Create Your Own Future

“You will become large as your controlling desire; or as great as your dominant aspiration.” (James Allen)

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.

Page 51

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.

Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard concluded, after more than 50 years of research, that “long-time perspective” was the most important determinant of financial and personal success in life. Banfield defined long-time perspective as the “ability to think several years into the future while making decisions in the present.” This is one of the most important discoveries ever made. Just think! The further you think into the future, the better decisions you will make in the present to assure that that future becomes a reality.

Page 52

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.

Page 53

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.

Page 54

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?”

Page 55

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.

Start with your business and career. Imagine that your work life was perfect five years from now. Answer these questions:

What would it look like?

What would you be doing?

Where would you be doing it?

Who would you be working with? What level of

responsibility would you have?

What kind of skills and abilities would you have?

What kind of goals would you be accomplishing?

What level of status would you have in your field?

Page 56

Practice No Limit Thinking

When you answer these questions, imagine that you have no limits. Imagine that everything is possible for you. Peter Drucker once said, “We greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in one year. But we greatly underestimate what we can accomplish in five years.” Don’t let this happen to you.

Now, idealize your perfect financial life sometime in the future:

How much do you want to be earning five years from

today?

What sort of lifestyle do you want to have? What kind

of home do you want to live in?

What kind of car do you want to drive?

What kind of material luxuries do you want to provide

for yourself and your family?

How much do you want to have in the bank?

How much do you want to be saving and investing

each month and each year?

How much do you want to be worth when you retire?

Page 57

Imagine that you have a “magic slate.” You can write down anything you want. You can erase anything that may have happened in the past, and create whatever picture you desire for your future. You can clean the slate at any time and start over. You have no limits.

Imagine Your Perfect Family Life

Look at your family and relationships today, and project five years into the future:

If your family life were perfect five years from now, what would it look like?

Who would you be with? Who would you no longer be with?

Where and how would you be living?

What kind of living standards would you have?

What kind of relationships would you have with the

most important people in your life, five years from now, if everything were perfect in every respect?

Page 58

When you fantasize and imagine your perfect future, the only question you ask is, “How?” This is the most powerful question of all. Asking it repeatedly stimulates your creativity and triggers ideas to help you accomplish your goals. Unsuccessful people always wonder whether or not a particular goal is possible. High achievers on the other hand only ask the question, “How?” They then set to work to find ways to make their visions and goals into realities.

Ideal Health and Fitness

Review your levels of health and fitness in every area:

If you were a perfect physical specimen five years from

now, how would you look, feel and appear?

What would be your ideal weight?

How much would you exercise each week?

What would be your overall level of health?

What changes would you have to start making today

in your diet, exercise routines and health habits to enjoy superb physical health sometime in the future?

Page 59

You then imagine that you are an important and influential person, a “player” in your community. You are making a significant contribution to the world around you. You are making a difference with your life and in the lives of other people. If your social and community status and involvement were ideal:

What would you be doing?

What organizations would you be working with or

contributing to?

What are the causes that you strongly believe in and

support, and how could you become more involved in those areas?

Just Do It!

The primary difference between high achievers and low achievers is “action-orientation.” Men and women who accomplish tremendous things in life are intensely action oriented. They are moving all the time. They are always busy. If they have an idea, they take action on it immediately.

Page 60

On the other hand, low achievers and non-achievers are full of good intentions, but they always have an excuse for not taking action today. It is well said that, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Examine yourself in terms of your personal inventory of skills, knowledge, talent, education and ability. If you were developed to the highest level possible for you (and there is virtually no limit), answer these questions:

What additional knowledge and skills would you have acquired five years from now?

In what areas would you be recognized as absolutely excellent in what you do?

What would you be doing each day in order to develop the knowledge and skills you need to be one of the top performers in your field sometime in the future?

Once you have answered these questions, the only question you ask is, “How?” How do you attain the skills and expertise you will require to lead your field in the years ahead?

Page 61

Design Your Perfect Calendar

Especially, decide how you would like to live, day in and day out, your ideal lifestyle. Design your perfect calendar, from January 1st to December 31st:

What would you like to do on your weekends and vacations?

How much time would you like to take off each week, month and year?

Where would you like to go?

How would you organize your year if you had no

limitations, and complete control over your time?

In the Bible it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” What this means is that, if you lack an exciting vision for your future, you will “perish” inside in terms of lacking motivation and enthusiasm for what you are doing. But the reverse of this is that, with an exciting future vision, you will be continuously motivated and stimulated every day to take the actions necessary to make your ideal vision a reality.

Page 62

The Key To Happiness

You remember that, “Happiness is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” When you have clear, exciting goals and ideals, you will feel happier about yourself and your world. You will be more positive and optimistic. You will be more cheerful and enthusiastic. You will feel internally motivated to get up and get going every morning, because every step you are taking will be moving you in the direction of something that is important to you.

Resolve to think about your ideal future most of the time. Remember, the very best days of your life lie ahead. The happiest moments you will ever experience are still to come. The highest income you will ever earn is going to materialize in the months and years ahead. The future is going to be better than anything that may have happened in your past. There are no limits.

The clearer you can be about your long term future, the more rapidly you will attract people and circumstances into your life to help make that future a reality. The greater clarity you have about

Page 63

who you are and what you want, the more you will achieve and the faster you will achieve it in every area of your life.

Create Your Own Future:

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?

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?

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?

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?

Plan your perfect calendar. Design your year from January to December as if you had no limitations. What would you change, starting today?

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?