What Does Future You Think?

Ever wonder what Future You thinks about Present You?

In other words, if you could talk to a 10-years-older-and-wiser You, what would that more experienced You say?

The question does assume that you are growing, developing, and becoming more like You as time passes—not less.

And not everyone thinks that way. 

Sometimes, when I bring up these kinds of questions with friends or acquaintances, they sigh or roll their eyes. Just for fun, I might ask, “What is one big thing you want to do in the next year?” And they might think in response, “Here she goes again, asking me annoying big questions.”

Sometimes, they even shut down.

Like, “I don't want to have to think that hard.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in being the same person next year that I am today. I want to grow and learn and improve and ensure that my 56th year is not the same as my 55th.

I’m always taking that Me down the road into consideration. What does she want? What will she have learned? What does she know that I do not know today?

In a delightful moment earlier this week, totally unprompted, a dear friend said out of the blue, “Future Me wishes I could teach full time at a university in Boston.” 

And in the same conversation, another friend we were hanging with said, “I’ve been thinking about buying a condo in this certain part of Vermont for a really long time.” 

They both were clearly thinking about their Future Me.

And a client said to me this week, “I wish I worked virtually like so many other people so I could work anywhere in the world.”

We all have that Future Me whispering in our ear. That future self is always nudging us, tapping us on the arm, and putting ideas in escrow just waiting for us. Our Future Me is always nudging our Present Me toward some kind of dream.

There is a visualization exercise I do with coaching clients when they want to tap in to their Future Me. It’s a process to connect with the part of you that is wise, knowing, and on purpose. If you connect with your most sage self, you can identify your life purpose and what you are here to contribute. You can better know the deep qualities and gifts that you hold. You can also identify the resources and changes you might need to get to that very dream.

It’s so fun.

Imagine being able to talk to that older You.

But even without needing to do that visualization, what do you know that your Future You wants?

What are those small or big dreams you have about where you might live, what you want to be doing, and who surrounds you as part of your community?

The cool thing is, just putting these ideas out there starts the very process of working toward what your Future You wants. It helps you start to put those things into escrow for yourself. Bestselling author and speaker Leonard Sweet says, “The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create.”

Well, the first step in creation is having the idea. Putting the desire out there to the universe. Stopping to listen to that part of you that is holding a dream. 

The second step is that the universe responds.

And the third step is you allow it. You take it in.

All three steps are necessary in this process. But without step 1, listening to that Future Me, you may never notice how deeply resonant a particular idea is. 

I believe all of life is about us becoming more of who we are. This means listening more deeply and thoughtfully to that whisper inside.

Shhhh. 

If you get really quiet, what is whispering inside of you?

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