I write about reconnecting with aliveness. These reflections explore what unfolds when we slow down, listen, and relate more honestly to our own experience.
Consider yourself… in the future
Letters on Growth · Vol. 8 Consider yourself… in the futureA lot of coaching is about helping people develop new and lasting habits and ways of being. One thing I've learned over the years is that you can have the most amazing insight or transformative practice, but if you can't recall or act on it in the midst of daily life, its lasting impact will be limited. So how can we carry something new and useful into the days and weeks ahead? Part of it is learning to pause a little more often, to catch ourselves before we automatically move on to the next thing. Once we can pause, the next challenge is the resistance we meet when we try something new. Our habits tend to prioritize what feels easy and rewarding in the moment, so the change we're inviting can often feel arduous in comparison to the familiar. Anyone who has tried to resist a cookie while on a diet can attest to this. This is where a small practice helps me. Considering your future self Let's say you find yourself opening the cookie jar (literal or metaphorical). If you can pause first, you can then ask: what would future me have me do now? Most of the time we are led by present me, moved by whatever feels most important right now, which is often just whatever feels best. That is how the cookie wins. Pausing lets us turn to future me and ask what they might want instead. This is a simple act of self-awareness, and a surprisingly powerful one. Having heard from future me, you are free to decide. This isn't about knowing the answer ahead of time, or taking future me's side every time. It is a way of being in touch with more of your own truth before you choose, and then acting from that more integrated place. I use this most to support my desire to exercise. In the moment, present me rarely feels like a run or the gym, while future me almost always wishes I did it more often. They are two sides of me holding care on different horizons. When I give them both a moment of attention, it usually feels right to honor future me, and the choice stops feeling like a fight. I'm curious how the idea of considering your future self lands for you. And I'd love this to go both ways, so do tell me the small things you live by. I may share some in the letters to come, and it would be lovely to find where what helps you and what helps me overlap.
With care — now and in the future,
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Ready for Growth
I write about reconnecting with aliveness. These reflections explore what unfolds when we slow down, listen, and relate more honestly to our own experience.
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