Write Down Your Future

Do you think of life as something that happens to you, or something you create? Reality is a combination of what we think and do, and what happens to us, plus our reaction to outside events. We are co-creators of reality. If a farmer wants the reality of selling corn on the market at harvest time, he would not plant peanuts. Obviously.

The degree to which we co-create our lives, rather than simply living in reaction to all that happens, is somewhat our decision. Think of the personal quality of persistence, people who prevail through all kinds of obstacles to achieve their objectives. Persistence is a wonderful ability to see the desired outcome, even when it doesn't seem to correlate with current events.

Recently, in cleaning out a file cabinet, I ran across a list of goals I wrote down in 1988. I remember my dear parents had me write down life goals when I was 16 years old, and that in my early twenties, this 1988 list was replacing the earlier list which I had lost. If I ever looked at this list between 1988 and 2008, I certainly do not remember doing so. Nevertheless, it was unreal how many of those goals I had achieved in the subsequent two decades.

For example, I had written down, "get a PhD." At that time, I assumed that I would continue my studies in Economics, I had never even heard of the discipline of "Communication," in which I am now a doctoral candidate. In 1988 I no earthly idea how or where I would get a PhD; it sounded like something I'd like to do, and I wrote it down. And, now I've almost accomplished that objective.

Other completely, or significantly-completed goals include achieving my ideal body weight and learning German, travelling to certain parts of the world and having three children. I also wrote down the goal of writing a book, a work now in progress. I wrote down that I wanted to learn how to make croissants. My son recently learned how to do that, and frankly, that no longer interests me. I'd rather just eat the ones he makes every once in a while.

At a seminar at Merici Academy just over a year ago, I heard a speaker explain that a person is young at heart as long as she has dreams and goals. This speaker had learned this definition from an octogenarian.

Write down what you'd like your future to be. That's the first step to making it reality.