success.
Recommendation for a book on designing the future
One of the best books on the subject is by Simon Sinek, who talks about ways to find your “why.” What does what you do mean, how does it connect to your values and passions, what is important to you? The book is only in English for now.
And as Nietzsche said –
“He who has a ‘why’ to live for can endure almost any how.”
And Dr. Viktor Frankl wrote about this in his wonderful book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” He spoke about the terrible context of trauma, and what makes it possible to survive it. But there is no doubt that seeing a meaningful future activates forces and energy in us that move us forward even in more challenging days.
