Goals Gone Wild November 10, 2006

For Now and For Never

Matthew Poepsel, LeftBrain/Co-Founder

If you've ever been to a sappy wedding or read a high school yearbook, you're undoubtedly familiar with the term "now and forever". It refers to those things in life that are timeless - love, relationships, student loan debt. You know - the stuff that lasts.

There's a related term I use when I'm working with people who want to be successful in life, but who aren't quite there yet. (That would be 99.999% of the population, by the way.) I often urge these "seekers" to consider the difference between "for now" and "for never".

Raise your hand if you'd like me to illustrate. Fantastic! (You can put your hand down now.)

Many people make statements like the following when they think about ways in which they'd like things to be different in their lives:

"I'm out of shape."
"I'm drowning in debt."
"I hate my job."
"I'm not in a healthy relationship."

Hey - life happens. After they've finished, I recommend two little words that can put these realities into the proper perspective: "for now". Read their conditional statements again, this time with the proper emphasis:

"I'm out of shape - for now."
"I'm drowning in debt - for now."
"I hate my job - for now."
"I'm not in a healthy relationship - for now."

Without these magic words, a current condition can become a limiting mindset that paralyzes any improvement effort. "For now" becomes "for never". Without changing our outlook, each of us runs the risk of being continuously sidetracked. 10 years in a dead-end job, 20 years in a dead-end relationship, 30 years spent depriving the world of our true potential.

We begin to think we can't ever succeed, so why should even try? Sound familiar? It should - we've all been there. (Some of us have been there so long that our mail gets forwarded there.)

From time to time you may think "Why bother?", but I'm here to tell you that you have no other option. You need to find the courage to dream a big dream. You need to change your mindset in order to welcome success into your life. You need to take action and follow through until you succeed.

Don't let a "for now" mindset jeopardize your future.

"For now" is simply for now. "For never" is simply for the birds. The first phrase is a realistic but temporary starting point for something great to come. The latter phrase presents a risk to your true potential and the successful life you deserve.

Which mindset describes your goal pursuit attitude? It's an important choice that only you can make. (What will you make of it?)

I'll leave you with that thought. For now.

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