Instant Confidence: The Power to Go for Anything You Want by Paul McKenna PH.D. (2016)
SECTION TWO
MOTIVATE YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS
CHAPTER 17
✵
Create a Compelling Positive Future
It’s about Time
Simply because you have taken the time to design your BIG goals and take action, your life will begin to improve. But we are now going to use the power of your unconscious mind to take the whole game to another level and begin creating “automatic” success.
“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.”
CHARLES KETTERING
In order to do this, you need to first notice your brain’s own unique way of representing time. Without thinking about it, point to the future. Now, point to the past.
Notice the direction that time moves for you. Does the future extend out in front of you with the past behind you? Or is the past on the left and the future on the right?
There are no right or wrong answers—however your brain codes time is perfect for you. Do the following exercise to become even more clear about your own internal “timeline” …
DISCOVERING YOUR TIMELINE
Read through the exercise before you do it for the first time …
1. Think of something that you do each day, like brushing your teeth or having your breakfast. When you picture yourself doing that tomorrow, is the image in front of you, to the right, or to the left? How far away is it? Point to it now …
2. Next, think about doing the same activity next week. Is the picture farther to the right or to the left? In front of you or behind you? Closer or farther away? Once again, point to where you “see” the image in your mind. What about last week? Where do you picture doing that same activity one week ago?
3. Now think about doing the same activity one month in the future. Is the picture closer or farther away? More to the right or the left? In front or behind? Higher or lower? What about one month ago, in the past? Where do you picture having done that same activity then?
4. Finally, imagine yourself doing that same activity six months into the future. Where is that picture—closer or farther? Left or right? Higher or lower? How about six months ago—point to that image now …
5. Imagine that all these images are connected by a line—like doing a giant “connect the dots” puzzle in your mind. This is your “timeline”—the way your unconscious mind represents time.
Programming Your Mind for “Automatic Success”
When you have a sufficiently compelling future, all of your resources are automatically directed towards bringing that future about. And the really wonderful thing is that you will find yourself moving towards that future every single day.
“If you really want something, you can figure out how to make it happen.”
CHER
This next exercise will assist you in programming a compelling future into your unconscious mind. Used in conjunction with the hypnotic trance, it will supercharge all your efforts for success …
When I did this with a client recently, he made an image of himself sitting at dinner with his family and friends. They were all sitting around celebrating his latest success at work. There was an incredible sense of prosperity about them, like they never needed to worry about money again. They were planning their luxury holiday to the south of France and joking about how much fun they were going to have sipping champagne and soaking up the sun. What he really enjoyed about the picture was that he seemed so grounded and happy in himself—there was a real sense of having “arrived” both spiritually and materially.
Creating Your Future Now
Read through the exercise before you do it for the first time …
1. Imagine it’s a year in the future and you have had the best year of your life.
What has happened in your relationships, career, health, finances, spiritual life? Which of your BIG goals have you achieved? Which ones have you made significant progress towards? What new thinking and behaviors have you practiced? Who are you becoming?
2. Now, make a picture of an ideal scene that represents all that you most want to happen in your positive future. Make sure you can see yourself in that future looking really positive and happy. It can be realistic or symbolic.
Design your “ideal scene” now. Where are you? Who are you with? Which successes are you most aware of? What do you like about it most?
3. Take that image and put it onto your timeline one year into the future. Make sure the image is really big, bright, bold, and colorful. You’ll know you’re doing it right because it feels really good just to imagine it.
4. Next, you are going to fill in the steps between then and now.
Make a slightly smaller picture and place it a few months before the big picture of what will need to happen before that.
Make an even smaller picture and place it a few months before that picture of what will need to happen before that.
Make an even smaller picture and place it a few months before that picture of what will need to happen before.
You should now have a succession of pictures connecting the present with your positive, compelling future. The images should get progressively bigger with better and better things happening in them.
5. Look at those pictures and let your unconscious mind lock in the road map to your automatic success over the next year.
6. Now, float up and out of your body and into each picture. Take a few moments to fully experience each step you will be taking on the path to greater success.
7. When you get to the big picture of your ideal scene, really allow yourself to enjoy experiencing it fully. What will it be like to have everything you want?
8. Finally, come back to the present and look out once again at your future timeline. You can feel confident in the knowledge that you have now created a map for your unconscious to use as a guide in bringing about the future you are longing to create!