Quantum Leap To Your Future Self With Practice
It takes a lot of work to become the person you really want to be. If you have a vision for who you want to be, you can take small steps to grow yourself into that ideal future self. Making any major life changes requires time, patience, and practice.
First, understand and accept yourself exactly the way you are.
If you're planning to make major changes to yourself, it seems strange to want to accept who you are first, but it is necessary. Before you set out on a quest to begin changing things about yourself to develop your ideal future self, you should accept things about who you are that aren’t going to change.
When you have a vision for your ideal future self, you must realize that there are some things about who you are, what you are, and what you enjoy that don’t have to change for you to find success. Spend some time self-reflecting; determine what you like about yourself and what you want to embrace about who you already are.
Psychology Today refers to this type of reflection as a major step toward self-acceptance. People who take time to really understand themselves often have an easier time identifying aspects of their lives they want to change. Self-reflection serves as the groundwork you’ll need to complete as you practice being your ideal future self.
Identify some role models you can use to observe traits you want to see in your ideal future self.
Humans are creatures who tend to learn a lot from observation. We spend countless hours watching YouTube videos and following tutorials to learn new skills. This method is also a great way to learn how to emulate features you want to develop for your ideal future self.
The University of Cambridge completed a study about what different men and women thought a role model should look like and what people can each do to be better role models for others. Part of this study involved analyzing different highly desired personality traits found among different people.
Their findings determined that many different people value a huge variety of different traits. If role models and desired traits can be so varied, how do you decide which features you want to learn more about for your ideal future self?
It can feel overwhelming to think about how you want to practice being your ideal future self. One way to organize your thoughts and make a plan for how you want to practice being your ideal future self involves making a list of people you personally admire in your life.
Let's pretend you had a high school teacher who never, ever quit on you. They pushed you to work really hard. Looking back on this experience could make you realize that you want to have a similar impact on people in the future.
On a piece of paper, you may write down this teacher's name and compile a quick list of reasons why you really admired them; at the top of your list, you can begin with what made you enjoy your time with them so much: A desire to help others succeed.
Now that you've identified a specific trait you want to see in your ideal future self, you can practice incorporating that teacher’s model behavior into your current life.
Don’t wait for the future to implement your ideal future self’s traits and habits–start today!
Many people consider the future a “far off” time. You might want to make a change for the better, but you plan to accomplish that sometime later when you have more time and energy to focus on the task of changing.
Practicing being your ideal future self can happen in baby steps. Once you’ve identified some traits you want to develop, begin slowly implementing small changes in your daily life to make them become your new normal. After some practice, repetition, and experience, your ideal future self will become your current reality.
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