“What if I fall? Oh my dear, but what if you fly?” – Unknown
Did you know our brains are neurologically wired to over-focus on the bad, and constantly scan for those things that can threaten or harm us? This is known as the “Negativity Bias.” This bias causes us to gloss right over the positive things happening in our lives or even miss it altogether. Unless…
If you’ve read some on my other blogs (here and here) you may have noticed that my focus is on the ways in which I can use coaching and assessment tools to help shine a light on your dormant strengths and potential and help you to unleash a more empowered and positive self-concept and set of beliefs that align with the future state you desire.
How do I accomplish this? Together, we look for the good, and then go deeper and look for more good. And, we keep going. Why? Because. What we focus on grows.
Let’s peel back this onion of positivity a bit and try a reflection activity. Get some paper and a pen or markers. Turn the paper the long way, like this:
Step 1: Give it a title, such as “My Life Highlights.”
Step 2: List 6 or so turning point events in your life (i.e. births, deaths, health concerns, major life transitions, etc.) and note your age, like this:
Step 3: Draw a timeline in the bottom half of the page and place a “0” to the far left, like this:
Step 4: The zero at the beginning of your timeline represents your birth. I’d like you now to think about how long you would like to live and place that number at the other end of the timeline. Please be adventurous and free about this. If it anything were possible, how long would you like to live? I went with “125” because I have a lot I still want to accomplish! ?
Step 5: Place your current age on the timeline and then place the ages of your significant life events up until now on the timeline as well. You can draw little tick marks or dots and note the age.
Step 6: Place a bracket or circle around this first period of your life that includes all these significant events up until now and…give it title! That’s right. How would you sum up your life to date? My title was “Hardship and Joy, Learning to Let Go, and Lessons of Self-Worth.” Go with what feels right for you.
Step 7: Place another bracket or circle around all the open space that comes after this point in time. Take a moment to let that soak in. There’s likely a lot of life you have left to live. Such potential. What will you do with it? Now, go ahead and give this future phase of your life a title as well. I chose “Deep Spirituality That is My Life’s Work, Ease, and I Have All I Need & Want.” Not exactly movie-ready titles, but that’s ok!
Your Next Action Step: Based on the title you chose, what are three key actions you would like take going forward? Then choose your top one out of the three.
Remember, what we focus on grows. This activity is one way to get clear about your vision for the future and go after it. Now that you have your key action, the next step would be to start breaking that big action down into manageable bites and setting some target dates. I’ll share some best practices for that next month. Until then…find at least one good and positive thing that is happening in your life today and savor it!
