Yesterday, Jan and I were talking about future plans and ideas.
We spoke of walking the El Camino, returning to Thailand, and/or visiting Ecuador or Costa Rica.
She then mentioned how one of her favorite questions when working with her therapy clients was to ask where they saw themselves in 5 years.
The question resonated with me so when I awoke this morning, I googled it.
Turns out, it is not only one of Jan’s preferred therapy questions, but also one utilized most often among job interviewers.
It is also the question that, in said job interviews, trips more people up than any other. Interviewers love the question as a way to see if you’re committed to the job you are applying to currently, and do you have realistic expectations of your growth.
For me, I decided it would make a wonderful “Wingman” practice.
As you may be aware, I’m a big believer in practicing seeing what you want. When you’re able to clearly see your future, you’re more likely to make it happen.
Envisioning will not only help you see the future you want, it will also help you create a plan for achieving it. And, of course by practicing seeing it, feeling it and believing it, it will help you bring it to reality.
So I gave it a try.
I closed me eyes for 2 minutes and looked to my future.
Only it didn’t work.
I was jumping all over the place and nothing seemed to stick.
Yikes! I anxiously thought, this doesn’t bode well for my future.
So I decided to try again.
Only before I did, I thought maybe I could find a better way.
So I went back to the web and I came upon the book “Search Inside Yourself”, by Chade-Meng Tan. Turns out Chade-Meng Tan is one of Google’s earliest engineers and personal growth pioneers.
In his book, he describes a writing exercise for discovering and reinforcing your future vision.
He said to set aside 7 minutes in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.
Take out a piece of paper and answer the question…
“If everything in my life, starting from today, meets or exceeds my most optimistic expectations, what will my life be in five years?”
And so I did.
Writing it out worked much better for me than closing my eyes and imagining it. I was clearer, and was able to actually see a future I wanted to make happen.
And one I could now practice focusing on each day.
Give it a try for yourself.
And start seeing a fantastic future for yourself.
Let me know how it works for you.
To Your Fantastic Future,
Michael
