NLP coaching tip - Inventing the Future by Paul Lemberg.

The future is whatever you say it's going to be.

How could it be otherwise. The future is a mental construct, it does not exist in the material world. The only thing it could be is something we say.

Leaders are by definition, people who take a stand they say what's possible in the future, and further declare that what they say is possible is going to happen.

People tend to act on whatever future they believe is possible, which makes leadership a highly reliable, self fulfilling, positive feedback system.

The questions then are what is possible, and what is the future? When most people ask what is possible, they really are considering what's probable. When most people consider the future, they actually think of some variation of their past. The past - only much better. The past - only worse. You get the picture.

The future for most people is generally a continuation of the past.

Another type of future is simply invented. It might be a continuation of the past, but not necessarily. It might be a complete break with anything that has ever happened before. From the standpoint of the present, this type of break-with-past

is every bit as valid as the "past plus ten per cent" kind. After all, you can have whatever conversation you like, and if you can persuade people that this is a future worth having, you might just realize it.

So the future is whatever you are willing to make happen.

Leaders are people for whom the future exists as a source of inspiration.

What will your future be? After all, you can have whatever conversations you like, and if you can persuade people that this is a future worth having, you might just realize it.

Copyright 2002-05 ©Paul Lemberg used with his expressed written permission

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