Achieving goals is nice. We achieve them and experience a feeling of accomplishment. Yay! Unfortunately, this good feeling is all too brief. After the celebration joy fades we typically experience a flattening of emotion. Maybe, after a while, we drift into boredom or worse a sense of malaise, and then we sort of enter a state of drifting that leads to no good. The statistics on retirement seem to bear this out. People often die soon after retiring. Paints a rather gloomy picture doesn’t it? Imagining a future where I work my whole life only to retire and croak right away it not something I want to experience. Big no!
Unlike animals (or so it seems), we have the ability to imagine the future, and take action to make it happen. On the flip side we can envision another kind of future. We can imagine the tragedy of not living to our potential. This sort of scenario is played out in two stories that come to mind. In the venerable Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” George Bailey, the main character, is granted a wish to see the world as it would be if he were never born, a future where he literally just does not show up! And it’s not pretty. Without his effort and sacrifice all the people he loves either never exist, or they exist in sort of hell on earth.
In the tale of Scrooge, a similar trope occurs. Scrooge gets to see what the future will be if he continues on his path of selfishness, greed, and cynicism. You know the story. It’s not good. Again, a future with more pain, tragedy and malevolence ensues than would otherwise occur.
Now, both of these are fictional stories, but they are the sort of fiction that is truer than real life. They represent a meta-truth. The truth is – there is value in examining what your future holds if you fail to show up, or if you allow your weaknesses and bad habits to continue unabated.
Think about it. Both George Baily and Scrooge get very motivated by that peek into their undesirable futures. And, so will you. I urge you to take advantage if this motivation! Take a few minutes and write down your dark future that will happen if you don’t show up or let your weaknesses win out. You know it’s true. Then re-visit your 365 list with the insight you have gained. What is most important to you now? Yep, not letting that damned dark future occur!
Sticking to the 365 commitment sometimes is easy, and sometimes it’s hard. You’ll need to use every trick in the book it to stay on track. So, I hope this blog post provides that extra trick you need to stay the course. Sure, imagining a future you want is motivating, no doubt, that’s obvious. But, imagining the flip-side, a future you do not want may be more powerful. Now go and scare the crap out of yourself 🙂
Ben Wagner (15)
Member 365 Commitment
