How to Use Your Future Self to Advise and Drive Yourself to Success

Your future is created now, not 20 years from now. It is what you do right now that will determine the results you get in the future. Sadly, most people only care about their now rather than their future. Do you know that you can use your future self to advice and drive yourself to success?

If you were given a choice to accept $100 now or $200 a year from now, which option will you choose?

That depends on how well you connect with your future self.

According to a study conducted by Priyanka Joshi and Nathanael Fast of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, people who are better connected with their future self tend to be more willing to wait for the bigger reward in future.

In other words, people who are future-oriented tend to focus more on future reward than the current one.

One reason people fail to achieve their goals and be successful in life is that they prefer short-term pleasure than future gain.

Most people prefer to eat the bowl of ice-cream right now than to push it away and have a slim body in the future.

Most people will choose to enjoy their now like watching Netflix and playing games than doing the difficult things now and get to enjoy the reward later.

Long-term gain vs short-term pain

If you want to achieve success in life, you must learn to endure the short-term inconveniences so that you get to enjoy the long-term benefits.

Some people call this delayed gratification.

Like a baby, she doesn’t want to wait. When she’s hungry, she will cry for milk. Even if you tell the baby or the child to wait, she won’t.

But of course, babies and children don’t think logically as adults did. Children tend to think more emotionally and that is why they want their desire to be fulfilled instantly. If they are hungry, they want to eat immediately. They don’t want to wait.

Sadly, most adults acted this way too. They’re being immature and are constantly being influenced by their emotions.

You know that you need to write a blog post and publish to your blog, but you prefer to watch TV and play games.

You know that exercise is good for your health and to keep you slim and yet, yet most people choose not to do it and they choose to do something more convenient, like wasting time on social media.

You must consider both the long-term and short-term pain and pleasure.

What gives you pleasure right now are usually bad for your future. What is painful to do right now usually gives you benefits in the future.

Think about it.

And this is why you must connect with your future self and make decisions and actions according to what you want in the future, not now.

Imagine your future. What do you want to be, do, and have?

If you want to better connect with your future self, you must first identify what kind of future you want to have.

Thus, imagine your future self right now. Close your eyes and think about your future self. It can be 10 years or 20 years from now. How do you see yourself? What do you want to be, do, and have?

What kind of lifestyle do you want to live? What car do you want to drive? Where do you stay? What business or career are you pursuing? How much do money do you want to earn per year? How many children do you have? Etc.

Just imagine the perfect future you want. You can make it even more inspiring by writing down your dream future.

Remember, when you dream about your future self, you don’t want to dream base on your current situation. If you’re broke or in debt now, it doesn’t mean you can’t be successful, or you can’t own a villa on the hill.

Put aside your current circumstances and dream the future you desire without any constraints.

What advice would your future-self give you?

Now, imagine that time-machine has been invented in the future. Your 20 years future-self takes the time machine and visit you at this moment. How does your future-self look like?

If you are 40 years old right now, imagine your 60 years old self visiting you. And you’re going to have an hour conversation with your future-self.

What questions would you ask your future-self? And what advice do you think your future-self will tell you?

For instance, if you are having doubts about whether your current career is suitable for you, ask the opinion from your future-self. What would your future-self tell you?

Let’s be honest, if your dream is to build an internet business and working from home, but you are holding a full-time job right now and you hate it, you know you’re not being true to your future-self.

You know that in order to become the person in your future, you must do something to make a change.

Remember what I said in the beginning? That your future is created now and not 20 years from now?

That’s how your future-self can advise you. Whenever you are in doubt, just check with your future-self.

How IBM became a billion-dollar business empire

I like the story of how IBM became a multi-billion dollars business. They started from the ground and grew into the business empire they imagined. It was all engineered.

If you read the book, The E-Myth Revisited, a great business book by the way, there is a short excerpt from Thomas J. Watson (Chairman and CEO of IBM who grew the business into an international force):

IBM is what it is today for three special reasons. The first reason is that, at the very beginning, I had a very clear picture of what the company would look like when it was finally done. You might say I had a model in my mind of what it would look like when the dream — my vision — was in place.

The second reason was that once I had that picture, I then asked myself how a company which looked like that would have to act. I then created a picture of how IBM would act when it was finally done.

The third reason IBM has been so successful was that once I had a picture of how IBM would look when the dream was in place and how such a company would have to act, I then realized that, unless we began to act that way from the very beginning, we would never get there.

In other words, I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one.

From the very outset, IBM was fashioned after the template of my vision. And each and every day we attempted to model the company after that template. At the end of each day, we asked ourselves how well we did, discovered the disparity between where we were and where we had committed ourselves to be, and, at the start of the following day, set out to make up for the difference.

Every day at IBM was a day devoted to business development, not doing business.

We didn’t do business at IBM, we built one.

Thomas Watson said there are 3 main reasons why IBM became so successful:

1. He had a very clear picture of IBM would look like when it was finally done.

This is why you need to have a vision. You must see it clearly in your head what kind of future you want to live. If you’re being vague, it is impossible to carry out the second step…

2. He created a picture of how IBM would act with the future he envisioned.

You cannot execute the second step without the first step. This is why having a clear and specific future is important. When you know exactly what you want to achieve or what kind of dream life you want to have, only then you’re able to create a plan and get yourself there.

3. He started to act that way from the beginning.

First, he saw the future that he wanted. Second, he imagined how to get there. And third, he started to make decisions and take actions right now based on the future he imagined.

This is how Thomas J. Watson managed IBM and brought IBM into one of the most successful companies in the world.

You too, can use this technique and get the advice from your future self.

First, see the future self that you want. Imagine your dream life and see the picture vividly in your mind’s eye.

Second, imagine how and what you would do when you’re already successful.

Third, start acting that day from the very beginning.

Be more future-oriented and start living as your vision

You have to understand that to achieve your goals and to live a successful life, you must be future-oriented and start living your life right now as to how you want to live in your future.

In other words, you must transform your current self to become the person you imagine becoming in the future right now.

It is what you do right now that will determine your future. Hence, if you do what your future self will do, you will eventually lead your current self, to become your future self.

Do you get it?

You need to become the person worthy of success in order to produce the successful results you want.

If you see yourself running a successful blog, then start managing and running your blog like the final product you imagine it to be now.

If you see yourself having a great family and relationships with the people you love, then start acting that way.

Start with your goals

If you have no idea where to start, go through my Goal Setting Formula masterclass. I shared the exact steps of what you need to do to develop an empowering vision, build strong belief systems, and how to turn your vision into goals that will support you rather than working against you.

The only way to connect with your future is to program the ideas of what you want in the future into your subconscious mind.

And the best way to do so? Through setting what you want as your goals. This is why goal setting is so powerful when you do it the right way.

Therefore, identify your goals and stick to your plan. Your goals can increase your standard and help transform yourself into someone worthy of the success you desire.

And if you have no idea where to start, you should check out Goal Setting Formula.