Episode 137: The Future You Want

Episode Summary

Whatever you want to create in the world, in your life, the action you want to take, has to start here and now. So many of us are waiting for a future moment to reach us first, and then we can plan to take action.

But the future isn’t a fixed point we arrive at one day. It’s constantly being shaped by the decisions and choices and actions we’re making every single day, in the present.

What you’re doing in the present matters. And I want you to imagine what you want to feel grateful to yourself for in a month. In a year. What will you be so deeply appreciative to yourself for doing while you were here on earth?

There’s a beautiful piece of tree ring art in my house. You can tell it’s a huge, old tree because of the number of rings inside. And I love it because when I see it, I see that it was created one tiny ring at a time. So many times, we just want to skip ahead and be the future thing, the big tree that’s got tons of rings. But we can’t get there without every ring in between. Every level of growth is essential.

So much can be created one year at a time, one month at a time, one day at a time. It all adds up. It all matters for the future you want.

Episode Transcript

Welcome to the 100% Awesome Podcast with April Price. You might not know it, but every result in your life is 100% because of the thought you think. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome.

Hello, podcast universe. Welcome to episode 137 of the 100% Awesome Podcast. I'm April Price and I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays and all the things. It is mid-December and I know you have a million things going on. I have yet to start my Christmas shopping, but listen, with everything you have going on, the most important thing you need to know is that after all of this hubbub, after the holidays are over, it will be January and my next coaching group starts that first week, the very first week of January.

And if you want to change your life next year, if you want to have more peace, and more joy, more love for yourself, more love for your life, the people in your life. If you want to know how to love, and how to motivate yourself and how to get all the things done that you want to do in this life, this is the place to be. Okay, we're going to take all the things that you wish were different that you that, you know, can be different and we are going to change them. And that is just going to be the beginning. It really is. It is just the beginning of what you can create in your life of the capacity, and the possibility that is ahead of you, like the possibilities are just so endless when you learn to manage your brain, okay? Because the only thing between you and the things you want, the life you want, the relationships you want, the health, and money, and contribution, and goals, and dreams that you want. The only thing between you and those are your thoughts.

2:12
So, let's not think the thoughts that are keeping us from our ideal life one more day. You don't have to. You can choose something else, and you can get everything you want. And the best way to do that, the most fun, the most effective, the most powerful way you can do that is through my coaching program. And you need to know that doors for the program close on Sunday, I will not have another group opening until April. And so, if you have been thinking about it like you've pictured yourself in that room, today is the day to get signed up. Like, let's make this happen for yourself. Tell yourself you're going to figure it out, tell yourself that you are worth it, and let's get signed up, okay? Doors close on Sunday, I want you to get signed up today, okay?

I am so excited about today's episode, it was inspired by an email that I got from one of you, from one of my listeners, somebody who listens to the podcast. And in the email, she said, Thank you so much for episode 154, it has like made such a difference in getting out and walking in the winter, right? So, I knew it wasn't my episode. I knew that it come from another podcast that she was listening to. But I had this moment where I was like, hey, like, like, I don't know if you listen to the intro of this, if this podcast, but we're episode 137, right? So, 154 is still out in the future. But I had this like kind of like cool moment where I thought, like, what if I could get emails from the future? Like, what if I could get emails from the future where I could see the impact that that my work had in the future? And then I could see the blessing that that I had created in the world in the future.

Like, imagine if you could get an email from someone in the future, right? Like what would it say, like she was writing it up. So, we're on 137, which means episode 154 is like six weeks away, but for sure, it's coming, right? Like for sure, I know it's out there in my future. And what if I could kind of like get emails from that future? What would people say? Oh my gosh, that episode was so helpful to me. Oh my gosh, thank you for publishing it, right? Like, it's just the coolest thing to think about. Like that reality is out there somewhere. It hasn't happened yet, but I know for sure there is a reality in which I will create episode 154. And it will help somebody and somebody will be grateful that I made it. And I just want you to think about that for a minute, in your own life, like what if you could get an email from somebody who was grateful to you for something that you were going to do six-weeks from now? What if you could get that email from yourself? What if you could write an email to yourself in the future, six weeks from now, a year from now, six years from now, what would that email say? What would future you be so grateful that you had created in your life? What would future? You be so grateful you had decided to think and feel and do and create? Like, in that moment, what would future you be so grateful that you had done?

And I just was like, kind of like so excited and on fire about this idea. And I actually do this kind of exercise every year where I write a letter to myself from future me. I just did it a couple of days ago where I wrote a letter from me December 2022, and I wrote it to myself now, and like, imagined what I will be grateful for in December 2022. What I will be grateful to myself for doing and creating next year. And I just think like this is an amazing way to think about your life. What do you want future you to be really grateful for that that you are doing in your life right now?

The thoughts you are thinking, right, that are going to produce the feelings, and the actions, that are going to create your life. I was just listening to a call from the Life Coach School and Brooke Castillo was talking about. She was talking about a friend that like I had written a book and and that she always knew that that friend would do it, that she always knew that that was going to be a reality. And she said, I love it when my present catches up with my brain. I love it when, like, my reality catches up with the thoughts I've always thought about myself. And I just think this is amazing to think about. You guys like, won't it be so cool when, like your reality, your present catches up to the things you believe will happen for you in the future? Like, won't it be an incredible moment when I'm living in a present that I'm just dreaming about now when I'm just like, right now, my future is only a thought. It only exists out there in a in, in a thought, in a dream. But there will be a day if I keep thinking the thoughts that that moved me towards, that there will be a day that my present catches up with that future.

And I want you to think about the significance of that. You could dream anything, think anything into your future, and if you keep believing, and you keep working at it, you keep thinking that thoughts, and feeling the feelings, and taking the action, there will be a day when your present catches up to those future thoughts like this is the coolest thing ever. So, what is in your future that you are going to be so glad you thought about now? So, glad for the thought, you thought for the feelings you felt for the action you took. What do you want to create in your future that needs to start now? Because listen, everything that you need in order to be grateful in the future is happening right now in the present moment. You have to take action in the present moment to create that future. It's not happening in the future.

So, many of us are waiting to take that action in the future. Waiting to feel the feelings and think the thoughts. But we can only ever think, and feel, and act in the present, which means whatever it is you want to create out there has to be done here and now, today. So, as you know, I have a daughter that's on a mission right now as she's about to finish up, she finishes up at the end of January, and I was thinking about this for her like. Her at the end of this mission, what she would tell herself, like that future day is coming and she's had a beautiful, amazing growing experience, and that day of her release is coming. That future day is coming, and I just think it's so tender to think about what that girl on that release date would say to the girl two years ago or 18-months ago, and the decisions that she was making. Like, she's going to be so grateful for her 18-months ago for her that made the decision to serve for her that like overcame her fear day in and day out over those 18 months so that she could be at the moment of release and be so proud of her work.

Like what you are doing in the present matters so much, and so I really want you to imagine like what you want to be in appreciation of yourself for in a month, in a year when you leave this life, what do you want to be so grateful to yourself that you did while you were here?

9:58
So, at our house, we have this piece of art in the family room that is really symbolic to me. And it's it's a big picture of tree rings that somebody has, like made an ink print of an actual tree ring. And I love that piece of art. I look at it every single day and it's so symbolic to me, right? Because like every ring in the tree ring, like it's a giant like Sequoia Tree, right? Like the actual like trunk of that tree is huge. But it was created like one ring at a time, one tiny little line at a time, right? And so many times in our lives, we just want to skip ahead. We just want to be that future thing. We just want to be that future version of us. That big sequoia, right? But we can't get there without every ring in between. Every piece of growth is essential, and I just think it's amazing when you think about like. We feel like our progress is so slow, but so much can be created. One year at a time, one month at a time, one day at a time and it stacks up. It adds up into like the final result.

And I want you to kind of put an image of these tree rings in your mind for a couple of reasons. First of all, like to understand that every bit of progress you are making toward your future counts. Every bit is important, right? Like, it doesn't matter where you are, where you are isn't wrong, it's all on the way to your future. So, just start, start moving towards what you want, creating what you want. Where you are right now isn't wrong. The other thing that I think is really useful about that image is that we can stop telling ourselves that where we are now, who we are now, what we are now prevents us from creating the future result we want, right?

We look at where we are, and we look at like the disparity between where we are, and where we want to be, and we we think where we are disqualifies us in some way from having that future. But like, think about a tree ring, the tiniest little ring at the center, like did not disqualify the tree from becoming the huge sequoia. It was necessary. Everything in your present right now and in your past, like is necessary to build the future you want, it's all just building on itself and the past and the present don't disqualify you from what you want and from what you can create. They are a part of it. And so, don't use where you are now to inform what you can be right that Sequoyah on year one like you would give up if you thought like this defines what I can be.

Now this is just all part of it, in so many times for our brains, our brains assess us, and of course, they're looking for what's wrong and they look at us and they say, you can't ever be that future version of you like, even when I wrote the letter the other day, like from future meet in 2022. There was a part of my brain was like, Yeah, this is just a joke. You can't be this person from where you are now, but it's always a lie. It's always like where we are now does not determine what we can be, it's all building on itself. So, I just really want you to think about like, what, if any, future I want is possible for me? What if, like where I am now, where I have been my past, my present, what if that does not disqualify me, or prevent me from where I want to be? I promise you that that is true.

13:57
I know you've heard me talk 100 times about where I was four years ago, five years ago. Like, honestly, I think about that version of me, like, it's so different. I think so differently. And the reality of my life is so different. And I want you to know that wherever you are, if you are where I was, it's 100% okay. Where you are does not determine where you can be, where you are, it's just a necessary part of your growth, okay? The other thing that I like to think about when it comes to like really envisioning my future and creating the future I want is I like to think about myself, all the versions of me as a team working together, okay? So, there's past me, there's president me and there's future me, okay? And like, I like to think about us all getting in a room as a team and making decisions together as a team. I like to notice how past me, and the decisions I made in the past have created my present.

I like to like, acknowledge and appreciate myself for everything that I've done to get me to where I am like past me showed up for me. She made decisions, she thought, She did her thing. She felt uncomfortable emotions so that I could be where I am now. And then I think about me now, and what I need to do, what I need to think right now, what I need to feel right now, what I need to be willing to do to set future me up. Just like past me, set me up right now, it's kind of like past me, present me, future me. What are we talking about? But the idea is that for so many of us, we're just making decisions in the present, right? We're responding to what our brain wants in the present without considering where we're going, without considering what future me needs me to do right now in the present.

So. I want you to think about making your decisions, how you spend your time, how you spend your money, how you spend your energy, not just from the present, but from the future, right? And your brain, you're doubting insecure, fearful brain like is most relevant and has the most impact in the present because it can only think in the present. So, it's giving you all the doubting, insecure, scared thoughts in the present. And when we respond to those in the present, instead of thinking from the future, we just do what our brain wants. So, I really want to encourage you not to let your present brain have so much say in your life. I want you to think about managing your thoughts from the future. If I want something in the future, I'm going to have to take action right now. And that means not letting my present brain have so much say in what happens right? It means thinking differently right now, and challenging the thoughts my brain is giving me right now in the present, so that I can take the action I need to. That is eventually going to give me the results I want in the future.

So, you have to think what you're going to think in the future, you have to actively engage with what you will think in the future. You have to decide what you're going to believe about yourself from the future, not the present. The other day, I was talking to my coach about a goal that I really wanted to achieve this year, and I still have not achieved it. And I was just telling her like, how disappointed I was because I wanted to be able to say that like I was this kind of person, I was this kind of a coach, I had created this goal in my life. And she was like, Why do you have to achieve the thing before you can say that about yourself? Like, why do you need evidence before you can believe the thought? And she was saying, like, as long as you are looking for evidence first, you cannot create the thing. Belief always comes first. And I think in so many ways, this is how we do it in our lives. Like, we want to believe we're a person who can lose weight, but we have to lose weight before we believe it.

We're like, okay, once I lose weight, then I can believe that I'm that kind of a person, but it doesn't work that way. We have to believe we are before we can create in our reality. And it was just like this moment where I was like, oh yeah, like, I'm trying to like, have the result before I can believe the thing. And this is what gets in the way for every one of us, right? What I'm saying is you don't earn your thoughts. You don't earn permission to think things about yourself, you think them. And that's what creates that version of you.

You think them first? It's the opposite of what we think instead of thinking I have to do something first in order to believe something about myself, in order to have confidence in myself, in order to like, think these things are possible? The belief comes first. So, ask yourself if you have a goal, if you have a future version of you in mind, if you have something that you want to create. Ask yourself what you are going to allow yourself to believe once you get there. And those are the thoughts you need to believe right now. Those are the thoughts that are essential actually to be able to create the result you want.

19:23
I will only achieve my goal when I believe I am already the person that does that thing. The last thing that I want to say about this is that one of the biggest realizations that changed my life, changed my present, changed my future was knowing that my life. Wasn't just happening to me, my results weren't just like being handed to me, they weren't just my lot and they weren't something that, like I had no control over. The biggest realization that changed everything for me was to recognize that I was responsible for my present. Whatever that present look like, I had created it with my thoughts. I had created it with my choices. And I just want to caution you, because I know some of you could use this thought against yourself. You could look at your present, and you can make yourself wrong, and shame yourself like taking you instead of taking responsibility. You want to take blame. And what I want to offer you is there is just so you will get so much traction and like so much change when you recognize, Hey, I created this, and that means I can create anything else.

Like it didn't just happen. It didn't just like it wasn't just given to me. It wasn't just like my destiny or my lot. It was created by what I believed, by the choices I made in my own mind, by the choices, by what I chose to think and feel and do. That has brought me here. And when I really get that, then I can realize that if I change any of those variables, what I think, what I feel, what I do, I will change the results. I will change my reality. And if you use that concept for you, it can change everything. If there is a future that I want, if there is an email that I want to write myself from the future, I am responsible for that and anything I want is 100% available. It's just the most like, powerful thing you can know.

So, I often like to do a visualization where I visualize myself on a beach and I'm walking down the beach and ahead of me. I see somebody walking towards me. And as I keep walking towards her, she's getting closer and closer to me. And as she gets closer, I recognize that it's me, that its future me, that I'm walking towards my future and my future is walking back towards me. And as I walk towards her, I imagine like what she is like, right? I imagine like what she thinks, what she does, what she feels, what she is like, what her life is like, what her reality is like. And I love visualizing that because as I'm walking towards her, I recognize that our meeting is inevitable. That whoever she is and whatever she does in her life, she is walking towards me, and if I keep walking towards her, we will meet. We will meet in a present moment that is inevitable, I just have to keep walking towards her and any future I want is available to me, I will create it. And how do I do that? How do I keep moving towards her? I work on the thoughts that are between me and her. Like that future version of me. She the only thing that makes her different than me, is her thoughts.

The only thing that makes her different than me is that she is choosing different thoughts than I am right now. And that's my work. My work is just too one thought at a time. Think more like her. And as long as I do that, as long as I keep removing the thoughts that that she is not thinking, and I start thinking the thoughts she is thinking I will be her. It is inevitable. And that is true for every one of you. I have seen it happen in my life over and over. I have seen the miracle of my present catching up to my future thoughts, catching up to the things I believed.

It's like the coolest thing in the world to see the things you've just thought about and believed and imagined come to pass in your reality. I want to invite you to coaching so that you can remove the thoughts that are between you and whatever that future version of you, that future you, that you want to be. The thoughts that are between you and them. You can get what you want. Where you are now is not preventing you where you are now. You have created by what you have thought.

And that means that if you change what you think, you will change your reality. Come to coaching sign ups. Like I said and Sunday, you can get what you want. Write yourself a letter today from future you after coaching, right? I want you to write your self a letter from you. Next July, what does he or she say about your decision to get coached? What does he or she say about your willingness to challenge and change your thoughts? What is he or she is so grateful to you right now for doing? You are building your life, you are building your future right now, whether you do it intentionally or not it is all being created. Your future is being created by the thought you think right now in this moment. And that means that you have all the say in what your future looks like. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I love you for listening, and I'll see you next week.

The next round of my coaching program made four more starts the first week in January, and I want you to be a part of it in coaching. I will show you the simple way to change your brain, to create more joy, more love and more accomplishment in your life. Your Earth-life experience is precious and finite, and there is so much more available to every one of us in this life and the next, and I would love to show you how to get it. Go to Aprilpricecoaching.com to sign up.