I competed in bodybuilding for about seven years. Each year, I did one or two competitions. It took a lot of time and energy to prepare. In retrospect, I now know that timing was everything to competing successfully. Likewise, visualizing and being future-oriented are keys to living healthy and well.
When I was competing, I first had to schedule my event. What date was I going to compete? The mind had to know this for my body to begin its transformation. Then, how much time would I need to lean out? I remember starting 12 weeks out. I realized I needed about 16 weeks by the second year of competing.
There is a term bodybuilders and other athletes use, and it is called “peaking.” When the fat has been eliminated, the muscles become full, hard, and visible because of proper water elimination. If you peaked too soon, this was not good. If you peaked late, after the competition, what’s the point? Your body had to be ready on contest day. Timing was everything.
Hence, a part of successfully being prepared is your ability to be future-oriented. We all spend different amounts of time in the past, present, and future. With the focus on mindfulness, we are reminded to stay present. If we enter the past and remain there too long, it can impede our progress, making us feel stuck. If we enter the future and spend too much time there, ruminating on the future, it could lead to worry and being too goal-oriented. So, we have to strike a balance that is different for everyone.
Philip Zimbardo, an American psychologist, believed there were five time perspectives. Here is a list of them from Psych Central:
The ‘past-negative’ type. You focus on negative personal experiences that still have the power to upset you. This can lead to feelings of bitterness and regret.
The ‘past-positive’ type. You take a nostalgic view of the past and stay in very close contact with your family. You tend to have happy relationships, but the downside is a cautious, “better safe than sorry” approach which may hold you back.
The ‘present-hedonistic’ type. You are dominated by pleasure-seeking impulses, and are reluctant to postpone feeling good for the sake of greater gain later. You are popular but tend to have a less healthy lifestyle and take more risks.
The ‘present-fatalistic’ type. You aren’t enjoying the present but feel trapped in it, unable to change the inevitability of the future. This sense of powerlessness can lead to anxiety, depression and risk-taking.
The ‘future-focused’ type. You are highly ambitious, focused on goals, and big on making ‘to do’ lists. You tend to feel a nagging sense of urgency that can create stress for yourself and those around you. Your investment in the future can come at the cost of close relationships and recreation time.
As a result, the future-oriented person must be careful to avoid the addiction to work—workaholism. For example, when you retire, you may use your savings to take care of healthcare bills or find a second career to cover medical expenses.
Your perspective of time influences your health and wellbeing. About eight years ago, I wrote a letter to my future self. I chose my 75-year-old self because it was a way to embrace aging. There are seven life spaces in my Wheel of Health. One of these spaces is called Think Space. As its name suggests, it is space created in time for thinking, especially about the future. For some, the future seems far away. For others, it is not. Our sense of time is based on our experiences.
We need to carve out time to focus positively on the future and design the future we desire for our future selves.
Timing is essential in music. If you want to create harmony and rhythm in your life by shifting your perspective of time, sign up for a free one-on-one coaching session.
