Free Thinker Future

What is success? Success is a state of mind. It is having agency to keep experimenting while applying lessons from past failings or experiences. Success is the willingness to see life as a grand experiment that you can use to craft your own story.

Take Winston Churchhill for an example; did you know that he failed sixth grade or that he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the British Prime Minister? He is now known as one of the world's greatest leaders. What was his mindframe? Do you think he said to himself, "wow! That was a horrific failure; I am never going to run for public office ever again!" No. Instead, Churchhill said:  

In his TED Talk "The Psychology of our Future Self ”, Harvard psychologist Dr. Daniel Gilbert explains a bias that almost all of us have: We tend to think that the person we are today is the person we will always be.

Most people, when asked if they are the same person they were 10 years ago, will say no — but we have a much harder time seeing potential for change in the future. Gilbert and others refer to this as the "end of history illusion.” Despite awareness that our past self is clearly different than our present self, we tend to think that who we are right now is the “real” and “finished” version of ourselves, and our future self will be basically the same as who we are today. Gilbert puts it simply: “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.”

In a world where external narratives tell us who we should be and what success looks like, you need a way to find your own path and make positive changes.

This is being a Free Thinker

It’s an intentional approach to personal development that puts you back in the writer’s chair of your own life story, not a character swept along by circumstances.

The process includes:

• Reflecting on what would be a good life for you (not based on others’ expectations)
• Identifying the specific goals and skills you want to achieve
• Understanding why these goals matter to you
• Developing concrete, actionable plans to achieve them
• Anticipating obstacles and planning how to overcome them