Ep. 019 - Visualization Part 2: Be Your Future Self Now

SHOW NOTES:

At some point in your life you will become past focused.  This is a problem, however, because being past focused is so limiting.  In today's episode, I want to introduce you to a concept called FUTURE SELF.  Not only do I want to introduce you to this concept, I actually want to introduce you to your future self.  So be sure to listen to the bonus visualization that follows...you won't regret it.

TRANSCRIPT:

This episode is part two of two of the visualization series. And get ready cuz I'm about to introduce you to your future self.

Welcome to Man in the Arena, your go-to podcast for all things related to health and weight loss for men over 40. Here we discuss strategies that will get you off the sidelines and into the game so you can achieve your optimal health. It's time to lead a legacy of longevity. Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of Man in the Arena.

I'm your host, Craig Spear, a certified health and weight loss coach, and I'm so pumped up today because we're talking about a concept I came across a few years ago by a guy named Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and this concept is all about building up and creating your future self. So this is part two of two of the visualization series.

And if you haven't had a chance to listen to part one, please be sure to go back and listen to that, because that'll lay the groundwork for this episode. But just like the last episode, I have a very similar goal this week. My goal is to provide you with another concept, another tool that you can use every day as you do the necessary work to improve your health and weight loss.

That's what this is all about. I want you to have tools that you can go to, that you can use every day to help you develop and then, Achieve the ultimate outcome that you want to achieve. So find time in your day. Use these tools, practice getting better at them, and I promise you, you're gonna see really powerful tangible results.

So last week I talked about visualization, and like last week, there's a bonus episode that follows this one. It's a guided visualization and the whole purpose of this guided visualization is to help you connect with your future self. If you're a client of mine, you've heard me talk about this concept before, but this is gonna be a great refresher for you.

If you're not a client of mine, you've never heard me talk about this before, you are in for a real treat because this is something I teach to all my clients, and it's something that I use as well as I pursue my own goals and growth. What's also interesting about this concept is it's really gaining more and more momentum in the personal growth and development space.

We're seeing more Ted Talks show up about this. We're seeing books being written, so it's gaining more and more popularity. Here's how it works. When we're in grade school, we're very future focused. So for example, we're in middle school, we look forward to high school. We're in high school. We look forward to graduating and going to post-secondary, maybe college or university.

We look forward to maybe starting a career, and then we look forward to getting married or buying a house. Having kids maybe. And so naturally we're looking forward to the future, and this drives us in the present. It makes us very focused and disciplined and do the work that's necessary to achieve the outcomes we want.

But at some point, we've stopped becoming future focused. And maybe it's after we've achieved all of these things and maybe we feel like there's nothing left to do. So instead we become past focused and we look back at what we've already done. This becomes the barometer for what we feel is possible going forward.

And the problem with this is it's very limiting because we think what's possible is only what we've already done. So there's this natural bottle cap to what we can do going forward. And how do you know your past focus is? You start saying things like, I've never done that before. That's not how I do it.

I can't do that. And so one quick point here is, I don't want you to discount your past. It's important to look back at what you've learned and what you've experienced, but I don't want you to get caught up in letting the past define what's possible for you. Being future focused opens up so much more possibilities.

Now, when we talk about the future self, we're not talking about some sci-fi concept. We're talking about the version of you that you aspire to be, the person you want to become, the legacy you want to live and leave. And the life that you want to live. This vision of your future self can be a incredibly powerful tool in shaping your present.

So here's an exercise I want you to do. Get out a piece of paper, a notebook or a document on your computer, and I want you to start to ask yourself, what are the top three outcomes you want in your lifetime? And take a minute to really think about this. I'll provide some kind of prompting questions here, but.

What does that man look like? What kind of health does he enjoy? What kind of relationships does he have? What refinances look like? What's he doing with his time? What kind of legacy is he living? Take a moment and let that vision form in your mind. The best thing to do is write this down. Now we're gonna do.

A future self visualization in the next bonus podcast episode that follows this one. So this is a great way to kind of really bring your vision together. Now, I want you to ask yourself, what did you do yesterday and how did you spend your time? Make a list of all of the daily tasks and things you completed, and where you spent your time and what you worked on.

And then finally, the final part of this exercise. I want you to look at this list of things that you did and ask yourself how much of your day was spent on things that contribute to your desired top three outcomes? And what you're gonna find is that most of us do not spend nearly enough time on the things that are important to us, and certainly the things that contribute to us achieving our desired outcomes.

And that's why creating a vision of your future self is so important. It's gonna help you show up better in the present. Your future self serves as your guide and your mentor. Every decision you make, every action you take should be in service of becoming that man your future self. Now, I wanna be careful here.

This isn't about you being dissatisfied with who you are now, but rather it's about working for what's possible in your life. It's about acknowledging the potential within you and harnessing it for positive growth. So, for example, let's say your future self is a man who enjoys excellent health well into his golden years.

What can you do today to become that man? You can start by making healthier choices, exercising regularly, prioritizing your sleep, managing your stress, or maybe your future self is a man who has close-knit, loving family relationships. What can you do today to become that man? You can invest time in your relationships.

You can express love and appreciation for the people in your life. Maybe you can work on your communication skills. Now, it's important to note that becoming your future self isn't a passive process. It's actually very active process that requires decision making, commitment and effort. But the reward is a life well lived, and you create this legacy of longevity and you have this knowledge that you've become the best version of yourself.

It's also important to remember that your future self isn't a fixed entity. So as you grow and change, so too will your vision of your future self, and that's okay. In fact, it's more than okay, it's a sign of growth, it's a sign of development, and it's a personal evolution of yourself. So as I mentioned in the beginning, there's a book called Be Your Future Self.

Now it's written by a psychologist named Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and he tells a story. In this book about the YouTube personality, Mr. Beast. So in the story, Mr. Beast films a series of videos where he is talking to himself six months into the future, one year into the future, five years into the future. And in that video he talks about how many YouTube subscribers he has, and he talks about the status of his channel, talks about how much money he makes.

And then what's really interesting is he scheduled these posts or these videos to go out live six months, one year, and five years into the future. And then when those videos were posted, it was so fascinating because he had completely exceeded his expectations. But this just shows how powerful it is to connect with our future self and use them as a guide for what we want to achieve and where we want to go.

And what we end up finding is that we greatly exceed what we ever thought was possible. And just so you know, by the way, Mr. Beast is the highest grossing earner on YouTube, and he has over 150 million subscribers. So I challenge you to first define your future self, and then the second thing is to connect with that person daily.

The next thing I want you to do is listen to the visualization that follows this episode and make sure that you find a quiet, comfortable place and turn off all distractions when you do that. This visualization is extremely powerful and it's gonna change the way you think, and believe me, it's gonna be a game changer for you.

That's all I have for today. I hope this concept really resonates with you and provides you with a powerful tool for personal growth, weight loss, and health. And remember, your future self is waiting for you, so don't let 'em down. Thank you so much for listening. I look forward to next week, and in the meantime, keep leading a legacy of good health and longevity.

If you're ready to step inside the arena and change the trajectory of your health, head on over to the spear method.com and download my free guide to learn simple and effective strategies on how to optimize your health today