The Future You Want

Happy Friday and Happy Future,

When I was a teenager, my dad handed me a pen and paper and suggested I write down what I wanted my life to look like. After a few minutes of staring at the blank page, this is precisely what I wrote:

"I want to live in a nice neighborhood. I want to be able to travel the world. I want to own my own business. I want enough money to shop for fun sometimes, not just for needs. I want to get married and have three kids, two boys and a girl."

Of course, I had absolutely no idea how. Didn't matter.

“Okay, now post them where you’ll see them every day.”

Total time spent – less than fifteen minutes. But two changes occurred that had a profound effect from then on:

Recognition: Having written down what I wanted, I was more apt to recognize opportunities consistent with that vision.

Time allocation: Knowing what I wanted caused me to spend more time on the right things and less on the wrong things: more intention and less waste.

Neither change guaranteed success, but they absolutely improved the odds and shortened the timeline, which is critical when the timeline of life is already very finite and uncertain.

What do you want the remainder of your life to look like? Your age doesn't matter. I posted a new plan at 65.

Punchline: Today is the parent of tomorrow. And while it's cliche, today really is the first day of the rest of your life. So, there could be no better day than today to spend 15 minutes with a pen and paper visualizing the future you want and posting it where you'll see it every day. It may prove to be the most impactful 15 minutes you'll ever spend.

Wishing you a whole lot of wonderful ahead!

Dave

P.S. It works equally well for your career and your business.

P.P.S. Yes, amazingly, we do have two boys and a girl.

Your feedback and blowback are welcome. dave@goodnewsfriday.com

Review all 40 past topics (it's increasingly good stuff) @ goodnewsfriday.com

Written by me, not ChatGPT, with speed assist and blunder avoidance by Grammarly.