Future Pacing - Working on the New You

Entrepreneurial and life goals coincide in ways many other goals do not.  For entrepreneurs, their life goals are tied to their entrepreneurial dreams, and these goals take the entrepreneur and her family for the ride of their lives. At the beginning of the journey a flood of positive emotions of hope, dreams of making it, feeling of independence, and excitement engulf the entrepreneur.  In the first leg of the journey, some pain sets in as the realization of the limitations on resources set in; time, money, necessary relationships, are just three of the hurdles entrepreneurs face during this stage.  In the second stage of the journey, the entrepreneur starts to experience enhanced pain and doubt raises its ugly head. If the entrepreneur does not have a good consultant or coach to help navigate the phases of the entrepreneurial process, the doubt grows into a crippling fear, devastating the entrepreneur and, many times, family members.

Future Pacing – YOU 2.0

Skilled consultants and coaches have many tools in their tool belts to help budding and seasoned entrepreneurs.  One of the most important tool is FUTURE PACING the entrepreneur to help her create a vision of herself 10 years into the future (YOU 2.0), and helping her build a bridge from now to then.   Since the entrepreneur’s business is usually an integral part of her vision of herself, it is necessarily included in the journey from YOU 1.0 to YOU 2.0. 

The process begins with the consultant/coach helping the entrepreneur create a detail vision of YOU 2.0 self. This includes the creation of an avatar for the entrepreneur that encompasses her YOU 2.0 physical self, emotional self, spiritual self, the knowledge she has accumulated, the relationships she has, her home, her business, her skills, and everything else that she envisions herself being.  Once done, the consultant/coach helps the entrepreneur to reinforce this idea of her YOU 2.0 so that it become her life ultimate mission.  The process then turns to an assessment of the entrepreneur’s personal development matrix, so that she can take an honest look at herself.  The matrix analyzes the entrepreneur’s core knowledge, skills, abilities, disciplines, dedication, focus, beliefs, values, health, experiences, rules and relationship with herself. The result is usually a clear understanding of the entrepreneur’s personal strengths and weaknesses. This can be an eye-opening process for entrepreneurs, and serve as a “reality check.” Simply put, if you do not know where you are, it does not matter where you are going.

After the personal assessment is complete, the consultant/coach then helps the entrepreneur focus on developing a current relationship matrix. The focus here is primarily external with a focus on the entrepreneur’s relationships, finances, physical assets, other resources, opportunities, and external threats or roadblocks.

With a good understanding of the entrepreneur’s current state, the consultant/coach can then move onto helping develop a future identity, her YOU 2.0 (usually 5 to 10 years in the future).  Once this future identity is developed, and the entrepreneur has a vivid image of her future self,  she works with the consultant/coach to set reasonable and realistic goals each month and year (with yearly themes) which, once achieved, will get her that much closer to her YOU 2.0. As she travels through the process, she transforms into the version of herself she sees, and consistently re-evaluates her YOU 2.0, upgrading her model self annually, chasing her future with relentless passion.

This passion and thirst for growth and development spills over into the entrepreneur’s business and family, so they all grow together, consistently helping each other reach their YOU 2.0. 

Future pacing is just one of the planning tools offered by Business and  Executive Coaching Consultants at CPLS, P.A. as a part of our Private Corporate Counsel program. If you would like to learn more or set up a consultation, give us a call at 407.647.7887 or email me at Attorneypersad@cplspa.com.