Seeing your future

I write a lot about creating your future, or living a created life. This is core to the work I do with my clients, and something I believe with every fiber of my being. 

Most people live a Reported On Life. A life that happens to them. A life full of excuses.

Very few people learn to live a Created Life. A life that is created by them.

A Reported On Life is about reacting to circumstances. Life happens and you show up passively and react to its ups and downs. My boss doesn’t see my value… My co-workers are difficult to work with… My family doesn’t understand me…

A Created Life is one where you choose how you will respond—despite the circumstances. A Created Life begins with the words you choose to describe your world. And this all begins with words you use to create your identity.

Before you can create your future, you need to see your future.

You need to have a vision for your future. 

And the place to begin creating this vision for your future is to create your identity.

Who you BE in the world. 

Everything stems from who you BE in the world.

Most people think that identity is fixed. It’s not. We can choose our identity and live into that identity at any moment. 

You might have a sense of the things about your current identity that you love. There is so much goodness to who you already are. I recently wrote an article about the wisdom you held before you even had your first birthday. There is also a throughline to your life that has been with you from a very young age.

And there may be things about your current identity that you want to shed. Brilliant. 

What do you need to let go to be the person you want to be? What beliefs about yourself have you taken on that you are ready to be done with? What untruths about yourself have you agreed with that you can release? Practice self-forgiveness. Forgive yourself for believing these things. Even unconsciously. 

Once you practice self-forgiveness, you are free. Really free.

Free to create your identity.

Photo by Federico Respini

If you were to create the identity you want, who would you BE? What qualities would you embody? What power and influence would you have? How would others experience you? How would you show up for work, for your relationships, and for yourself? 

Write it out. Every. Single. Word. 

Who will you BE?

This is your vision for yourself. It is the most powerful tool you have for creating your future. 

And then, every morning when you wake up, you create yourself in the world. It is based on this vision for your identity.

And it starts today. 

Live into your created identity every day. And a year from now you will look back, and see that you have created your future.