How to Create the Future That You Desire with Mindset Coach Michele Demetriou
Michele Demetriou is a Certified Life and Mindset Coach. She helps professional athletes create lives that feel as good as they look. Michele writes about how to create the future that you desire.
It’s 2020—a New Year and a new decade. And it is this time of year that we so often make (and break) New Year’s Resolutions. So, I want to offer you a new way of entering this year, and an alternative to making resolutions.
In my work as a Life and Mindset Coach for professional athletes, I frequently teach my clients the concept of the Future Self as a way of shifting and changing their lives completely. We so often limit what is possible in our future because we look back to our past as validation for what we are capable of. We often think thoughts like, “I can’t ever keep the weight off,” or “I’m not good at relationships,” or “I’m just not a good free-throw shooter.” We don’t realize that we get to create our future by thinking new thoughts.
Each and every day we have some 60,000 thoughts, and many of those— both the good and bad—are thoughts that we have about ourselves. Our thoughts are incredibly powerful, and they, quite simply, determine everything in our lives. Our repetitive thoughts determine how we think, act and feel (which is our personality), and this, in turn, creates our personal reality. To create a different life, we must think, feel and act in new and far greater ways than what is true for us today. The best news is that you get to design who you are, and you get to decide and choose what you want your future to be. And guess what? You don’t have to bring any of your past into this new year. None. Of. It. You get to write your future right now, and in doing this, you have the opportunity to change everything.
I want you to take out a pen and paper, and write out by hand, a detailed description of your Future Self. Who is it that you want to be? To become someone new and improved, you must be able to “see” yourself in the future. Imagine this new you. See yourself moving throughout your day as the person you want to be. Where are you living? What does your daily routine look like? Who are you interacting with? What are you wearing? What is your work? How much money are you making? Where are you vacationing? How much do you weigh? What are your relationships like? Write it all out—every little detail. And dream big!
And speaking of dreams, discomfort truly is the currency to your dreams. So my wish for you in 2020 is that you have a really uncomfortable year. It’s so easy to stay comfortable and live life by default and in your past, but there is no growth there. It’s for this reason that I so often end calls with my clients by telling them that I hope they have a really uncomfortable day. Because what I know for sure is that if they are uncomfortable they are changing and growing, and creating the life of their dreams. Just last night one of my players texted me and said, “I am so grateful to you for encouraging me to do scary and uncomfortable things this year. Each and every time I do this, I am more focused and I reach a goal that seemed impossible. Thank you.”
So, be really uncomfortable in 2020. Know that what you believe is real.
What do you want for you and your Future Self this year?
Think that.
Michele Demetriou