Hello Future Me – Year 2032

Is it cliche to wonder where you will be in 10 years? Not according to every leadership class and development sourcebook I have read. However, it can be hard to focus on Future me when Present me is trying to slay dragons, and exceed every expectation set before me.

Real world applications

I had an exercise where I was supposed to create goals for myself, long-term goals focusing on my career over the next three years. No coincidence, it is part of this fast-track development program, but the first day of the exercise I had a crisis meltdown because every goal I set for myself in the homework assignment was short-term. From within several weeks, to max 3-4 month goals, I had nothing beyond the immediate future. We were sharing in small groups to listen and evaluate, then receive feedback, and I was embarrassed at how I had missed the mark so badly.

It is hard for me to consider the future. I don’t know when I stopped reaching and got comfortable circling the drain. Like why? It was a depressing gut-check to see how I fared on the assignment compared to my peers.

I don’t really know what happened to Future me. Tomorrow me was clearly checked out, Present me was running amok, and Past me was holding court – demanding all the attention in the room.

A few months ago, Present me did not see a very bright future ahead. It is hard to dream when you are coping with being constantly defeated. I had to evaluate who was responsible for killing my dreams.

Clearly, it was me. I excel at self-sabotage. It’s like there is some demon inside me that cannot cope with seeing me succeed. That wants me to fail so I have something to be miserable about. How do I overcome this? With support.

Thankfully one benefit of this fast-track leadership development program is that it comes with a vast support network. And I use it. I have not one, but two mentors, who believe in me and my abilities, and can lift me up when I am set to fall. I lean on them quite heavily when I am feeling lost and overwhelmed. Such as now when I could not sort my future out.

I forget what I have achieved

Not just that, I needed to consider how far I had come. I get underestimated a lot, but I am indeed a fighter and I ignore that. I forget that four years ago, I was working a job that was killing me slowly, that I felt like my soul died a little every day the longer I stayed there. Could I imagine that I would be where I am right now?

Absolutely not.

And how can I forget that I worked my ass off to get where I am? I have not been handed everything. People see my iceberg and think that however easy I make it look, that it really is that effortless for me. This leads to misconceptions and unrealistic expectations for themselves and sometimes for me. Usually just extra helpings of haterade. It can all be very distracting.

I forget that I do this for me. Every day I am grinding for myself. I work as hard as I do especially because of how bad it was before. I know what it means to come from nothing. To walk away with only my dignity and a desire to support myself and my children. They are hardly kids now, but I don’t forget that they still look to me even if it is only for tangential guidance.

Focus on the goal

I had to remember what I wanted to achieve when I applied for this program in the first place. And then connect the dots to think big picture about where that would take me. So 5 years from now I expect to be running my own location, possibly a regional market leader. Ideally, all this is overseas because this world is too small to confine it to just this hemisphere, and I am part of a global company. Worldwide!

A lot can happen in ten years. To me, to the globe. Who really knows where we will be? I just hope I am happy. Preferably somewhere near the beach. I don’t think that is too much to ask ^😉.