To create the life you want, it's essential to start with a powerful vision of your future self and build from there. While building that picture can be difficult, Stephen Covey reminds us that first we have to mentally create before anything else happens—and Viktor Frankl adds even more insight by suggesting we imagine what our lives would look like if decisions were made differently. All this ultimately leads one place: having clarity on where you're going so you can make choices today which will lead towards being who Future You truly desires!

If this intrigues you – put Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s Be Your Future Self Now next up on your reading list.  Or better yet, stop your current read and take this one up.  It’s an essential guide showing us how to craft a powerful vision for our future and the importance of making key decisions today in order to become who we want to be tomorrow

Here are some of the take aways from his book that are either rocking my world or confirming some of my beliefs (yup, identifying my bias right out of the gate.)

1. We have a multitude of potential futures.  And many decisions to make along the way to get there

2. If you have a why to live, you can bear almost any how

3. Without a connection to your future purpose, the present is a prison

4. Most human behavior is driven by short-term rewards or immediate battles

5. Building a connection to your Future Self, requires seeing your Future Self as a different person from who you are today

6. Urgent Battles and small goals keep you stuck

7. Everything is either a cost or an investment to your future self

The more conscious you become of how everything you do right now impacts the person you will be in the future, the better and more thoughtful you actions will be.  

I relate these fascinating thoughts back to financial planning.  So often, we don’t take the time to do this very important (but usually not urgent activity).   

Your financial plan is the plan that will fund your future self’s life – it needs to be deliberately and intentionally crafted and worked.  When you add a business into the picture the complexity can appear to increase.  This can lead to overwhelm or decisions that are not thought through.  And let’s be clear – it has to cover more than what type of stocks/bonds/etfs you are buying.

If you are part of an Entrepreneurial Couple, building future you visions together and that compelling life after work (or slow down) might look like is so key to success.  

Our speciality is to build solid plans that have contingencies built in, filters and tools to assist in assessing opportunities and 

My recommended actions:

1. Buy the book

2. Write a letter to your future self

3. Book a call with me to build the plan to fund your future self.  

Are you part of an Entrepreneurial Couple – head over to www.blackstarwealth.com/couples and check out our free masterclass coming up on February 15.  We are featuring 2 amazing Entrepreneurs who work with their spouse for an in depth conversation about best practices and tips for optimizing their personal and business relationships.