New Realities 🤯 🔮 🔑

I recently watched a TikTok that resonated with me; that captures the notion of designing one’s life with intention but with Gen-Z energy (I don’t know if @simplifying.sam is in fact a Gen-Z, just simply the TikTok aesthetic).

I thought it was worth digesting, rehashing, and thinking about.

TAKE-AWAYS

• Don’t rely on feelings and motivations. Those feelings can sway and ultimately are prone to fail.

• Who I want to be on this day in this lifetime. What would they do?

• I don’t ask myself if I want to do it. I will say no because in the moment, what I want to do is often taking the easier route.

• I ask myself if my future self would want to do it. If my future, more accomplished self would see this as opportunity in hindsight.

• If I continue to act in a way that my current self wants, I will only recreate the same reality I am already in. Recreating this moment because my actions align with this current reality.

• I need to ask my future self and act in a way that aligns with my future self’s reality to slowly shift towards that reality.

I think these are powerful takeaways because they take into consideration:

• introspection,

• self-evaluation, and

• frame the situation as a you versus you scenario instead of you versus the world problem.

Instead of externalizing the issue to a third party or shifting the locus of control externally, it frames the situation with an internal locus of control and a decision to make now.

But, I think emotions and motivation are important. They are important barometers for happiness and fulfillment. Many people don’t have a clear picture or destination in mind. They are experiential beings that try, test, and have to physically do the things before they understand whether they’ll enjoy it. To those types of people, emotions and motivators are signs they need to read to form an opinion on whether they want it.

I do, though, agree that emotions and motivation can be fleeting, can be unstable or unreliable as steadfast markers to push you to act - especially for those with a clear vision or ideal in mind.

I also liked how she acknowledged her own weaknesses. She is being authentically truthful about her situation, her propensity to want to relax or be unproductive. It isn’t something shameful, something that needs to be hidden or masked. It is simply a truth that she accepts, embraces and plans accordingly around. People, like any other living creature, have a desire for comfort. We have a desire for surviving the current day and aren’t necessarily focused on the life we will live 5-10 years from now.

Finally, it is a powerful mindset to recognize that acting in a way that aligns with one’s future self shapes one’s life trajectory towards that reality. That you have a personal manifest destiny duty at hand.

It reminded me of an Acceptance Speech by Matthew McConaughey that similarly chases a future version of himself.

BUT WHY?

Remember the big picture. We’re looking to design our future lives. To create new realities. So of course, it is important. Of course it is necessary to envision our far off destination in order to navigate correctly towards it. Of course it is important to extend our vision and projected destination as we come closer to our original goals - there is more to do, more to see, more to explore, more to be.

It parallels the old adage:

“DRESS FOR THE JOB YOU WANT, NOT FOR THE JOB YOU HAVE.”

DOES IT HOLD TRUE?

If you present yourself in a certain way, your reality, at least in part, reflects that life. Now if you dress, act, acquire knowledge, associate with, surround yourself, educate yourself, present yourself for a life you want, then you will find that in 5-10 years time, your life will certainly look and feel more like that aspiration.

I’m not telling you to fake it until you make it though. I’m telling you to authentically grow yourself into that person and make decisions like you think your future authentic self would make.