Think What Not When

We're in a period of great uncertainty. Life is unstable, work is paused or stopped and we're under great stress. I heard from a restaurateur recently that he's keeping a small number of managers on salary in order to be ready to reopen when we eventually bounce back. He wants to have a lean team in place so that when he can reopen his businesses he can do so quickly. He's very smart to think this. Since we don't know when things will change, we need to turn our thinking to what we can change. What will you do when you can reopen your business and return to work? 

Research shows that actively thinking about the future is incredibly empowering. Future thinking, called "prospecting," allows for us to get our thinking out of the past and imagine what we can do in the short or long term. Athletes who regularly visualize themselves in the future report inspiring results. One study, detailed in Psychology Today, shares that "brain studies reveal that thoughts produce the same mental instructions as actions. It’s been found that mental practices can enhance motivation, increase confidence and self-efficacy, improve motor performance, and prime your brain for success." Powerful thinking creates powerful results.

In an article titled "How Thinking About the Future Makes Life More Meaningful"the author shares that "for people recovering from trauma, writing optimistically about the future—an intervention called prospective writing—might encourage post-traumatic growth (positive psychological growth following a traumatic life event)."

We're in a traumatic situation right now. So put some thought into your future and write out a plan for what you will do when the red light turns green. As the author shares, prospecting is proven to help people do these 4 things:

• "Make sound decisions

• "Motivate us to achieve our goals

• "Improve psychological well-being

• "Make us more kind and generous"

We've all got time on our hands right now so use it to think forward and keep yourself motivated, inspired, grateful and decisive about your future ahead. I promise, it will be time well spent.