2 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself About Your Future
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I believe that so many of us struggle to align our actions with our goals, but we continue to make choices that don't align with what we really want for our future. We continue to fail to take initiative to actually make things happen that need to happen in order for us to get there.
But how do we break this pattern? How do we actually align our actions with our goals? That’s exactly what I want to talk to you about today.
If you love this episode, you will also love Episode 15: 6 Reasons Why You’re Not Reaching Your Goals and Episode 86: 7 Steps to Setting (& Actually Reaching) Your Goals.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace a real, let's get in and let's go.
Hello and welcome back to the Embrace Your Real Podcast. So grateful that you are here spending some time with me today. We're chatting all about what you need to ask yourself about the future. I believe that so many of us struggle to align our actions with our goals. We so badly want to build the body that we want. We want to nourish our body with what it needs. We want to build the life that we want for ourselves, whatever that may be or look like. But we continue to make choices that don't align with what we really want for our future. No matter how badly we want to change our body, we still overindulge all weekend, we skip out on workouts for three weeks in a row. Or no matter how badly we want to nourish our body, we still continue to eat foods that don't make us feel our best or building the life that we want. We fail to take initiative to actually make things happen that need to happen in order for us to get there.
But how do we break this pattern? How do we actually align our actions with our goals? That is exactly what I want to talk to you about today. But before I dive in, I have to share this super sweet review. It says, "Endless gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to give us these episodes Julie. These episodes are so accessible and I love hearing advice from someone I admire and respect so much. Keep doing your thing, girl. We are here for it." Thank you so much for the review.
If you didn't know, you can actually leave a review on Apple Podcasts for free. So Apple Podcasts is actually an app that comes on all Apple devices for free, and it is completely separate from Apple Music. I know a lot of people just kind of have this aha moment. So if you have an Apple device and if you haven't already left a review, I just ask that you either go search Apple Podcasts on your phone or iPad, or you can download it for free in the app store and then type in, embrace your real. Make sure you're subscribed on Apple Podcasts and you can scroll all the way down and leave a review. It really does help us out in the podcast world. So if these podcasts have helped you in any way, I would love to know and I would love for your review to be featured on a future episode.
So how do we begin to align our actions with our goals so we can actually be who we want to be and the life that we want to live in the future?
First things first, I want you to close your eyes, if you can, if you're not driving or if you're not doing something that requires you to have your eyes open. And I want you to imagine the person that you want to be one year from now. What does she look like? Where does she live? What is she doing? What is she doing daily? How happy is she? What has she accomplished? I want you to get as detailed as possible. Like I really want you to get down to the nitty-gritty. And if this is you closing your eyes and going through your entire daily routine, where you are, how you're feeling, what you're doing, keep that vision in your mind. With your eyes still closed, if possible, I want to ask you a few questions.
Number one, how do you feel one year from now if you actually do become that person that you are currently visualizing? Most likely that's going to make you feel so excited. Of course, you're going to be thrilled to actually be that the person that you're dreaming about right now.
And question number two, how would you feel one year from now if you don't become that person, if that isn't the life that you're actually living? Or either you're living the exact life that you have right now, or you've backtracked? For many of us, that's a very scary thought. Many of us aren't in a good place mentally or physically, or the thought of being in the same exact place one year from now is extremely scary. And let me say something about this really fast, because even if you are in a good spot right now, I think the most beautiful thing about our human existence is that we always have an opportunity to grow from where we're at.
So we never have to be in the same exact spot, nor should we. Even if the spot that you're in right now is giving you immense joy, if you have a craving for constant growth and pushing limits and dreaming bigger, you most likely will always be able to live differently one year from now if that's what you're focused on. The thing about becoming the person in the future is that it's 100% dependent on the person that you are right now. All we truly have right now, that's promised is this present moment. The past and the future are simply fragments of our imagination, but we can predict our future or at least take ownership of our future by taking action in our present moment right now. I know that aligning your actions with their goals isn't always enjoyable. Becoming the best version of yourself requires a lot of work. Holding yourself accountable and staying consistent, it's hard.
So you need to start at it from the perspective of I'm doing this right now for my future self. I may not love the present me, but I'm going to love the future me and I'm doing it for her. So let me repeat that again. Many of us may not love where we're at right now, but we love the person that we want to become. So it may not work for you to think about loving or nourishing or honoring your current self. So maybe perspective shift can be starting to look at loving, honoring and nourishing your future self. But start doing and start taking those actions now. Love, honor and nourish your future self right now because she deserves it. So every time you want to give up or every time you want to give in, I want you to think about her. Think about your future self. Think about how in one year you want to be that person. A stronger, happier, more developed version of yourself. All in all. If you won't do it for your current self, try doing it for your future self because she deserves it.
If you love this episode, I know you will also love episode 86, 7 steps to setting and actually reaching your goals. Now, how many of you guys have goals that you want to set out and how many of those goals have you actually reached? It's a serious issue. If you want to set a goal, you need to start following through to actually reach it. But how do you make that happen? I know it's a lot more difficult than it seems so in this episode, I actually break down and share a seven step process on how to set and actually reach your goals. So be sure to tune in to episode 86, I will link it in the show notes below, or you can just type in episode 86 or scroll through the episodes. You'll be able to see it.
I hope that this episode encouraged you. I hope that it inspired you. I hope that it had you starting to think about your future self, starting to think about all the things that you want to accomplish. And then looking at all of the things that you're doing right now and asking yourself are those things aligning with my future self? And that's a really great inventory to take when you're on this journey of reaching those goals. And it's also really good to do this if you're in this mindset of, I know I have some habits that might not be so great, but it's kind of daunting or it can feel overwhelming to go through those habits and really ask yourself like what needs to be plucked out.
A great question to ask yourself as you're doing something that maybe is not bringing you enjoyment or something you know you shouldn't be doing AKA, scrolling on your phone for hours on end or skipping out on workouts, or just constantly going to the easy thing when it comes to ordering out or whatever it is. Grubhub every single night, instead of cooking a delicious meal that you know, will satisfy you. All of those habits throughout your day, simply ask yourself, is this habit something that is going to align with the goals that I have for my future self? And if you don't have goals for your future self take that visualization that I talked about earlier in this episode seriously. I really want you to take moments. It could be 3 minutes. It could be 30 minutes. It could be an hour of you just sitting down and actually going through that visualization of what it looks like and how it feels of what you want to be one year from now, what you want your surrounding to be.
Maybe your profession is going to change, your daily habits, the things that you're involved in, the people groups that you are around, all of those things, really visualize it so that you can start activating that subconscious part of your brain that's actually going to help you in this process. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you found it helpful, I would love to know. You can tag me Julie A Ledbetter or Embrace Your Real on Instagram. Take a screenshot of this episode and kind of share your aha moment. Or if you have somebody in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out. You'll see three dots on your phone right now with the podcast streaming app that you have, and you can likely press those three dots and you'll be able to see copy link, and you can copy this link and share it in a text message. You can post it up on your Facebook or your Instagram, whatever you feel is best. Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie A Ledbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check.
The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts, to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.