[00:00] If I was a betting woman, I'd bet that you have some pretty big goals for this year. Am I right? And if I was also to bet some of those things that are on your goal sheet might feel a little bit scary. In fact, it might even feel as though the things that you have written down is so out of reach from where you are at this point. And with that in mind, you probably haven't told a single soul what you've got planned for this year. Well, boss, if this sounds familiar, then you are in the right place because in this conversation we are talking about how to unlock your next level success and go after those big things.

[00:51] Right now, when you understand this, anything is possible. Are you ready? Let's go. Hello boss and welcome back to the podcast. Often when we talk about achieving our goals, we talk about what it is that we need to do, and whilst that is absolutely important, there is something else that is imperative for you to be able to go up into those next levels, and that's exactly what I wanted to explore with you today.

[02:02] It's not what you need to do, but it's who you need to be in order to realise your desires, your goals, and even your big vision. Much like your laptop or your desktop, your mobile phone, your own internal operating system needs an upgrade from time to time. So I want you to think about this concept of stepping into your future self a little bit like that you are upgrading your internal processing system. And when I'm talking about your internal operating system, I'm more specifically talking about your beliefs, your actions, your mindset, your thoughts, your feelings, your desires, and even your goals.

[02:46] Do these support where you are headed or are they in fact a mirror of where you've been? Your operating system is what's going to keep you from getting stuck as much as how you are going to be moving forward, and it all starts with you. Right here, right now. Your conscious decision to step into the future. To step into the person you need to be in order to get where you want to go.

[03:16] I've mentioned before, I think it might have been my birthday episode, uh, turning 43, and my reflections on that process, and I mentioned in that conversation how grateful I was to my past self for doing the work needed for my present self. The thing is, is that person who got you to this point, they're amazing, right? But it's your future self that's gonna get you to the next level. Okay? So we really wanna step beyond where we are today and embody the person who we want to become in order to move up into this next stage or this next season of our life.

[03:58] You get to create your future self. You get to create your future life, your future business, and embodying the person who you want to be today is going to help you to achieve that.

[04:12] Okay, so the first thing that I wanted to touch on when it comes to stepping into your future self is you need to understand where it is that you want to be. Often when we're setting goals, we're thinking about more medium range goals, or even short range goals, say three, six, or even 12 months. But we're not really reflecting on where we wanna be long term. And I talk about this a lot here on the podcast, is setting a clear vision for what you want your business to be. This is really going to help you to decide what you need to do in the here and the now in order to be able to achieve those big things.

[04:56] For some people, the process of vision casting can be quite scary and it can feel very daunting. And if that's you, I want you to just allow yourself the space to dream. Allow yourself the space to explore something that may feel quite unrealistic today, because that's how you make big leaps in your life and in your business, is by dreaming and thinking big.

[05:25] The first step in the process is really about getting clear on what it is that you want in the long term. If you haven't had a chance to listen to the previous two episodes, I encourage you to go back and listen to those because they may actually support you through this process.

[05:43] But something that I really like to do when it comes to thinking about where I wanna be is to have a little bit of a visualization exercise. So I want you to close your eyes if you are in a position to do so. So if you're driving or if you are in a place where you need to have your eyes open, please do keep them open.

[06:04] However, if you are cleaning or if you're out walking, find a place where you can sit down and just relax into this exercise. So with your eyes closed, I want you to cast your vision forward say 5 or 10 years from now, whatever feels safe for you to do so. You might even like to go 15 years from now.

[06:30] Okay? So wherever the timing is in the future, I want you to imagine where you are. What year are you in, for instance? You can then discover what age you might be at in that year. And I want you to think about what your life looks like at that point in time.

[06:50] If you've got children, for instance, or even if you don't yet, but you will in the future, think about how old those people are, how old that person is. I want you to think about who else is around you. Is there a partner? A husband, a wife, and what type of friends do you surround yourself with? Who are the people that are in your inner sanctum?

[07:17] Now I want you to think about what it might feel like to wake up for the day in this time in the future. So you open your eyes and you look around. Where are you? Are you in the house that you currently live in, or are you in that dream home? If you're in the house that you do live in, is it renovated?

[07:39] Does it look different? How does it look? Notice the details. Okay, so you're looking around. Everyone else in the house is asleep, so you head into the kitchen and you make yourself a coffee or a tea, or pull yourself a glass of water or whatever it is that you do in the future. And you sit there either in the kitchen or at the dining table or in an another space that feels good for you.

[08:11] As you're sitting in this place and you've got your drink in hand and you've got your journal close by and it just feels serene. The morning light is coming in and everything is calm in the house. you can hear the birds chirping outside and it just feels good. You take a sip of your drink and then you start your gratitude practice.

[08:40] What are you grateful for? What kind of business do you have?

[08:46] Who's in your life?

[08:48] What do you do regularly that makes you happy?

[08:54] Who are you grateful for?

[08:57] How are you filling your days? What are the things that you get to do?

[09:04] What kind of impact are you making on others through your business? What's made possible for the people that you work with or that your business works with.

[09:20] Now as you are reflecting on what you're grateful for, I want you to come back into consciousness. Now you are going to start to think about what is my day ahead? What does a typical day for me in the future looks like in this timestamp, right? Are you having podcast interviews? Are you speaking on tv? Are you presenting at a big conference?

[09:45] Are you going overseas? Are you welcoming in a number of different people into your program. Are you briefing your team for the things that need to get done? Are you having a morning team bump in? What is it that your day looks like? I want you to just take a moment to think about what are the different things that you get to do in your day here in the future?

[10:14] Now I want you to think about going to your wardrobe and your bathroom, and everyone's still asleep and you are awake and you are starting to get yourself ready. As you look in the mirror, what do you look like? Consider your hair the clothes, the outfit that you're gonna put on today, your makeup. If you wear makeup, that is. Think about your posture and the person staring back at you in the mirror.

[10:51] Think about how proud you are of that person. How much you love that person. How your past self has gotten to this point that you have achieved so much in your business and in your life, and here you are.

[11:14] What does that feel like looking at that person right now?

[11:20] And then the rest of the family or whoever else you live with is up. It might be your dog, it could be your children, your partner. The house feels full, your home feels full. There is excitement in the air for the day ahead, and again, you can't help but notice how grateful you are for this moment. You can't help but notice how you feel about yourself and how you feel about what you've created and you've built in your business and for your life.

[11:58] Now I want you to start to come back to me. Start to come back to this episode. You've taken a little journey into the future. If you found that process wonderfully easy and inspiring and expansive, that's awesome. I'm so thrilled for you because you are gonna be feeling so much right now, and you might even like to pause this podcast episode and go and journal out what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what you saw, all the things.

[12:35] On the other hand, if you are the sort of person who found that to be really difficult as an exercise and that you can't imagine yourself in the future, I want you to know that this recording is here for you and you may need to bring it back into something that's more tangible in say a year's time, and then maybe step it forward in another year, and then in another year it might feel too hard to go so far into the future.

[13:05] There is no right way to do any of this, but the idea is that through continued work that you do develop this clear understanding of who you are and the life that you wanna live. Because if you don't know what you are working towards, then your growth is going to be incremental, it's going to be small, and you're not going to be able to live up to your potential

[13:32] and that boss would be an absolute travesty. So being committed to getting clear on that future self, on that future impact on what your business looks like, well into the future on what your life looks like, who's around you, all of the details. Now that I've given you the ideas, you can do this on your own.

[14:00] You get to decide that. You get to design that, and that is so exciting. So now that you've created a vision for your future self, it's time for you to define your future self's identity. And I feel like there's some clues embedded in your visualization. So we spoke about what it is that you look like.

[14:26] How you are carrying yourself, the type of day that you're going to have. Well then if you're going to look at those clues and think about, well, if I'm the person who has a team, then what is my identity? Am I a C E O of a company and I have people working and delivering the transformation for my clients?

[14:52] Or is it that I am so committed to the people and the relationships in my life that that future self has got all the key priorities in their life down pat. That the people who are important to them know that they're important to them, and that means that the identity of that person is someone who prioritizes people that they love, as well as building a business.

[15:19] Perhaps it's that that person in the future, they are quite bold. They've taken some risks, they've stepped into pieces before they felt ready. They've had to quieten down the self-talk and really dial up what is important and working towards that vision. Is it that that person in the future, their identity is not concerned by failure because that person knows that they are gonna make mistakes and they're gonna get things wrong, and things will flop, and things won't be great.

[15:56] But at the end of the day, that person, they move through it. They do the things that are necessary to move through it once they've had the chance to feel all the things that come with them. Is the identity of that person, someone who's committed to their self worth, that they back themselves and they believe in themselves and they're committed to their inner purpose.

[16:21] Is it that that person is someone who looks after their body, that is aware of, you know, what they're fueling themselves with? And this is something that even I thought about in my own process when I was going alcohol free, is that is my future self the person that doesn't drink.

[16:43] And I felt excited by the possibility of being that person. And so it can simply be a thought of who that person is and the identity and who they are, and then you get to embody that today. Because from where you are today and where you pictured yourself in that timestamp, in that visualization, you have to start being that person now.

[17:08] You have to start being committed to who that person is today. And this is where the third piece of the puzzle starts to really come into play, and that is the implementation of your future self. I have a really great saying. When you align your actions with what you want to become, you become what you want to be. So when you think about that quote, I want you to think about are you committed? To taking action towards your goals. Are you committed to that identity that we were talking about a moment ago every single day. Even through the things that seem mundane and not interesting and definitely not noteworthy, because it's all of those steps that will bring you closer to that person that you have in your mind.

[18:04] And here's the thing. When you are taking action towards that future self, you will see the response to that action and that will reinforce that you are already that person, that you do not need to wait, that you are already that person and you are simply in the story building the storyline towards that great ending. Not that it's ever ending, of course, but towards that big vision that you have for your life and for your business.

[18:36] You need to be intentional about doing the things that are necessary to be that person. Embodying who that person is as you take action.

[18:49] I received this advice in the summer of 2020, before the pandemic hit. Someone said to me Kristy, you need to stop thinking through the lens of who you are today and start thinking about who that person is that you wanna become. And honestly, that one piece of advice flipped something inside of me.

[19:13] It's like a light switch went on and I started stepping into the person who I needed to be in order to achieve the big things that I wanted to achieve in my life and in my business. This absolutely works because believe me, I'm personally making headway on this vision that I have for myself. And so, you listening to this today, you pressed play on this episode for a reason.

[19:40] Do not let this be something that you listen to and you just move about your day. Let this be something that you really start to think about when it comes to moving through your days and your weeks and your months. It's so easy to lose track on where you are headed, but if you keep coming back to the vision for your future self, the identity of who that person is, and stay radically focused on the implementation of being your future self, then you will make headway and you will move towards the life and business that you truly desire.

[20:22] I feel like this has been a little bit of a different episode for me in the sense that it's been a much more motivational conversation, if you like, but if you apply what I have spoken about and not just feel good about what I've spoken about, then you have the opportunity to rewrite the future. You have the opportunity to step into and embody the person that you wanna be, the business owner that you wanna be.

[20:57] My final point here is that as you're thinking about the implementation of future self, this is again, something that I came up against or not even up against, I moved through when I was going through this process in the beginning of 2020. Is to think about that person in the future. What do you need to put in place to be her or him or them?

[21:23] Who do you need to surround yourself with? Do you need more support in your business? Do you need to stop doing the things over and over and over again that could actually be systemized or automated? Do you need to start thinking about building a business rather than just generating and closing sales?

[21:43] What is it that you need to do to be that person in the future?

[21:48] I hope that you have found this episode to be supportive and helpful, and I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are. I'd love to know what you explored through that visioning exercise, and feel free to let me know who it is.

[22:10] What is your identity for your future self. Boss, if you've made it this far thank you so much for joining me for today's conversation. I really hope that this has been enlightening for you. As always, I appreciate you being here. I look forward to chatting with you next week.