When you're planning your future, make sure you do this too

Do you know what I’ve been thinking about A LOT recently?

How I won my first national championships way back in 2008.

In the following years when I tried to replicate that success, I kept falling just short and at the time, I had no idea why.

Was I a one-hit wonder?

Did I get lucky and the stars aligned for everything to fall into place in my favour?

Or was there something more to it?

I truly think the latter (even though my ego wants me to believe the former because that’s what egos do).

In recent months, I’ve been taking note of the behaviours and mindsets I had prior to winning nationals, and those that I had after.

Do you know what I realised the main difference was?

In the lead up, I was present. I was focusing on one step at a time. I was staying in my own line. Whilst every now and again I would be in the bathroom and imagine the voiceover say ‘And the 2008 National Karate champion isssssss…’ or visualise myself scoring the winning kick in the dying seconds of the final, I wasn’t obsessing on the outcome. Instead, I trusted it. It was a deep knowing. There was no need for control. Whatever would be, would be- and what it would be would always work in my favour.

In comparison, the following years had that obsession. It was borderline frustration. You know when you hold a rope too hard and it starts to burn your hand? That’s how it felt. I’d glance around me, anxiously trying hard to replicate the same success again but always falling just short. I was so focused on the result that I forgot to actually be present.

Remember this: when you’re planning your future, don’t forget to stay in the present too. Your present is the bridge that you cross into your future.
Your future is made up of the actions you take in every single present day. By the time you finish reading this post, you’ll be in the future.

Think about this: consider how much you think about the future. Would the ‘future you’ that I assume has achieved all the future goals you’re thinking about right now being thinking about the goals to the extent that you are right now? Or would they be present, enjoying the moment and grateful for where they are?

Ask yourself if there’s a mindset lodged within you that you’ll ‘be happy once you’ achieve a certain goal, or get to a certain place.

That very premise of ‘once I have/do/receive xyz’ keeps more people stuck in a state of longing than anything else does.

In a society that vows that you never have enough, create enoughness in the present moment and watch how your life begins to shift.

And before you know it, you have exactly what you’ve been dreaming of.