Most of us are pretty used to setting goals and creating visions.

If you're reading self-development information on the internet, you've probably created a vision board or written out some affirmations in the hopes that energetically, you were aligning more and more with the dream outcome.... that based on your personal conception of how reality works, these practices would help you create success.

Now I'm curious, as a practice, how does it sound/feel to use the darkest possible outcome for your life as the vision? How does it feel to use affirmations of who you'll become if you continue to be the worst version of yourself?

The first time I was really commanded to do this was by Elliot Hulse, a fitness influencer and entrepreneur that made a name for himself with his hard hitting YouTube videos.

I have my problems with Elliot. I think he's a steroid-abusing science-disregarding screw-hammering meat head. That doesn't change the fact that some of his teachings have cut straight to the weakest parts of my soul, and "use FEAR as motivation" did exactly that.

When I first heard this, I was deep into the law-of-attraction space. At that point for me, any thoughts that were "negative" made me nervous.... as my immediate thought was that simply BECAUSE the thought was there, achievement of my goals was a little bit further away.

Hulse was telling me not only to think those thoughts... but to DELIBERATELY FEEL those narratives in my very fucking BONES.

I wasn't ready. Although deep down I knew.

Between the sincerity in his voice, the curvature of his muscles, the authenticity about his businesses/family/etc.....

Elliot Hulse was pretty clearly the real deal. Something was working(It's why I watched him religiously for years before I walked away from him based on some of his beliefs about marginalized people. Another story for another day).

But I wasn't strong enough to accept it. 5 years later I heard this commanded to me again from a chosen teacher of mine, Dan Koe.

Dan explained that anyone can make a vision, feel good about it, and then set it and forget it. Or maybe you follow it, only to find yourself cursing the universe asking why struggle still befalls you.

It's because struggle is normal. We all struggle everyday. The difference between success and abject failure isn't the quantity of struggle, it's the quality.
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Questioning why the universe has cursed you is hard. It's emotionally taxing, which your body usually does a lot of compensating for and thus it's also physically very taxing.

On the other side of the coin, pursing a goal in an unknown territory is also hard. It requires you to learn and make mistakes. This is taxing in all the same ways.

The difference is that this kind of battle has a positive growth curve. You GET something out of this kind of struggle. You may argue "but you get pleasure out of ignorance and you get pleasure out of avoiding your problems."

That is very perceptive of you, young grasshopper.

You certainly do.
But that kind of sucks, doesn't it? Once you build up your consciousness.... there's no way to deny that you're manipulating reality to AVOID becoming a better, more abundant, more successful person.

The problem is that it's become HABITUAL. You almost can't help but jump into this negative spiral and run at break-neck pace away from self-improvement.

This is where a NEGATIVE vision is so powerful.
Now it can certainly be dangerous to do this without a system. Afterall that's what MOST people are doing. Shaming and guilt-tripping themselves day in and day out, and it's pretty clear this is not at all where success is being created.

What we want to do is create a safe-space for real honesty. If you waste half the day away scrolling Facebook marketplace and masturbating, there's a good chance you have a bullshit narrative that gives you a million and one reasons that wank-session is going to be heavenly.

You're going to finish, feel like an absolute loser, and then after a few more hours of wishy-washy effort toward your goals... you'll look at your vision board and wonder why nothings changing.

Well, it's because you're scared of what you're scared of.

You're not willing to feel uncomfortable, and then force yourself to remain in the challenge until you overcome it.

An anti-vision starts to do this.

The anti-vision is the acknowledgement of who you'll be if you don't stop getting drunk in the middle of the day. Why there's no hope for an improvement in your perception of yourself if you just keep doing the same shit and reflecting on none of it.

Fundamentally, you motivate yourself with fear by creating a system to reflecting on it... learn from it.... grow from it.

Without the system, it's just shame the builds up and derails your confidence while you stare shocked at your broken life having no idea how to survive.

With a system, you become your greatest teacher.

Failure becomes your most powerful feedback mechanism. Now there is NOTHING happening in your life that isn't making you a better person, and what would once have been the worst inner/outer experiences are now giving you invaluable information that's helping you create the life of your dreams.

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2 SYSTEMS

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Now's the part where we really do it. The first action item is to create an anti-vision. Right now, imagine the worst-case scenario for your life in the next 6 - 9 months. Within reason. No freak accidents or anything like that. Just considering your current situation... bad habits/lack beliefs/etc. What would life look like?

To follow up, what are YOU doing that's leading to that? Like I mentioned, what kinds of beliefs and behaviors are leading you to create that outcome?

The point of doing this practice is to get clear. Again, we go through a lot of hoops to fog the connection between our thoughts/behaviors and the situations we find ourselves in. You are acknowledging that living that way is holding you back. You are acknowledging your own failures, and now you're going to grow from them.

Consider this your invitation to take action. Actually write down or type out your answers to these questions.

The next process comes from my upcoming book, The Empowerment Journal.

We're going to use a visual activity to understand how this anti-vision plays into your consistent baselines in life.

We will pretty much always trend toward the average of our baselines. Let’s take the example of finances, and specifically money in your savings account: