The Past DOES Equal the Future (Blog)

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Burris5000

The following quote has me wondering something:
"This is the sort of info that has caused a few people to leave the room in tears when I talk about it professionally..."

Did those who left the room in tears ever come back? Did they realize what the message was and overcame their issues from the past? Or did they leave the room, never to return?

Anyone here on the forums leave the room because of this? Any past CGW attendees have any experience running out of the room, or saw others do so? Did they return?

Twice they never returned.

Follow-up afterwards showed they were emotionally overwhelmed by a major realization about themselves and needed to get away for a while and process it.

For CGW #1 this happened to someone within the first couple hours of day 1. Of course she's welcome to try again with a freebie pass.

At CGW #2, Vicki (one of our helpers) spent about 4 hours helping someone process their experiences and release some emotion after having something of a breakdown during the session.

These workshops can be pretty intense since we don't pull any punches. When people take a deep look at their lives, sometimes big issues come up for them. Moving past denial and facing deeper truths about ourselves is not easy at times. I can relate somewhat to these people's experiences since I've had similar breakthroughs in the past -- it doesn't feel like a breakthrough at the time, but after processing it, a whole new perspective opens up.

[Acting Like Godot]

I dunno .... Personally, this article didn't do anything for me. It seemed to be a rather lengthy way of stating the obvious.

Anyway, I don't see habits as separate and unrelated to goals. In fact, the deliberate cultivation of a habit, any habit, is itself a goal.

Without a clear goal, it is difficult to cultivate a good habit. You just won't have the motivation. For example, it is only when you have a clear goal concerning your health that you will develop new habits about, say, exercise and diet. It is only when you have a clear goal of becoming a professional musician that you will develop the habit of practising x hours a day.

So it all still begins with the goal.

It's a trite point (to me, anyway) that if we all carry on with the same old patterns, where we're headed to in the future is quite predictable. But aren't we all here, because we're interested in personal development? Which means that all of us are constantly changing anyway. So no, the future shouldn't be that predictable.

(Or am I wrong to assume that 99% of you, like me, are constantly changing little aspects of their lives, constantly seeking to grow and improve?)

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by ssandra

It doesn't matter what changes first, your thoughts or your actions

Your actions do not change, unless your thoughts change first.

(Barring exceptional situations, for example, where you are sleepwalking or you just slipped on a banana peel etc).

[ssandra]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

(Or am I wrong to assume that 99% of you, like me, are constantly changing little aspects of their lives, constantly seeking to grow and improve?)

Seeking to grow and improve: Yes

Finding and accomplishing: Not yet

[pjhaggerty]

It would seem then that the point of having goals, affirmations, and all the rest is to motivate you to entrench the habit change, wouldn't it?

[Acting Like Godot]

Just to elaborate on my earlier post, let me comment on this part of Steve's post:

Bill has no habit of daily writing. But he has a clear written goal/intention for his book. He knows what kind of book he wants to write. When people ask him what he’s working on, he tells them he’s writing a book. In the past 30 days, he has spent a lot of time thinking about his book. He’s even jotted down some ideas for it, but mostly at random intervals.

Ted has no written goals, intentions, or plans for his book. He hasn’t told anyone he’s writing it. He’s not even sure what the chapters will be. But for the past 30 days, he’s gotten out of bed every morning at 5am, and he’s worked on his book till 7am before having breakfast. He has averaged about 2 pages of potentially usable content per day. He’s been working only on his book during that time and nothing else. He’s done this every day without fail. Nothing has come up in his life during that time that would disrupt this habit or indicate that it’s likely to be disrupted.

If I told you that only one of these two gentlemen finished their book within that year, which one would you bet on? Which approach do you believe is more likely to lead to a completed book within a year?

My response is that Ted does not exist.

No one in the world will have the habit of getting up everyday at 5 am and writing for two solid hours ... UNLESS he has a clear goal.

(The goal may be to complete a thesis; to publish a book; to produce blog material, whatever ... but without a clear goal, no one in the world will have such a habit).

Between two people who have similar goals, if all other things are equal, the person with the habit of taking action on his goal is of course going to have a better chance of achieving the goal. But in either case, FIRST there must be a goal. The habit, if it forms at all, forms subsequently, not prior to the goal.

[supertom]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Just to elaborate on my earlier post, let me comment on this part of Steve's post:




My response is that Ted does not exist.

No one in the world will have the habit of getting up everyday at 5 am and writing for two solid hours ... UNLESS he has a clear goal.

(The goal may be to complete a thesis; to publish a book; to produce blog material, whatever ... but without a clear goal, no one in the world will have such a habit).

Between two people who have similar goals, if all other things are equal, the person with the habit of taking action on his goal is of course going to have a better chance of achieving the goal. But in either case, FIRST there must be a goal. The habit, if it forms at all, forms subsequently, not prior to the goal.

That's quite brilliant ALG

[naahid]

After reading the article about 30 day challenges I implemented it almost immediately.In my case,I decided not to visit facebook for thirty days and become more productive instead.The next REAL change I want to see in myself is to get up as soon as the alarm goes off.Hopefully I will accomplish that too.

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Just to elaborate on my earlier post, let me comment on this part of Steve's post:




My response is that Ted does not exist.

No one in the world will have the habit of getting up everyday at 5 am and writing for two solid hours ... UNLESS he has a clear goal.

(The goal may be to complete a thesis; to publish a book; to produce blog material, whatever ... but without a clear goal, no one in the world will have such a habit).

Between two people who have similar goals, if all other things are equal, the person with the habit of taking action on his goal is of course going to have a better chance of achieving the goal. But in either case, FIRST there must be a goal. The habit, if it forms at all, forms subsequently, not prior to the goal.

When I was younger (ages 7 through 12) I would get up around 5am, grab a stack of blank printer paper and draw pictures for AT LEAST 3 hours at a time, usually more as I would draw later in the day as well. The exceptions were Sundays, when my family went to church services (I drew before and afterward anyway). I started to become somewhat of a virtuoso at illustration before my parents started having fights, eventually separated and my life changed drastically and I pretty much stopped that habit altogether and am working to get that habit back. The point is I had no reason to keep up this habit, other than a pressing need to draw to my heart's content. Some writers have the same need.

Ted does exist. There are many Teds. I used to be a Ted. I want to be a Ted again.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

But in either case, FIRST there must be a goal. The habit, if it forms at all, forms subsequently, not prior to the goal.

Counterexamples are abundant.

Just look at how most people habitually eat... or how much time they spend watching TV... or how they habitually communicate with others.

That's hardly goal-oriented behavior... unless you're implying that the goals are set by someone else, like Pepsi's goal for what you drink. And even then, it's quite a stretch to call that goal-oriented behavior.

How many people set a goal to become a habitual soda drinker? Yet the habit is there in abundance.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by KaleidoskopicVision

Ted does exist. There are many Teds. I used to be a Ted.

Agreed. Teds are abundant.

Goals aren't necessary for habits to form. I'd say that most habits are not driven by goals, even in highly conscious people.

[MidasGirl]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

(Or am I wrong to assume that 99% of you, like me, are constantly changing little aspects of their lives, constantly seeking to grow and improve?)

No you are not wrong. Not to me anyway. It did seem to me like Steve was appealing to people who aren't even sold on working on themselves. It's like he used thousands of words to basically say: if you don't get off your ass and do things differently, tomorrow will be no better than yesterday. Well, duh!

It's the same thing when Tony Robbins says the past does not equal the future. It's cuz he's talking to people who've made a decision to change, and need that extra umph from someone else to inspire them to have the courage to put real change in place.

For example, I've met a lot of obese people for example, who know that next year they'll be just as unhealthy as this year, cuz they are sure they are not going to change their eating habits. They're not kidding themselves about anything. They already can predict their future. What good is the prediction to them anyway? They have to want to change first.

[Acting Like Godot]

Steve: No, not quite ...

Your post was not to encourage people to unconsciously form habits (in fact that's oxymoronic).

Your post was to encourage people to consciously select good habits to develop, habits that would lead them to the kind of future they would like to have.

But to do that, people are already having to set goals. If I do not have a goal, how would I know what is a good habit for me to develop?

For example, let's say my goal is to write a book. Then it would be a good habit to get up early and write two hours every day. But let's say I have no interest in writing a book, and none of my goals have anything to do with writing. Then it would be a bad and silly habit to get up early and write two hours every day.

In other words, whether a habit is "good" or "bad" depends on the person's goal. If you don't know what your goal is, then you wouldn't know what habits you would want to develop.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by KaleidoskopicVision

When I was younger (ages 7 through 12) I would get up around 5am, grab a stack of blank printer paper and draw pictures for AT LEAST 3 hours at a time, usually more as I would draw later in the day as well.

Thatr's intrinsic motivation. It's doing X, just because you enjoy doing X.

It's not what Steve's post is about. For example, he cites examples of eating patterns, sleeping patterns, spending habits.

Fact is - while you may want to draw for the sake of drawing, you probably would not eat differently, or sleep differently, or spend differently, just for the sake of eating, sleeping or spending differently.

No, instead you would want to eat differently, because, say, you want to lose weight, lower your blood pressure and be more attractive to your lover.

You would want to sleep differently, because, say, you want to feel more refreshed and energetic in your waking hours, and be able to concentrate better.

You would want to spend differently, because, say, you want to become rich enough in 10 years time to send your children to college, buy a house on the beach and retire comfortably.

In other words, the desire to form a new habit (regarding your eating, sleeping or spending) is driven by a goal (the goal to lose weight; lower your blood pressure; feel more refreshed and energetic; concentrate better; send your kids to college; retire comfortably etc).

That's why the goal is important ... If you don't have the goal, there's no reason why you would consciously seek to develop any habit.

[Angela]

This Huffington Post writer posted today in a way that's aligned with my perspective.

My view is that we all behave however we behave as a function of how we observe our world. If something appears to be a threat to me, I will always behave however I behave when I perceive a threat--no matter what the situation. If I cannot distinguish between the present and the past, then the present will occur to me pretty much in the same way it did in the past. If I observe my situation the same way as I did before, then I will do what I have always done.

Freedom to change presupposes choice. Choice presupposes being present and not trapped in historical beliefs or habits. So to learn a different response or have a genuine choice about what I do, I must be in 'present time' and I must change the way my situation 'occurs' for me (that is, I need to change how my 'reality' appears for me).

I also need to be able to distinguish the future as something that isn't an inevitable extension of my past. I need to see the future as a possibility.

[Dan Morelle]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Goals aren't necessary for habits to form. I'd say that most habits are not driven by goals, even in highly conscious people.

So being more concious of your habits and recognising if they align with your goals or not might be useful?

[nicbrahms]

All is mind, change your mind and pick and choose your future and your past.

Nothing is written in stone unless you decide it is.

[ming]

In a overall sense, yes, life is all about repetition, so habits do create a character and character create a destiny BUT many breaks in life come not through habits but LOA (or randomness for the non believers) like meeting a soulmate, changing careers, quitting a job, town, country, breaking up a relationship, having an accident, etc.
Are you not supporting LOA as experience shifter any longer Steve?

[Giltrap]

“He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” - George Orwell

I watched Nineteen Eighty-Four earlier today and when that quote came on screen I thought "Well that sure does sound familiar". I know Big Brother's method of past control is the one that Steve said that we can't do personally, but other than that it's pretty close I think.

I'm going to make or find a desktop background with it on, then I can be reminded every time I log in.

[carenkh]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I dunno .... Personally, this article didn't do anything for me. It seemed to be a rather lengthy way of stating the obvious.<snip>

(Or am I wrong to assume that 99% of you, like me, are constantly changing little aspects of their lives, constantly seeking to grow and improve?)

I am seeking to grow and improve, but until relatively recently, I didn't have a concept of setting goals, and purposefully building habits. Life happened TO me, and while generally, I had a pretty good life goin' on, I didn't take responsibility for it, I wasn't consciously creating my life. It was only when I began to understand that my life was my own, and I took responsibility for it, that the word (and idea) "goals" didn't sound like some kind of foreign language. I hired a kick-a** life coach, and I find I'm needing the accountability to her (to myself), to set goals, then make an action plan. Being at cause in my life is a new concept to me.

This was a painful post for me to read - I actually didn't read it at first, then I read the first couple of paragraphs... it was only yesterday that I was able to read the whole thing, and thank heavens, Goals Into Habits was linked at the end. I had started to spiral into self-hatred and overwhelm, and that link reminded me: Oh, yeah! There are steps I can take! And I've taken some! And I can keep doing that!

Steve, with Abuse of Power you gave me a much-needed smack (I first contacted my life coach the day I read that), and with this article, you held my eyes open, allowing me the opportunity to unabashedly look at my life and my choices.

Thank you very much for this chance, sir.

(I was cured, all right!)

[Victor Lopez G]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Agreed. Teds are abundant.

Goals aren't necessary for habits to form. I'd say that most habits are not driven by goals, even in highly conscious people.

I agree with this. At least, if we restrict it to consciously-selected goals. For example, I've playing way too much flash games lately (a bad habit) with no particular goal in mind. What I do have, tough, is a motivation to do it: it's an escape for avoiding other responsibilities. It's a conditioned behavior would Tony Robbins say if he weren't mad a Steve today.

Also, that's why even highly conscious people don't depend on goals to sustain their habits, they depend on conditioning. The installation process of the habit probably needed a clear goal, but not keeping it.

BTW, this is my first post here I opened the account ages ago but have never used until now.

Cheers everyone!

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Victor Lopez G

The installation process of the habit probably needed a clear goal, but not keeping it.

I agree too. That's what I meant, when I said that the goal must come first.

To keep a habit, you must first have the habit. To have the habit, you must first install it. To install it, you must first have a clear goal.

So the goal comes first.

[seeker5]

Angela,

What you're talking about, is actually a habit. People who apply the habit of using NLP or its techniques to change themselves and thus change their future tend to it a lot over time wouldn't you say? That is, someone who never uses NLP or its technique to change the underlying feeling they have, and never question the underlying feelings of why they do things most likely will not do it. So, you can predict based upon the last 30 days their path based upon whether they do this or not.

These same people can change the prediction for them if they start to habitually analyze their feelings and use technologies such as NLP, Angel Meditation, etc. to change the way they feel about things.

[Federer]

Steve,

When you said change your past, i got your message. We should change our visualization patterns. I am still thinking, you are trying to say if you change images of your mind, then your thinking will automatically change. Thinking changes then it becomes easy to change action patterns.

Right?

[Angela]

You may be right, seeker5. Even without the habit of using powerful technologies of change, one good shift in perspective is all it often takes to completely transform the path ahead.

[ProjectX]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I agree too. That's what I meant, when I said that the goal must come first.

To keep a habit, you must first have the habit. To have the habit, you must first install it. To install it, you must first have a clear goal.

So the goal comes first.

Its also important to know why you want to have that goal and a strong desire to gain it.

[spirit4711]

Originally Posted by Angela

If it makes you feel uncomfortable for someone with authority to tell you you're limited, it's probably resonating with your deep down belief that he's right -- you ARE limited.

I get your point. I think it's more that Steve triggered my belief. Not that he's my authority (or even that I agree with a lot he's writing ) but I do respect his writings and therefore went to 'what if it's true?' What came up for me is that his POV sounds limiting to me. That's what made me uncomfortable.

'The past is the future' sounds limiting to me because I like change. The mere idea of no change feels suffocating to me. I know Steve didn't mean it that way.

In a sense it raised my awareness around this belief of 'everything is possible'. I'm happy to say that belief I still hold firmly. Steve's trigger was like a test of that belief.

If you disconnect the mechanism of your limiting belief, no one (not Steve Pavlina, not Tony Robbins, not nobody) will have the power to push that button and make you feel uncomfortable.

Word.

I don't mind having my buttons pushed every now and then. Keeps me from becoming smug.

[impaul99]

To me this post was utterly useless, and I'm willing to bet this will be yet another post/limiting belief that I'll have to "uninstall" from some of my future mentoring student's minds when they say "But Steve said ..."

The future DOES NOT equal the past. The future will not be the same as your past if you do the same things in the present - it will be worse or better depending on how much energy you're putting into improving that area. For example, one area of life that I haven't put a lot of conscious growth energy into until the last few years is my health.

My eating patterns/habits did not change for the most part since I've been 18 yrs old, yet when I followed those habits at age 18 I was skinny and had lots of energy, but now that I'm in my 30's the same habit were making me fat and tired because the body can only take so much crap.

From my personal experience, and from what I see of other people, things are always either getting better or worse in different areas of our lives, depending on how much of our conscious energy we assign to that particular area. The areas we ignore usually deteriorate, and the areas we apply energy towards improve - they never stay the same.

The illusion that the future equals the past is only there for people who can't see more than a few weeks into the future. I have found that most of the people I coach who have a defeated attitude are incorrectly perceiving their future equaling the past. In fact, they are also incorrectly perceiving their present equaling the past.

Meaning, they point out that "nothing has changed" which is an illusion. It's a trick our mind plays on us. EVERYTHING is always changing, we just have a bad habit of discounting small changes instead of using them to inspire us to keep moving forward.

For example, one student I'm coaching is working on improving his sales skills. Two month ago he was horrified to pick up the phone to call a lead. Today he has overcome that fear and can pickup the phone and call any lead, any time with zero hesitation. His ability to sell has improved drastically, YET because the sales cycle in his company is over three months he made the comment that "nothing's changed" because he hasn't seen much "results" yet.

This is a typical example of people distorting the past to match the present. They think that no progress has been made just because a specific result hasn't been achieved yet. It is only by pointing out how the present IS different from the past that they get inspired to keep going, not by telling people "Your future is going to be equal to the past".

Bottom line is this. Most people who I know that aren't happy with their lives and suffer from borderline or total depression have the belief that "Past = Future" or "Nothing ever changes, so what's the point".

Most people who I know that are happy with their lives and who experience success have the belief that "The future doesn't equal the past" or "Things are always changing".

The best way I have found to change the future is not to change ACTIONS in the NOW, but rather to change people's perceptions of the past to be more accurate. Once you point out that the past is different from the present moment, people can usually predict the "trajectory" they are on.

When I look at my life 10 years ago and my life today, my mind may try to say "Uhhh, nothing much has changed..." but when I look through my journals or REALLY sit down to think about it, EVERYTHING has changed. Everything is totally different. The areas I applied conscious energy towards have completely changed, and the areas that I've completely ignored have gotten worse.

Steve, if you think the next 5 years of your life are going to be the same as the previous 5 years, you're deluding yourself. When I look at everyone around me, it may SEEM like their lives aren't changing either, but when I look at where they were 5 years ago and compare it to today there are major changes.

The ILLUSION that the PAST = FUTURE is a limiting belief and it's so far misaligned from TRUTH it's not even funny.

15 years ago the Internet as we know it didn't exist. Most people didn't even know what an email address was. Last week I saw a 50 year old man in a restaurant, TEXTING his son from a Blackberry to find out when he's going to arrive. You've gotta be completely blind to think the past equals the future.

If anything, I would say that the future is changing from the past at a faster and faster rate.

Sorry Steve, I still love ya, but I think you're going to hurt more people with this post than you help. One of the biggest influences on my life has been Tony's "The Future Does NOT Equal the Past" and that belief has helped me a tonne. In fact, if you listen to his story across many of his programs you'll see that it was the main global belief in HIS life that changed everything for him too.

[ssandra]

Originally Posted by impaul99

Bottom line is this. Most people who I know that aren't happy with their lives and suffer from borderline or total depression have the belief that "Past = Future" or "Nothing ever changes, so what's the point".

Most people who I know that are happy with their lives and who experience success have the belief that "The future doesn't equal the past" or "Things are always changing".

I absolutely get what you are saying, and you have a good point.

However, it is also important to realize that not everybody thinks and reacts the same as you do. Your clients mostly do probably, because those who don't wouldn't be your clients for a long time. There wouldn't be a match.

There are those of us around here who keep believing that the future is different and things will be different and everything will change... yet do nothing to change them.

Delusional Optimism.

For those of us who are like that, this post was a good one. It reminds us that for change to happen, we have to make it happen. Otherwise, sure it happens, but who knows how and when... things usually get worse if you don't do anything...

This post wasn't for everybody and that is ok. But to say that it was for nobody really limits you, because you think/feel that everybody is / has to be like you and the people you know....

[seeker5]

Impaul,

Did you read the whole post from Steve or just the first few paragraph before deciding he was wrong? I've heard other authors also declare that the past equals the future a few years ago and that was inspiring as it lead me to want to change my recent past by changing my current action.