Expose yourself to new and better ways of acting, being, seeing, and thinking. In every situation, regardless of what you’ve done in the past, there is always the possibility to do otherwise. There is always potential for conscious choosing.

Different questions spark innovative thinking and new angles. Psychologist and spiritual teacher Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you see things, the things you see change.” When you change what you’re looking for, you change what you see. The longer you hesitate to enter the playing field, the longer you delay the essential learning curve. You cannot deliberately practice on the sidelines. When you’re not in the arena, you’re failing by default Anyone who wants to change the meaning of their past by imagining it as the stepping-stone to a greater future Psychologists call this the end-of-history illusion, It’s the belief that you’ve substantially changed in the past, but likely won’t change much in the future. It is common to assume that your Future Self will mostly be the same person as you are today. No one succeeds or fails alone, and it's for this reason that it is incredibly important to be intentional and discerning when it comes to whom you spend time with, which books you read, what you think about, etc. We create our environment, and then our environment creates us.This might be the most important book this author has written (and I’ve read all of his stuff so far). The information is so powerful but also so simple and easy to apply in one’s own life, regardless of your age or position in life. If more people would read this they would quit crying on a therapists couch about their past and start moving toward their brighter future. Not saying it isn’t important to be in touch with who we were, but getting in touch with your future self is nuclear powered! Nothing is more fulfilling than knowing our purpose in life, and this book lays out a roadmap to finding that for one’s self. It is geared towards the entrepreneur but honestly anyone in any walk of life could benefit from this. I’m going to have my 19 year old read it (and pretty much all my friends or people I care about). When you start to get excited about your future it is very uplifting and it’s easier to let go of the past. Even better, you get to appreciate your past and all its hardships. Nothing you produce will be perfect. Everything you produce will be from the limited perspective of where you are in a given moment. Costs are heavily addictive. Have you ever tried just eating one chip? It’s essentially torture. Most people, once they pop open the cannister and eat one chip, can’t stop. People who wish to gain clarity and focus, and who want a step-by-step plan for taking control of their life's trajectory and pulling themselves towards the accomplishment of their biggest goals

To exit the rat race of day-to-day mindset requires a shift in your focus. Connect to a bigger future. If you get serious, and started investing and learning, where could you be in five years? Let's begin... THREAT #1: Without Hope in Your Future, Your Present Loses Meaning “The first and most fundamental threat to your Future Self is not having hope in your future. Without hope, the present loses meaning. Without hope, you don't have clear goals or a sense of purpose for your life. Without hope, there is no way. Without hope, you decay." What you believe about the present impacts what you believe about your own past. You can choose either to see your past as something that happened to you, or as something that happened for you; for you as in, fuel for your continued development. The second viewpoint is the most empowering, and it's not even close.

Shift from Fearing Your Future to Fulfilling Your Future

Everyone has a plan until life punches them in the face. Whatever punches life gives to you, your past is just a story. Whatever story you choose for your past enormously impacts your present and your future. Psychologists call this unique human ability prospection; as people, everything we do is driven by our prospects of the future. Prospection is based on a teleological view of the world, which views all human action and behaviour as driven by goals-whether short term or long term. Rather than being the byproduct of your experiences, your experiences are the byproduct of your conscious choosing. You determine what your experiences mean. The environment you are in now will affect where you end up in the future. Is your current environment, especially your relationships, inspiring and challenging you to create a better future? Or is it lulling you to maintain the status quo?

Other experiments suggest that people who score highly on the future self-continuity measure have higher moral standards than the people who struggle to identify with their future selves. They were less likely to cheat in tests, for example. “If people are better connected to their future selves, then they're going to have an enhanced ability to recognise the consequences of their present-day decisions on their future selves,” says Hershfield. “And that's going help them put the brakes on these behaviours.” Lesser goals are weeds in the garden of life. Every time you engage in a lesser goal, it’s the equivalent of planting a weed in your garden. Whatever you plant will produce your results. Truth #4 is that the more measurable and detailed your Future Self, the faster you’ll progress toward your goals. So this is the first and most fundamental threat to your Future Self and one that will stop your journey before it even gets started.

You are Not Your Past—You are Your Future Self

As beautiful as you are, your current self is incredibly limited and ignorant. The best work you can produce now is pebbles to what your Future Self will create. Your Future Self gives you permission to produce. Importantly, this was true even when he controlled for their initial wellbeing. This helped to eliminate the possibility that the people who felt connected with their future selves had simply started the study with higher life satisfaction, and then remained that way. Instead, it seems likely that the greater satisfaction at the end of the study was the result of all those positive behaviours – like financial saving and increased exercise – that together resulted in a more comfortable life.

Some people have a vivid sense of their future self, which feels very close to their current identity. These people tend to be more responsible with their money and more ethical in their treatment of others; they are keen to act in a way that will make life easier in the years ahead. While their goal is unwavering, they remain highly flexible in the process or path to achieve their pursuit. High-hope person, like Frankl himself, remains committed 100 percent to a pursuit, and 100 percent flexible around the path to achieve their goal Be Your Future Self Now is one of the absolute best introductions to the field, and inside this book you're going to learn exactly why having a vision for your own future development is so critically important. But you're also going to receive practical instruction on how to apply the science here and now to make your actual life better. Immediately. Today. The following are seven steps that will allow you to embrace your future self now and use the power of this vision to achieve your goals:Part 3 of this book gives you the seven specific steps to imagine, define, and be your Future Self now Importantly, building a connection to your Future Self requires seeing your Future Self as a different person from who you are today. People who want to develop a compelling vision for their future and imagine a better life for themselves, while receiving the support and guidance to get there as fast as possible Given your current context, what is the absolute most important thing you could achieve or realize right now?