29 Nov, 2022

Pete Cohen  0:00

Happy, beautiful, amazing day it is the Future Self Podcast. today's podcast is called How to Step into Your Future Self. I will see you after the theme tune

Pete Cohen  0:55

Hello, it's Pete Cohen here. Welcome to the Future Self Podcast. Today we're gonna be talking about How to Step into Your Future Self. So we have been talking about future self for a long time and what I'm about to say. I think it's deeply profound, profound and my interest in this subject has is just, it's heightened all the time, especially when you speak to people and you talk to people about what they want to create. Because ultimately, this is we live in this world. There are so many things that have been created. You've been created, you're here. What are you doing with what you have it really does fascinate me and I do make some bold statements. And one of the bold statements is and most people today are living what is known as a default future. This is a term that is known in psychology which basically means that most people know deep down they're living a future that they don't actually want. But they feel in many cases they're actually powerless to do anything about it. It's It's so fascinating to me. And also that people feel that who they are is basically who they're always going to be. And the research on this is so profound, and there's more and more of it coming to the fore. And I think it will inspire a lot of people to maybe act differently but for a lot of people, it will just give them some more knowledge without actually doing anything and as Stephen Covey said, to know and to not do is to not know. And as a big fan of personal development, someone who has dedicated his life to it has had his book on many of the best selling charts around the world. Over the years you realize that a lot of people read books, but they don't do anything. They take in knowledge, but they don't put the knowledge into action. So I'm going to ask this question because for me, the Future Self Podcast represents possibilities. It represents the fact that every single person has the unique opportunity to reinvent themselves. Every every human being has the opportunity to be the Phoenix that rises to be a completely different person. And the fact is, we already are. So let's start off with maybe a few truths. How many of us are completely different to the person that we once were literally if you look back and you thought, hang on a second. What did I used to look like? What I What did I used to say? What did I used to do? Who did I used to hang out with? What were the foods I used to eat? What were the I was gonna say drugs, what was the outcome? What was the things that you used to do? That you don't do anymore? It's fascinating if you just stopped and part of our philosophy around love if you want to create a fantastic future. Let's stop first of all, we can start things but let's just stop let's stop and look at some facts. You are an incredible human being. Look what you've already done. You are not who you were you changed. How much of that was conscious, probably a fair amount of it, but a lot of it was just reacting that things have happened to you in your life. You know, I was talking to a colleague of mine today and he was talking about when he grew up. Had an abusive family. father was an alcoholic drug addict and his to his brother and his sister. They went down the same path. And he went down a different path. He went down a path and eventually became a doctor. And when he was telling me this story, I was thinking, wow, you seriously overcame the odds. What is it in you that allowed you you're in the same environment? But yeah, you made some different decisions. I mean, it's fascinating, right? I mean, that's my just my curiosity, what happened and I asked him some questions and basically he got himself a mentor. You know, he then another mentor came into his life, people who showed him another way. People that ultimately show you how to follow yourself. Now, someone once said to me many years ago, they said, What's the difference between you and Tony Robbins? Now many people have heard of Tony Robbins and Tony Robbins who I absolutely love.

Number of his books especially Awaken the Giant Within was a massive game changer for me to look at myself differently and given me tools to actually start helping people. But I realized that one of the differences between me and him is not only is he a lot taller than me. I also felt that he's probably a lot more confident than I am. He's a lot more self assured than me. And I know how many people have seen the film. I am not your guru, which is on Netflix. I really liked that the fact that he doesn't want to be your guru. And I don't want to be your guru. I don't want you following me. I don't want you to think that Pete Cohen changed my life. No, no, no, I don't want that. Thank you very much. I want you to want that as what I want. I want you to bask in your own glory. Bask in your own success. Bask in what is the bask mean to celebrate your own your success, to celebrate who you are, but more importantly, celebrate who you're choosing to become, through the many challenges of becoming, because to me, becoming is growing and to grow is to is to go up against opposition to that growth. Think about anything that grows is challenged. We know that right? That's how the elements work. It's a challenge. Is it the strongest of the species that survives? No, no, it's definitely not. It's the species that adapts and I think we as human beings, we have the opportunity to adapt, we have the opportunity to change, but a lot of people won't take that choice. They will just continue to make the choices that they've made in the past, and they'll keep going round and round and round in circles. I was reading this morning about a study which completely blew my mind. Do people go round in circles? To do that if they felt like I just can't I keep going around in circles might I keep trying to break this habit and I'll just keep doing the same thing. I'll stop it for a few days like normally. And then after a few days I'll just get a bit bored. Or you know, I stopped smoking and I stopped making for a few days and then all of a sudden life got in the way. What does that mean by the way when people say life got in the way I'm definitely going to do a podcast about that because everybody says that not everybody but a lot of people do. Do people go round in circles? So there were some scientists that an institute for biological cybernetics and they took they took participants to a forest and gave them with some simple instructions. Check this out, walk in a straight line. Okay, so there were no landmarks they had no they had no scent. They had nothing to rely on to give them a sense of direction. And several people deviated and separate. So what the outcome of this study was really fascinating is what they found is that the GPS data showed that a lot of people just walked around in loops of about 20 meters even though they thought they were going in a straight line. So they thought, Well, maybe it's because perhaps people have got one leg longer than the other but then they found that some people walk around to the left some people walk around in the right to the right. And the research has explained that people walk in circles because their uncertainty about where where straight ahead is. So the study concluded without clarity of west where straight is your wandering circles, despite thinking you're making progress, and I think that's why most people today are basically living a future they don't want and this is where some people might want to stop the podcast and not listen to it because there is this optimism that we all have. I think naturally we all are optimistic. We will have this but it's this false optimism now everything will be okay. Really well it if you carry on doing what you're doing right now, how's that going to work out for you? It's just that kind of stop and that's where often people I think just sometimes want to run away from the reality of what they're doing and where that's actually taking them. So here's the big question. And the question I love to ask everybody. Apart from how can I help you? I love to ask that question. But I prefer to ask the question first. What will be your greatest ever achievement? Can I help you? I'd love to help you, in your greatest ever achievement to maybe stop you from walking around in circles, to make some breakthroughs, and to really reinvent yourself. That's what I'd love to do. That doesn't excite everybody of course it doesn't. But does it excite you? Does it genuinely excite you? Are you genuinely like enthusiastic about who you could possibly be? Because isn't that just the greatest thing we'll ever do? Who we become

but the challenge in becoming anything is the temptation and the distraction. This is one of the one of the things that we might decide to walk in a straight line but end up walking in a circle because all of a sudden when we're moving forwards. There's things that go up that get in our way what are those things? Distraction excuses procrastinating just stay where you are, you know the battle that we all have you know the you know that battle I'm talking about right? You know, the one that wants you the part of you that wants you to stay where you are just no no, no, no, no, no, no, don't go forward. Stay where you are. Don't exercise. Don't eat healthy do not tomorrow. You know that part of you that we all have the part that just wants to fit in the part that wants to survive the part that most of us listen to most of us listen to that part of ourselves. And I'm here as a representative of your future self. In fact, I'd like to think of myself as a lawyer. I'm representing your future self. Someone sent me something yesterday about the decline in the saving rate since the 1950s. Retiring Did you know there was a retiring risk index, chances of retiring not being able to meet your needs is increasing in 1983 it was 30% of the people that were not going to have their needs to retire and then 2010 It was 50% What do you reckon it is now in 2022. I really do believe that our freedom lies in us being bold and deciding to reinvent ourselves deciding to become more rather than holding on to what we know and in order for us to move forwards. I know that's a challenge for many people, to you know to perhaps look at what's holding us back to stop so I'm here as a lawyer representing your future self because I'm saying hey, your future self is talking is toward your future self is talking to you, but I actually don't think you're listening. Can you see that? Some of the biggest problems we have in the world is people's inability to see beyond a few days and weeks and months. That when we think about the environment, a lot of people, a colleague of mine was saying to me the other day, he said we're talking about COVID He said you know COVID is nothing compared to what's coming with the environment. He just said it's said you couldn't make up what's coming. But he said, a lot of people don't want to know and a lot of it isn't getting reported. But a lot of people who still no, because they don't identify with themselves. With the world completely in turmoil. They don't do anything about it. And it's exactly the same thing with our health. I've told the story many times I've said it on many of the podcasts I've done of working with Southampton Hospital and the chief medical officer when I was walking in this was kind of when COVID was going on walking around the hospital with him, asking him in fact, it was before COVID How many people in this hospital are here because of lifestyle choices? And he said that 75% That's a lot right. I think it's probably more because people don't and it maybe it's not. We know that some people just don't care. Which is fair enough. But do you care? Do you care enough to start thinking about your future in a different way? Do you care enough to start thinking about making investments into your future self? Because what I want to do is open the doorway, open the door for you to be able to listen to what your future self is telling you. Some of you have seen the videos I've made recently on Instagram where it's actually where I'm where I'm standing right now. I made some videos where I'm asking my future self some questions. And that's what I do. I never was listening to my future self. How many of you if you've ever been like me, when you've ever had any money in the past when you were younger? That you thought right what can I spend this on? I never thought about investing into the future. I'm very lucky because I'm naturally enthusiastic but enthusiasm was just was was killing me. I nearly died in my 20s because I was so enthusiastic but didn't actually know where I was going. So I was going around in circles till I burnt out. And I'm sure I'm not the only one because no one taught us. We were encouraged not to think ahead. We were encouraged not to be free. Thinkers, we were encouraged to think like everyone else to retain information so that we can regurgitate it. And then the real entrepreneurs were the ones who didn't do particularly well in school, that use the creative side of their brain to come up with ideas. And now look around you and you look at all the things that have ever been invented by man

first in that in in their mind, and then they did the work to bring something into reality. Isn't that the greatest thing that we can do? Apart from survive and that's great, but we have survived we're a species we're still hear just about. Some would say we're flourishing. But is it time to move beyond that? Is it time not to do the greatest work of our life to become what? Become better, wiser sharper, faster, maybe in some respects? Is it possible? What is possible I love what Zig Ziglar says when he says you have to be before you can do and do before you can have this is about being then doing then having a love that rather than we're working from um so here I am. I'm Pete Cohen. I'm I'm the lawyer to your future self and I've come back to say to you listen, your future self is talking to you and I need to sit you both down in a room okay, that mediation okay guys listen. We need to we need to leave your your your your past behind for a little while. Okay, can we literally have your former self can we leave that old story if you're ready, if you're ready to leave that part of you behind if you're ready to start making excuses if you know maybe you need to maybe you're not ready to meet your future self. Maybe there's still some work to do. I mean, there's always work to do, right? There's always things that come up in life that made me realize that where does that come from? Well, maybe it came from something that happened to you in your past something that's triggered something but you know, you're ready. You're ready to move forwards. Are you one of those people? Are you ready to go? Are you ready to go to a place you've not gone before because if you want to go to a place you've not gone before you need some form of guidance. Yes, you can have me there and many other people I know who would help you and support you, especially with what we've created with the stock one stock one app, we definitely want to help and support you be mentored by other people. Be in an environment where you might come up with something new you want to start doing something you want to stop doing, and work with other people and share your journey with others. You know the band of brothers and sisters who decided to go out there and change the world by changing yourself. But I'm going to leave your past self behind and I'm going to put you in a room and I'm going to sit in I'm gonna sit in the middle and there's you on the left and there's your future self on the right. And when you look at your future self what do you see? What do you see? And I wonder what you would ask of your future self if you were going to ask your future self anything at all. You don't have to. You don't have to do anything. You really really don't. This is the crazy thing. You don't have to do anything but the thing is you will do something because no one does nothing. We're always doing something so what's the vision of your future self

Speaker  18:00

I feel like I fell out the rain fell I could just fall reason for does what I've been doing and know that it's real. I know there's just no change and when

Pete Cohen  18:29

it because the greatest guidance, I believe and it's might not be for everybody. But it's being guided by your future self. You're going to meet that person. And as I've played the song before, you know last night I had a dream. I had a dream there was three of me. There was a person I was was the person I am as a person I want to be now if you don't know this person, you wouldn't want to be this person. And that's why so many people have this indecision and have this doubt and think that who they are is who they are always going to be. I was reviewing some of the work I've been doing over the last couple of years. And that incredible presentation, the incredible TED Talk by Daniel Gilbert, who just talks about it's it's the ease of remembering the ease of remembering who you think you are, versus the difficulty of imagining the difficulty of imagining who your future self is. It's difficult. I think it's quite challenging unless of course, you practice it. And I could give you countless examples of people, but perhaps there's no better example. I don't know how much you want to change the world but you're changing the world anyway. It's just how much and in what way, no better example of Ghandi, who said, Be the change that you want to see in the world. He also said and if you can't be, then get out of the way and financially support the person who can isn't that amazing?

So let's just round this all up. Let's bring this to some sort of conclusion because I am the lawyer to your future self and I want to represent your future self and you but you need to be in alignment to your future self. And that's why one of our previous podcast episodes is a meditation, where we we take you on a guided journey to go and meet your future self. And just think about it. You know that person exists, you know, you're going to meet that person one day. And all of these people that will tell you that about your personality. I think this is starting to get more more attention that personality testing is kind of being shown for some of its flaws. For me, it's more of your personality traits, the traits that you have that I'm more interested in your identity, your identity, the story that you're saying. It's what you're most committed to.

And I'm curious more than ever. Because what's happening in the world right now there's a lack of hope there's a lack of purpose. This is what Viktor Frankl talked about just think about this prisoner in a prisoner of war concentration camp in the Second World War. And one of the things that kept him alive was the thought of seeing his family again, but also a manuscript that was taken from him. And he had to finish that book that no matter what was going on around him, he found some sort of meaning. And if you have a lack of hope and purpose for the future, the now becomes meaningless it also it becomes almost a bit unbearable. Your identity really is who you are. committed to becoming. And I think what most people are committed to is they're who they think they are. But isn't over yet. We know that the majority of people that listen to our podcast we know that there are younger people but we know most of those people are in their 40s 50s people that they're looking for something but maybe what they're looking for a staring at them right in the face. So I'm the lawyer who's representing your future, future self, who's here right now to say to you Come on, let's step into this future. Let's step right in to step into your future self is to know that there is a future self for you. And it doesn't have to be hell. We're coming to the end of your life and you meet that person is the person you could have been. No you could be that person today. Through your daily practice through your daily determination through your daily disciplines. You can change the world. The question is are you ready to get on the good foot so what's your biggest takeaway?

And this is where the practice comes in. I want to thank you for listening to the podcast massive respect going out to you please subscribe to our podcast

we appreciate every single one of our listeners that step into our future selves every single day and guess what? We'll see you again. Next time.