Visualise a hopeful future

Looking forward to a holiday or special event, such as a wedding, generates so much joy and excitement. Sometimes the planning is even more fun than the actual experience.

During prolonged periods of change, uncertainty and stress it’s easy to get a bit disillusioned when we don’t have a vision for a hopeful future. We need hope. I don't mean create an illusion but rather start dreaming about what the future could look like, if everything goes well and you show up as the best version of yourself.

Visualisation is a powerful tool to help us identify what we intend to create. Positive images pull us forward into positive action. Remember, this process can trigger discomfort and fear, and this is normal. Fear keeps us small, so don’t let those feelings take over. This requires a bit of imagination and persistence but try to relax and let go of any preconceived ideas. Also, try to avoid getting stuck in the details you can’t control.

I’m a big fan of the BEST POSSIBLE FUTURE-SELF visualisation. This exercise is a highly effective tool to help change mindset, and it’s particularly useful for disrupting unhelpful thought patterns and increasing optimism. Over the past years, writing about and imagining a best possible self has repeatedly shown to increase people’s mood and wellbeing. Further, research by positive psychologists shows that writing about and imagining a best possible self can also increase optimism for favourable outcomes. Give it a go and see.

EXERCISE: PROJECTING YOUR BEST FUTURE-SELF

• STEP ONE Close your eyes and think about a point in time in the future. It’s important that it’s far enough away that you feel you can influence it, yet close enough that what you do today matters today. Whatever that timeline is for you is fine. For some people, it’s 6-12 months; for others, it might be 5 years.

• STEP TWO Close your eyes and just imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. As you imagine, think about how you are achieving your goals, why you feel proud about your impact at home, work, and the people around you. What tasks do you look forward to undertaking? How do you feel? What excites you?

• STEP THREE After you have a fairly clear image of how things might unfold, spend about 20 minutes writing down the details however they come to you. Don’t edit or second-guess the details. Just let them flow. It’s important to write everything as if it is happening now. For example, I might write, ‘I enjoy a swim in the ocean every day’ rather than something that may happen in the future, such as, ‘I will try to go for a swim in the ocean every day.’

• STEP FOUR Repeat this process for the following 2 days. This is extremely important. Things that you haven’t thought of and aren’t expecting will come up the more you practice this. The first day will probably get the most superficial wants for the future. After that, deeper, hidden needs will emerge.

Some tips for completing this exercise:
• Get a journal that only you will see. You’re much more likely to dream big things that scare you a little if you’re not worried about other people seeing it at this unfiltered stage.

• Focus on what you control. Do not hand over your future happiness to external factors. Winning lotto may help you acquire the things you want but you have no control over making that a reality.

• Set a time where you have freedom to let your mind explore possibilities. I prefer to do visualisation exercises in the mornings, as that is when I’m most fresh and the realities of the day haven’t quite set in yet.

• Dream big for yourself, but keep it in the realm of reality. No matter how much I will it to be true, I will never be a Brazilian supermodel like Gisele and find myself married to Tom Brady, ever. Likewise, if you are not a CEO of a big company and never have been, it might be unrealistic to think you will be in 6 months unless you are already being groomed for this role. This might be a long-term goal, which is great, however it can be a trap to create a fictional version of your future-self that makes you feel crappy about yourself today.

• Do not think about the reality of making this happen (yet). It is extremely important to allow yourself to dream before you start mapping out how you will achieve that goal, which will inevitably highlight some obstacles.

• If writing isn’t working for you, then you may also draw, create a collage, or make a vision board of your best possible self.
Sit back and reflect on your future dream and set some goals to give you much needed focus and direction.

This article was adapted from content in my book. If you enjoyed, grab a copy of Tripowerment: The Why, the Will and the Way of Breakthrough Change.