Creating a compelling future
Have you been overwhelmed and tired since the world turned upside down after the COVID-19 pandemic entered our lives? Have you felt drowned by negative news articles solely focusing on the war in Ukraine and Gaza, with food and living expenses going through the roof as a consequence? Has the current level of interest rates taken a toll on you, narrowing the focus to survival and enjoying life?
The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have made it difficult for many worldwide. During the pandemic, we had to adapt to social distancing and restrictions heavily impacting our freedom. Unemployment skyrocketed, and the interest rates dropped to all-time lows in many countries. The central banks printed enormous amounts of money to aid the economies. Then, the focus shifted when the war in Ukraine began. Pretty simultaneously, central banks realized that inflation was getting out of hand. Led by the Federal Reserve, we've seen the sharpest increase in rate hikes in modern times. Calling the world a fragile and uncertain place to be might be an understatement, reminding us of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Have we discovered a thing or two we have been taking for granted during the last four years? Talking from my perspective, I'll be the first to admit.
The news is spreading faster than ever on the Internet and social media. It's easy to fill our minds with negative information about the current geopolitical climate and crises.
Shift of focus.
Having goals, excitement, and purpose in life gives direction. It's like aiming to hit a target without knowing what the target is or what it looks like. Our influence on the global situation is limited. The best investment is to stay informed and be critical of the information the mainstream media serves us.
What we can influence directly is our focus and how we choose to respond to what's happening to us. Tony Robbins recently referred to the time we live in as a "winter season" in an interview with Tucker Carlson on his show. That's a helpful metaphor to gain the larger picture of the time we are currently living. Let's use this as an opportunity to sit down and reflect on where we're heading with our lives.
- What are the things you can directly influence?
- What are your resources, and how can you make them work for you?
- Where do you see yourself in the future?
- How do you want your life to be after this time of uncertainty has passed?
- What actions can we take today to make tomorrow better?
Only you can determine what a compelling future looks like in your mind. It's time to reinstall hope, dreams, and goals into our lives.
Resource/Research.
I've always been an ambitious guy. I needed the skillset and mindset to accomplish my dreams and goals for a long time. I used to ask myself frequently: How do some people succeed with such a high ratio in bringing their dreams into reality while others never make it? I discovered many of these answers by reading Awaken the Giant Within, written by Tony Robbins.
"The human mind is always pursuing something, if nothing more than the ability to reduce or eliminate pain or avoid anything that could lead to it. Our brains also love to guide us in pursuing anything that can lead to the creation of pleasure," a quote from Tony's book.
No wonder our brains might experience the current circumstances that are challenging to deal with.
Our dreams and goals can function as a path to pleasure and reduce the level of pain we're experiencing. It allows us to take control of a situation; instead of feeling trapped, we can change.
Creativity is more important than ever, turning the invisible in our brains into reality. Working on our dreams and goals is not necessarily about reaching our destination; the real value lies in enjoying the journey.
Reticular Activation System.
Why do some people succeed at reaching their goals over and over again? The answer is learning to take advantage of the Rectangular Activating System (RAS) in our brain.
Tony elaborates: "The function of your RAS is simple and profound: it determines what you will notice and what you will pay attention to. It is the screening device of your mind. "Once you decide something is a priority, you give it tremendous emotional intensity, and by continually focusing on it, any resource that supports its attainment will eventually become clear.
The magic of creating compelling goals for ourselves is that our brains will discover the necessary solutions to make them happen when we repeatedly focus on them.
Different goals – Different needs.
We all have a unique image of our future and respond equally differently to what motivates us. When working on goals, the bottom line is that we should imagine a world without boundaries when brainstorming. Often, we talk ourselves out of our dreams and goals even before we give them a shot.
To make it easier when brainstorming, we can divide them into four buckets to cover all areas of our lives:
- Personal growth
- Career/Business/Economic
- Toys/Adventure
- Contribution
What's most important is that we find our own goals meaningful. The more emotional meaning we can connect to them, the easier it is to achieve our dreams and goals.
Who do I need to become to achieve it?
Imagine the person you have to become to reach your goals. What does that person look like? What skills, abilities, and attitudes does that person have? What do we need to develop to become our future selves?
Writing this down makes it easier to describe that person and use it as a reminder through our process of turning our goals into reality. The more specific we become about our goals and the person we need to become to achieve them, the better.
Imagine yourself already being there.
A technique I've been using frequently is to use music to trigger positive emotions within me. What music triggers you to feel excitement, joy, and happiness? What gets you moving and brings out your favorite emotions?
When thinking of the goals and the dreams that you want to achieve, you need to be in the right mental state. Ideally, we want to imagine ourselves already achieving what we desire at least twice a day. How do you see, feel, and hear yourself?
Keep going even if you cannot visualize at your desired level. Think of vitalization as learning any other skill. The more time we invest in doing it, the better we eventually become.
Learn more about the process from Tony.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have the recent year's uncertainty made you reflect on your life?
- What if this could be an opportunity to reframe our thinking?
- How can we grow stronger from the current global events unfolding?
What the current time can't take away from us is our hope, dreams, and goals, and moving on stronger in a positive direction after all this is over.
Do you want to learn more about working on your dreams and goals? Tony Robbins's Awaken the Giant Within explains the process in Chapter 12, Creating a Compelling Future.
It's a well-worth investment of time.
Sources:
Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins
