The key to all this is time. And in saying this I’ve already lost you because you’re already sick of hearing about time, making time, wasting time, my constant “time energy and resources” as well as my “everyone makes time for what’s most important to them.” Stay with me, because this is different. It’s not about making time, it’s not even about scheduling time.
It’s about you listening to you when you are at your smartest.
Everyone tells you to live in the moment, but that’s exactly what’s preventing you from losing weight, accomplishing that thing, or feeling better.
You take the moment and then your brain considers the best course of action, right.
Nope. That’s a tiny voice in the huge cathedral in your head. There is a loud symphony of emotions (good and bad), the effects of food (and other substances). Though just another emotion, desire plays a huge part in this as well and can have the loudest voice. Then there’s the part of you that wants to plan, and can just plan away what it is you were supposed to do right now
We are constantly three people: our past, present and future selves. We are the past to our future, we are the present to our mindful mind, and we are the future to our past selves. And that last one is the key to everything.
If everything you are doing right now is because of your present mind, you will never make the progress you have wanted to make.
If right now you realize that you want to lose weight, you can’t. No, seriously, you can’t lose weight right now. It’s impossible unless you lose a limb. If you want to lose 50 lbs then you have to plan to lose it.
Yes, you can eat less if you literally have your fork in hand, but that’s as close to your present self telling your present self to lose weight.
Instead you have to make some sort of plan, remind yourself, join a club, get a meal plan, etc. And what do all those things have in common from where we are standing right now?
They are all in the future. Every single one of them.
Mentally that seems obvious but is a bit shocking. Isn’t it? Its all the future.
You can argue that it is a state of being, or a mindset, but I will remind you that you don’t have that state of being or mindset and that’s why you aren’t accomplishing this. So we are talking about you before you’ve engaged the mindset, if that indeed is even a thing.
Message in a bottle
So what I am talking about is sending yourself a message, a message that you will listen to. If you can send your future self (that you will becomes) a mesage that your future self will listen to you get get everything you want.
Everything you want that us based on a set of actions that you have been unable to perform.
Let’s agree on this: if you could snap your fingers and MAKE yourself perform a set of actions to so a thing wouldn’t you ALWAYS do this? If you had a magic word that could cuse you to, with 100% success rate, do a thing that you want to do, wouldn’t you ALWAYS take advantage of that?
Right? C’mon. Of course you would. It would be like cheating.
But if you could snap your fingers and START doing that thing starting right now you would still have to wait days, weeks or even years in some cases to see the results. So iven with this magic ability to “just do it” there wouldn’t be much instant gratification.
However, if you could snap your fingers and start doing that a month ago, you would instantly see the results.
Example: Snap your fingers and two months ago you start eating smaller portions. Poof, you are now 20 lbs lighter right now.
Example: Snap your fingers and three months ago you start going to the gym three times a week. Poof, you are now noticeably healthier, more fit, and lighter. You can go shopping for some fun clothing right now.
Want to buy that, if I’m selling that power?
How much would you pay for that? If that is real I would pay thousands for it, but would want to make sure that there’s no secret drawback because it sounds too good to be true.
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The Sword and the Sunflower and Amira make up the Epic Duet. Amira was just released, and The Sword and the Sunflower is now available as an audiobook (audible, Apple, Google, Your Local Library). Check it out.
Mark Bradford developed a system to achieve goals, manage your energy and understand and strengthen your path – it’s Alchemy for Life.
He writes, coaches and speaks on the subject. For more information, tips and tricks, like Mark Bradford on Facebook, follow Mark Bradford on Twitter.
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Articles are posted regularly on AlchemyFor.Life, and LinkedIn.
