Without having a future to look forward to, the present moment will become meaningless. The less you believe in your future, the more depressed you will become.
However, a positive view of the future promises you a positive state of emotions.
Look at all your goals. Which one is the most important for you?
Or, which one goal, if accomplished, will change your life for good?
Imagination is a skill. You can imagine 100 different scenarios of your future at once. Plan according to them and work towards the one you want.
And sometimes, we actually create the exact future we have imagined.
Imagination is what controls the direction of your future. You can ruin it with self-pity and self-doubt. Or you can create an exciting future by channelising your imagination in the right way.
You can imagine whatever future you want.
You can imagine whoever you want to become in the future.
You can imagine anything because knowledge is limited, imagination is not.
What works with imagination is picking up the right opportunities.
We are always looking for the next big opportunity, the next big idea. But moving from one opportunity to another will not get you anything. You need to select one and then focus on it.
Opportunities are not always external. Some of them come from within.
For example, your crave to become an artist, to live in a remote area, to connect with more people, or to gain status. All of these desires come from within.
First you ask yourself why, then how and then what.
Anything that you want to excel at, will be a life changing opportunity
Amateur writers fail at writing a good book.
Amateur web developers fail at making their agency work.
Most people fail at a new project because they don't have enough experience in a field. A failure after failure will build you enough experience to succeed one day.
Your first article, your first video or freelance gig will never be satisfying. But it pays to start. Because, in 10 years, when you will become an expert in the same field, you will always be thankful that you started.
There are more than enough opportunities available out there. You will only know about them when you start sharing your content out there.
Chances are people will like it. And keep coming back, asking for more.
I will prepare and someday my chance will come — Abraham Lincoln
A small tweak in your mindset can change everything for you.
Happily make trade-offs with lesser goals.
Choosing one outcome is essential to have clarity and focus.
If you keep imagining 100 different scenarios of your future, you will always be confused about which one to pursue. That's why it is important to pick one goal and put all your efforts in it.
Robert Brault said:
"We are kept from our goals not by obstacles, but by a clear path to the lesser goals.
All of your goals will be interesting and important to you. But some of them are lesser goals. You need to strike them off from your list so that you can focus on big things. Things that impact your life. Things that make you happy in the future.
Let go of a few things in order to have better ones.
The truth is you can't have it all. Decision requires removing choices. Removing all the alternative options.
You can't be an artist and a software engineer at the same time. You can become a software engineer and then excel in your art hobbies.
Or you can be an artist and later learn programming. But trying two different things at once will divide your focus and leave you nowhere.
In order to become great at one thing, you need to say "no" to everything else.
Add more, when you are comfortable with what you have now.
Choose one thing that you are most comfortable with.
Instead of adding more and more things, choose one thing that you want to excel at. And drop everything else that may frustrate you.
When you accept a new opportunity, it means you are ready for more responisibility. You want to stand out. You want to do more.
Trying out more things will matter if you add more value — for yourself and for others. If you don't add any value, picking up 10 opportunities won't matter because you will most likely fail at all of them.
So, rather than picking 10 things at once and failing at all of them, it's better to focus on one thing and then move on to the next.
There are people who are making $10,000 a month on one platform(youtube, twitter). And then, there are people who are working on 5-6 platforms, actively sharing their content daily. But they are yet to make a dime.
The reason being they are not focused enough at one thing. They keep picking up something new, something different. But they never put 100% effort in one thing.
Same is with ideas.
The more ideas you have, the less work you will do. Every new idea will sound better than the last one. As a result, you will drop the previous half baked idea.
Every life changing idea you have, every big opportunity you get, you need to know why to take it and why to drop it.
Because an opportunity with a strong why will help you build a strong future. An opportunity with a weak why, will only waste your time.
Success demands singleness of purpose. You need to select a few things with more focus and more obsession to have a clear and compelling future.