Over the last couple of weeks I have been talking to a
number of people who are pondering their future, both in business and their
personal life choices. The word I would use to describe their thinking is
indecisiveness. As I listened to and observed their verbal and non-verbal cues
I wondered, ‘Are you being true to yourself?’. What was telling me they weren’t
and what was the reason?
Further discussions led to the discovery that, in all but
one case, these people didn’t have a plan or a material goal and were having
difficulty imagining their future and what it would look like. They all knew
what they didn’t want and only a couple had a vague idea of what they wanted to
achieve but with no timescale.
This brings me back to the ‘Be true to yourself‘ idea. Often
we don’t have a specific objective to plan for and this is an ideal time to ask
ourselves, ‘Who is the true me? What would the best that I can be look like and
feel like?’
One way to access this truth is to write down words that
describe your ideal self to help to build a picture of where you ideally want
to be. It may be that you need to revisit a past experience and renew that
memory, or it may be you want to make changes you haven’t experienced before,
or both. If it is a feeling from the past pull it forward to ‘now’.
Specifically focus on the positive emotions and energy - joy, excitement, love,
anticipation, vigour, security - attached to the memory.
Next think about where in your mind the future is. Is it in
front of you, or behind you, or to one side? Close your eyes and look in the
direction of your future and project the image and feelings of the true you
towards that direction. Check in and make sure the image is perfectly you and
in your mind walk towards your true self. As you walk notice the colours,
temperature, texture and sounds of that image and how the true you feels. Take
snapshots as you go to capture the whole experience. Keep travelling forward to
your future and keep your true self-image just in front of you. Now even if you
don’t have a physical goal you have an emotional experience to enjoy.
Make a habit of spending a few minutes on a regular basis to
check in with your future ‘true to self’ image and experience the emotion and
energy. You will soon discover there’s nothing holding you back!
I have a range of tips and techniques to help people raise
their self-awareness, understand their true self, focus on their
objectives and achieve their personal and business goals. For more information
please give me a call – 01497 820520.
