Episode #31: Act From Tomorrow: Stop Letting Yesterday Dictate Your Today

The primary focus of our discourse centers on the transformative power of allowing one's future self to dictate present decisions. I have recently experienced a profound shift in my approach to both business and life, stemming from a deliberate decision to embrace a mindset oriented toward future possibilities rather than being constrained by past experiences. This episode elucidates the detrimental tendency many individuals possess—namely, allowing yesterday's failures and triumphs to inform today's choices, thus perpetuating cycles of limitation. By consciously choosing to act from the perspective of our future selves, we can transcend these constraints, fostering clarity, confidence, and a sense of empowerment in our decision-making processes. Ultimately, we invite our listeners to reflect upon how they might similarly liberate themselves from the shackles of their past, enabling them to design a future that aligns with their aspirations and potential.

Takeaways:

• We are often constrained by our past experiences, which can hinder our potential for growth.

• Acting from the perspective of our future self can significantly alter our decision-making processes.

• Our past does not dictate our future unless we permit it to do so; we can choose differently.

• Shifting our mindset from limitation to possibility empowers us to achieve our goals more effectively.

• To facilitate personal growth, we must ask ourselves what our future self would do in challenging situations.

• We can learn from our past without allowing it to control our future decisions, enabling us to thrive.

Link notes: https://cart.kreativedigitalmediainc.com/ai-work-week-slayer/

TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, friends. Welcome back to Design youn Dream Life. I am Cara.

And today we are diving into something that has completely shifted my energy and transformed how I show up in my business, in life.

So I was recently chatting with a friend and she asked me how I have been so calm lately, how I have shifted into this place of certainty instead of stressing about all the little things. And I told her something that just honestly came out of my mouth. I said, I am letting. Actually, I actually said, I have decided.

So I made the decision. I decided that I am letting my tomorrow dictate what I do today. I am acting from my future self. I am not letting yesterday dictate my today.

And she stopped me right there and she was like, dude, you need to do a podcast about this. So here we are, my friends, because here is what I have realized. Most of us are living backwards.

We're letting our past experiences, our stories, our previous failures, or even our past successes keep us stuck in patterns that do not serve the person that we are becoming. Think about it for a second. How often do you make a decision based on what happened before?

Well, the last time I tried to launch something, it didn't work. I'm no good with money because I've always struggled with it, or I can't hire help because I've had bad experiences before.

Maybe you've used any one of those things. We're literally using yesterday's information to make today's decisions. And we wonder why we keep getting the same result.

And I used to live this way too. After my bankruptcy, after losing everything in real estate, I spent so many years making decisions from a place of fear and past failure.

Every business decision was filtered through like, what if I'm making the wrong decision? What if I lose everything again? Every investment was colored. Every investment was colored by what if this doesn't work like last time?

And you know what, when you are making decisions from yesterday's energy, you get yesterday's result. You stay stuck in the same patterns, the same limitations and the same small thinking. But what if we flipped it?

What if instead of asking what went wrong before and actually learn the lessons and then we ask, what would my future self do? So let me paint you a picture of what this could look like. I have this vision of myself a year from now. She's running a multi seven figure business.

She's traveling whenever she wants. She's completely confident in her decisions.

She's surrounded by an incredible team, and she's making an impact at a level that I can barely Imagine now. And you know what? Even though some of that is true in my life right now, it's not all of it. Right? So I'm.

I'm taking some of my current reality, but then I'm also taking some of my future self. Now, when I am faced with a decision today, I honestly do not ask, what would past Cara do? What does past Kara's experience tell me?

I asked, what would future Cara do in this situation? What would future Kara stress about right now? Right. Would future Kara stress about a client saying no? Hell no.

She'd know that every no gets her closer to the right yes. Would future Cara hesitate to invest and support in the tools she needs? Not a chance.

She'd know that the investment in herself and in her business and is what got her to where she is. Would future Kara let someone else's opinion of her offerings make her doubt herself? Please.

She would be so confident in her value that her external validation would be nice, but definitely not necessary. So when you start acting from your future self, everything shifts. Your energy changes because you're not carrying the weight of your past mistakes.

Your decisions become clearer because you're asking different questions. Your confidence grows because you're operating from possibility instead of limitation.

So, again, I'm not saying that you don't forget about your past. Please let me just be clear about that. I have learned the lessons I have done, the self reflection. I. I know what lessons I have learned.

But when I am going into future Cara and I am asking her, especially if I'm doing, you know, an investment, like if I was investing in a $15,000 mastermind or even the classroom that I am donating in Africa, which, you know, was a very significant investment, plus all of the travel, if I did Kara right now, who. Maybe if sales have dipped or things have twisted or I'm feeling a little financial pressure, might have been like, oh, no. But future Cara who?

And again, I'm. I'm not sharing this with you to say or to justify investing in something you're not ready for, because the reality is.

Is like, I can move money and make things work. It's just. Would it be tight? And is that fear of losing everything? Is that what is determining the decision?

Or future Cara, you know, Cara over here, who I see in a completely different spot, how would she make that decision? And why would she make that decision? And what is the thought process over here, the Cara that has all of the things that I want and.

And how would she talk about, think about, and react to this situation? So here's what I want you to understand. Your past doesn't get a vote on your future unless you give it permission.

Yes, again, we can always learn from our experiences. Yes, we can take the wisdom and leave the wounds. But we do not have to let past limitations become our future ceilings.

You know, I think about my bankruptcy story all the time. Not because I'm stuck there, but because it reminds me how resilient I am. It reminds me that I can rebuild from absolutely nothing.

It reminds me that I am capable of so much more than I ever imagined. But I do not make financial decisions from the fear of that experience. I make them from the vision of the woman I'm becoming.

Someone who understands money, someone who is confident with her investments, someone who knows her worth. So how do you actually do this? How do you start acting from your future self instead of your past experiences?

I've got three questions that have completely changed my decision making process and I'm going to share them with you. Question number one. What would my future self do in this situation?

Not what you did before, not what you think you should do based on your past experience, but what would the version of you who has already achieved all of your goals, what would she do right now? And question number two. What energy am I making this decision? From? Fear or possibility?

If you're making decisions from fear, from scarcity, from past limitations, you are acting from yesterday, my friend. If you are making decisions from possibility, from abundance, from future potential, you are acting from tomorrow.

And number three, does this decision move me toward my vision or keep me stuck in my same story? Your story is what happened. Your vision is what is possible. And every decision either moves you forward or keeps you stuck.

So you need to choose accordingly. And I get can be so fucking scary. Trust me, I know. But when you start asking these questions, something magical happens.

Your energy completely shifts. So instead of feeling heavy with past baggage, you can feel light with future possibility.

Instead of second guessing every decision, you start moving with certainty because you are aligned with with where you are going, not where you've been. And instead of playing small to avoid the past mistakes, you're starting to play big. Because your future self, she's already there.

She is showing you the way now. Again, I am not saying we completely ignore our past or pretend that our experiences don't matter.

I am saying that we use them as data, but not as our destiny. My bankruptcy taught me about my resilience. My failed launches taught me about persistence. My corporate burnout taught me about boundaries.

I take all the Lessons and I leave the limitations. The difference is whether that you are letting your past inform your future or control it.

I'm going to say that one more time because I honestly feel that that is gold. The difference is whether you're letting your past inform your future or control it. Oh, that's so good. So let me ask you this.

What decision are you avoiding right now because of something that happened to you before? What opportunity are you not pursuing because of past fear?

What version of yourself are you not stepping into because yesterday's you says you can't do it? Your future self is calling you forward, friends.

She's already there, already successful, already confident, already living the life that you are dreaming of. She's waiting for you to start making decisions from her energy instead of your past limitations.

Here's what I've noticed since I have started living this way. It is not just about big business decisions. It's about everything. How I show up in relationships, How I handle challenges, How I spend my time.

How I talk to myself. Even when you're operating from your future self, you naturally start to make choices that align with that vision.

You start saying no to things that don't serve where you're going. You start saying yes to opportunities that the past year she might have been a little too scared to take.

And you start treating yourself like the successful person that you are becoming instead of the struggling person you used to be. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to get really clear on your future self. Who is she six months from now? A year from now?

Five years from now? I love going out to five. I live in five. Five years from now, who is she? How does she think? How does she make decisions?

What energy does she operate from? Write it down, get specific. And then start asking yourself in every situation, what would she do?

Watch how quickly your life starts shifting when you stop letting your yesterday dictate your today and start letting tomorrow guide your decisions. Honestly, I want you to take some time to really look at your future self. What does her day look like? What is she doing? What lights her up?

What important things is she working on? What does everything mean for her in five years from now? What is she doing that you really, really want her to be doing?

You know the beautiful thing about this approach is that you get to choose. You get to choose whether you're going to be defined by your past or designed by your future.

You get to choose whether you're going to make decisions from fear or or from possibility. Your future self is already there, already successful, already living the life that you want.

The only question is, are you going to start acting like her today?

Because when you do, when you start making decisions from a place of certainty and possibility instead of past limitation and fear, everything, and I mean everything, can change for you, my friends. Your energy changes, your results change, Your entire life changes.

And that's when you truly start designing your dream life instead of just surviving current circumstances. Right? Your future self all of a sudden molds with your current self, and you Quantum leap forward, my friends.

So stop letting yesterday vote on your tomorrow. Your future self is calling you forward, my friends. And it is time to answer. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I will talk to you next week.

Now go out there and act. From tomorrow.