What does your preferred future look like? Have you thought about it, really thought about it? If you have an exact picture in mind and you are doing what is necessary right now then there is a higher likelihood that you will have and live in your preferred future. If not, then you are most likely leaving your future to chance.
Cold Hard Facts –
One thing is for sure, success does not follow or favor chance.
If you happen to have a clear picture of your preferred future in your mind but have not taken the necessary steps toward attaining and securing that future for yourself, your chances of success are nearly zero.
If you are laboring at a job you detest, spending all you make and saving none, stagnating in an everyday routine that offers nothing but variations of sameness, your chances of a bright and successful future are exactly zero.
If you are addicted to alcohol, substance or some addictive behavior then your chances for a bright and successful future are less than zero.
Your Preferred Future –
I see too many people who have come to believe that they are what they are, that they are incapable of change. Nothing could be further from the truth! Sometimes you just have to start over and reshape yourself in order to reshape your life.
The people who do this, they have undergone a profound and meaningful transformation. They discovered a secret that will work for anyone. They have discovered that transforming is a choice and they have chosen to choose better for themselves.
Developing the Picture –
I believe if we have a clear picture in our minds of our preferred future then we can reshape ourselves, our lives, to make that picture a reality. That picture must come deep from within.
I love movies. There is an old one that debuted in 1984 that I really enjoyed, the original Karate Kid. In the movie Mr. Myiagi (a Japanese karate master and teacher) gets Daniel (his reluctant student) to shape and prune a bonsai tree. Here is some dialogue from a scene in the movie. It is a metaphor for life and living.
Daniel objects to Mr. Myiagi’s request to prune the bonsai tree saying, “I don’t know how to do this stuff. I may mess it up. I don’t want to mess it up!”
Mr. Myiagi insists, “Close eye. Trust. Concentrate. Think only tree. Make a perfect picture down to last a’pine needle. Wipe from mind, clean, everything but tree. Nothing exist whole world, only tree.
You got it?”, he asks Daniel after a pause.
Daniel nods yes with his eyes still closed.
Mr Myiagi says to Daniel, “Remember picture?”
Daniel replies, “Yeah.”
Mr. Myiagi follows, “Make like picture” and hands him some pruning scissors. He says, “Just’a trust’a picture.”
Daniel asks, “How do I know if my picture’s the right one?”
My Myiagi imparts his wisdom, “If come from inside you, always right one.”
Developing a clear image of where you want to be and what you want to do in your preferred future will give you purposeful direction. It must come from inside you, not from somewhere else or someone else.
Transforming the Hopes and Dreams into Reality –
It is not enough just to dream. Sure, dreaming is easier than doing. But, your dreams are not reality until you make them your reality.
Hope is not a strategy. Only gamblers hope for success. They lose the majority of the time. Las Vegas was built by losers. Las Vegas is owned by planners and doers.
We can transform our lives with continuous positive change. That image of your preferred future is your call to action. It will take a plan, intentional hard work, passion and perseverance to make it happen.
Along the way you will succeed some, fail a lot, doubt yourself, be tempted to give up, excited one minute and full of dread the next. Straight up, I know of no other easier, softer way. Just trust your picture and start.
Do you have a clear picture of your preferred future? If not, what is holding you back? If so, are you fully engaged in developing that image into reality?