Your future self

Hi Friend

This has been an interesting week. I listened, I learned, I wrote and I felt proud. It started off with a virtual coaching call with a pro speaker who is 15 years younger than me. It reminded me that this business I'm in is so vastly varied, with numerous strategies available. I finished the book "Fool Proof" that I've been reading. It is fascinating look at how and why we have a deep need to avoid feeling like a sucker.

My beautiful wife and I watched the documentary about the OKC Bombing. I recall that day clearly though it was 30 years ago. I knew the basic details, but the personal stories and experiences were wild. I had never heard my friend Amy Downs amazing story. It's worth watching just for that! (3-part series on Hulu.)

Speaking of the bombing, this weekend is the OKC Memorial #RunToRemember. This will be the first time in 15 years I haven't run in it. It's a bummer, but also the reality of moving 800 miles away. I may wake up tomorrow and go for a 13.1 mile run for solidarity sake.

I felt proud this week because my friend Kendal Torres was speaking at a big company event about the non-profit she started and leads - The Comeback Kid Society. Last month she was given $350k from a school fundraiser. She's on a roll. I got to mentor her for a few brief years decades ago. Seeing her thrive is awesome!

NOSTALGIA

I wonder if the past feels so good because the present seems challenging? Or if the filter with which we view the past, removes all the difficulty that was there? Is that why people are accused of "living in the past?" Does that facilitate some relief from the present? For me, the past offers points of reference to who I was then, compared to who I am now.

People love that idea of "If I could go back and tell my younger self..." I don't. I think it's a weird kind of hubris. Our younger selves had all the chances to learn whatever lesson our older self thinks we should give them. And we passed over it then. Our younger selves don't need anything. It's our current selves that need to look to the future for wisdom.

PROPHETIC

There is much ado about the future, with voices from everywhere declaring what it will look like. Political, technological, spiritual, societal, educational, business - all offering their version and vision of what will be. Despite those, you and I have the ability to create self-fulfilling prophecies about who we are going to be 10 years from now.

MINDSHIFT : What does the 10 year older version of you want to offer as advice you should listen to right now?

20 years ago Kendal was working with me in a youth ministry. One night she was taking a van load of kids home, when through a series of bad-timing decisions, one of the kids she was taking home, got run over by the van. Yikes! Broke his ribs, punctured a lung and had an extended stay in the hospital. Kendal wasn't driving, but in the van and responsible.

On that night it might have been hard to see where she is today. But it wasn't for her. Even then she had a vision of how she wanted to serve teenagers. That's one of the reasons I'm so moved by her accomplishments. She's seen herself being this person, doing this work, for the last 20 years. I love it for her!

MINDSHIFT : What vision for your life can you drop an anchor 20 years from now, that will pull you towards it?

SHIFTING

The past and future are figments of our imagination. We're only always living in the present. Let's shift our minds in a way that enables our 10-year-from-now-self to be proud and glad of the choices we make today! #ShiftAway