Just suppose you woke up tomorrow morning feeling your best.
Your mind was at ease and you started relaxing into your day. Things flowed smoothly as you got ready. There was a pause for you to gather your thoughts and to set a positive intention. You drank some water and ate some chia with oatmilk and goji berries after a gentle yoga session.
All the positive energy you created carried through your day. There was a clear view of the few important things to do (that were both meaningful and achievable). You were focused and enjoying the process of what you were creating.
From time to time, you took a few breaks and refreshed yourself. Maybe you went for a walk or chatted with a friend.
And, the day kept getting better…
The simple truth is – what you can imagine, can happen. And, what you can’t imagine, can’t happen.
So, the situation is this.
You can gain loads of time and still not show up at your best. Performing at that level needs consistent, steady positive energy. The secret to that is training your mind to be positive because it will create positive experiences naturally.
Future pacing is must-have skill that can help you. This means imagining your future result as if it’s happening now. The first step in the process is to prepare your mind.
No matter how you define being your best that can only happen when your mind is calm.
Because it’ll influence everything positively – what you say, what you hear, what you do, how you process your emotions, everything.
A calm mind is major time and energy-saver. Even better, it creates time and energy.
As someone who tried to achieve a lot in the past, I noticed I was making a very common mistake. I kept thinking I needed more time.
I use to love reading time-related articles in Real Simple, in the Times of India personal section, the books I bought from kikki.k, and many other places.
Until I started working with my coach, I hadn’t realized (even if I read it) the most important thing was to imagine exactly what I wanted.
NOT to imagine what I didn’t want. I kept doing the same wrong thing. I kept thinking about how I had no time. And, that’s exactly what happened – no time.
Try this future pacing process to show up at your best without worrying about more time.
Think of an experience that you’ll encounter this week where you’d like to practice this.
1. Relax into your calm, peaceful mind
Breathe in positive energy right into your heart and exhale out any busyness, stress, or negative thoughts. Keep taking deep breaths and let go.
You can look at how to create a calming meditation practice and 3 practical ways to calm an overwhelmed mind if you need some help with this step.
2. Imagine you’re in the experience right now with your calm mind.
Feel at ease and start seeing how things unfold.
How do you show up in this situation? What are your wearing? Look at the facial expression you’ve got. Who’s with you? How are they responding to you? What are you saying to others and yourself? What else are you hearing or even smelling around you?
Let the whole situation play out in your mind. Create a small movie. Enjoy the experience going exactly how you’d love it to.
3. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Let yourself imagine this several more times. Bring in more details. Let yourself feel at ease about it over and over. It’ll take you less than a minute each time.
And, know that’s what other high performers do too.
Taking inspired action comes from a calm mind.
Being your best takes an elegant combination of preparing your mind and inspired action. Both depend on each other.
So, future pacing allows you to achieve both. It prepares your mind and triggers the mental action of imagining yourself experiencing life at your best. Then, simple do-able actions will naturally come out of that. All you’ve got to do is observe.
Take this moment now ad be kind to yourself. Check-in.
What’s your go-to method for a calm mind?
And, I’d love it if you could share about it in the comments.
If you don’t have one, let me know because I’m glad to share more. Just email me back. I love hearing from you.
And, please share this with anyone you feel it might help.
Peace.
Jennifer
p.s. The photo shows a helpful image I use as one of my ways to calm my mind and to keep it light. I imagine and concentrate on being like one of the birds gently flying above all the distractions, steadily moving forward.
