This is the year I am going to… get in shape, lose weight, quit smoking, make six figures, be more assertive, be kinder, have more patience, etc.
Good ideas, great intentions and likely you were incredibly committed at the time of saying them but predictably you will give up on your resolutions within a matter of days (or weeks). It’s not just you. Studies show very few people actually achieve their resolutions. Why is that?
Because it (whatever the resolution is) doesn’t fit into the model of the future you currently have. You see we all have a model of the future that we put out in front of us and then we forget that we created the model.
In reality, there is no future. It is a mental construct. There is only this moment of now and then the next and the next. But we humans don’t live like that. We are tremendous storytellers. We LOVE a good story. So we create stories about the future that become our model of the future.
This is only a problem because we base the stories of the future on the past. It’s how our brain works. When you make a resolution (or set any goal) you do it without regard to the past-based future that you have already unconsciously created. It is already in the way before the resolution gets out of your mouth.
What do you do?
If you want to set yourself up to accomplish your resolution, you first have to get clear about the story you have already put in your future. Then you have to determine what structures are already in place in the present to fulfill on your past-based future.
Once you get clear about those two things, then you can start to create a new future that is not based on the past. You can redesign your life consistent with accomplishing the created future.
Here is an example:
Sally makes a resolution to lose twenty pounds. Sally chooses what program to follow and is super committed to succeeding. The past-based future that she unconsciously created is all the times in the past she has dieted, how difficult it is to lose weight, the sacrifice required, the amount of time she needs to devote to it and so on.
The structures she has in place to achieve this past-based future are things like conversations with friends/family/co-workers about how hard it is, a jam packed schedule so she eats food on the go and doesn’t have time to exercise, unhealthy foods in her house, etc.
Without erasing the story from her future, Sally is doomed to fail because we always take actions in the present consistent with the future we anticipate.
If you want 2014 to be a breakout year for you, if you are tired of getting incrementally better and want something more or if you know you have the potential to be exceptional but keep winding up with mediocre results…
Contact me for a free strategy session to see what it’s going to take to create a new future. Space is limited so contact me today!
