Your Future is a Result, Not a Mystery

The first episode of Amateur to Pro — a weekly solo-cast offering insights for leaving the “amateur” mindset behind, no matter your age, and adopting the mindsets, skill sets and practices that can help you live life like a Pro is live!

Want to listen to — Your Future is a Result, Not a Mystery? Tune in here.

It’s the beginning of the last quarter of the year!

Imagine yourself on the morning of January 1st 2023. You’re holding a cup of your morning potion of choice as you sit or stand in your favorite spot. 

Reflecting on the last 4 months of your life, you are overcome with thoughts and feelings of deep gratitude and pride.

I put it to you that who you are and how you feel on January 1st 2023 is not a mystery — it’s a result. And to determine that result for myself and my clients, I use a tool I’ve created and named FSD™ — short for Future Self Design™.

Part One — The Foundational Questions

 Answer the following two: 

1. What am I grateful for and proud of on January 1st 2023?

The answer to this first question has two principal goals.

• It helps us focus on the gifts we receive and often take for granted — the gifts of health, luck, and grace. 
• It slows us down to acknowledge our own part in co-creating our blessings.

It’s imperative that you write your response from the point of view of your “future self”.

For example, “It’s January 1st 2023 and I am so proud of…, so grateful for…” etc. 

Writing from the future is a powerful part of this exercise because it engages your imagination and vision.

2. Who am I becoming?

The answer to the second question infuses us with the energy of action by framing our personality as fluid (I am becoming) rather than solid (I am).

We are always “becoming”, whether we are aware of it or not. So why not take charge of the process and steer the ship in our desired direction rather than leaving it all to the movements of the ocean?

These two questions are inextricably linked and our futures depend on our responses.

Reflecting and recording my responses to the foundational questions above usually takes no less than an hour, and as much as a half day. This tool works when you take the time to go deep. It’s not a drive-by exercise.

Part Two — The Manifestation Questions

Proceed to the next set of questions. Your goal here is to create an action plan for manifesting the vision you conceived of in part one above.

1. My Environment

• Where will I be spending my time in the next 4 months? 
• If in multiple places — when will I be traveling? 
• How will I feel in each place? 
• What would make traveling easy and fun? 
• What actions can I take ahead of time such that my time in each place feels like a vacation?

2. My Space Suit

• How do I want my body to feel in the next 4 months? 
• What actions do I need to commit to ahead of time in order to allow for that result?

3. My Connections

• Who are all the people that I want to shower with love and attention? 
• Who is not on that list? 
• What does my list of priorities look like and how will I ensure that over the next 4 months I make quality connections with each and every person?

4. My Prosperity

• Where do I want to be financially on January 1st?
• Does my professional effort and personal spending align with that goal? 
• If not, what actions will place me on a more aligned path? 
• How will I integrate those actions into what has historically been the quarter of the year where I lose the plot on spending?

5. My Day to Day

• What actions do I need to take to ensure the smooth operations of my personal life?

My least favorite section of the FSD™ tool has me planning my “operations and maintenance”. 

Yes, it’s as boring as it sounds but oh so necessary!

Everything from personal maintenance, like haircuts and doctors’ appointments, to the DMV, passport, home maintenance, and a plethora of other actions that I tend to postpone until they become urgent, fall in this category. I make the appointments and put them in my calendar spreading them across the next four to six months.

6. My Joy Management

• What family events, personal and professional occasions, and holidays do I want to attend? 
• How do I feel about those gatherings? And more importantly, how do I want to feel about each? 
• What can I do or practice ahead of time to ensure I arrive with the mindset that supports the results I want? This one resonates more during the last quarter of the year — a quarter that includes the greater portion of the kind of holidays that historically bring families together. 

Can you see why it’s potentially the most important one to plan ahead of time for? Important but not easy!

7. My Forcing Functions

• What forcing functions do I need to put in place to make it easier to achieve each goal? 

A forcing function is something that we put in place ahead of time to keep us on track with the results we want to achieve. 

For me, having a life coach that I meet with regularly forces me to deal with life issues before they get too big and impact my life negatively. 

My athletic coach is a forcing function to avoid injury and train consciously.

My right hand person, Margie, is a forcing function to keep me from saying “yes” to every conversation that I want to have as soon as possible. She is empowered to make decisions regarding my calendar without consulting with me.

The FSD™  is a powerful tool that allows you to create your future from the future, not the past, as most of us have been trained to do.

It’s not a hack or a shortcut.

It requires us to slow down and build the necessary foundations for our goals.

Foundations are never sexy or glamorous, but what comes after can be breathtaking!

I include a half day FSD™ workshop for my private coaching clients. We explore it all, from personal development, spiritual awareness and intimate relationships to healthy aging, career and profession plus any other areas that are specific to your unique life.

We go deep to set you up for the kind of success that is the result of deliberate work and not just hopes, wishes and prayers.

If you are interested in exploring FSD™ — what it can do for you and how it can transform your life, reach out here and I will share the details with you.