A few months ago I came across an article talking about a study where they asked individuals to talk about their future: their goals, what they want, and where they’re going. A surprisingly large number of them could not talk about the topic for more than 25 seconds.
Two questions came to mind after reading that:
- Why didn’t people talk more about their future?
- What would I talk about if some made me talk about my future for, say 15 minutes.
Why didn’t people talk more about their future?
There are probably lots of reasons, but one I keep coming back to is that the future is uncertain. Whenever we talk about the future, we are dreaming about what could happen. Then we get our hopes up. Sometimes those hopes don’t come to fruition, our dreams aren’t realized, and we’re disappointed (more about disappointment here).
Maybe as a defense mechanism, we avoid dreaming too big or in too much detail in case our dreams don’t come true. We hold back and play it safe. And in holding back on our dreaming, we hold back on our efforts. And when we hold back on our efforts, we come up short of our dreams. Then we end up disappointed, our “playing it safe” attitude is validated, and the cycle continues.
On the other hand when we dream big, we engage our passion and enthusiasm. Our energy level is high, and we excitedly tap into our resources.
The next time someone asks us about our future, let’s be EXCITED, engaged, and talk for lots more than 25 seconds. There are so many things we can each do if we don’t hold back.
What would I talk about if some made me talk about my future for, say 15 minutes
There is so much I want to do. Personal goals, family goals, professional goals, recreational activities, places I want to go. It’s just seems impossible for me to talk about all of them in 25 seconds.
Since I talk pretty fast when I’m excited, I could list them in about 5 of my 15 minutes. After that what would I talk about?
I would talk in HD. I’ve heard this buzz word in goal setting. It’s “dream in HD”. And I think that’s how I would spend the remaining 10 minutes.
When you dream in HD, basically you dream in as much detail as you can engaging all of the senses. At some future point when you have achieved your goals, what do you see, smell, hear, feel, and taste?
I’ve done this a few times as a writing exercise, and it’s been pretty powerful. It’s been particularly helpful when I am discouraged, tired, or wondering why the heck I’m working my tail off.
Maybe no one will ask you to talk for 15 minutes about your future. But if they did, what would you say? Think about it. Write it down. Get excited, and then go make it happen.