The world is waiting...

These words were shared with me recently by some exceptional colleagues as I made a few life adjustments. Words full of expectation that reminded me of a quote from Back to the Future (Part 3) "Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one." Once again we find ourselves in August, the long school summer break, and for many young people anxiously awaiting those important exam results that seem, in the moment, to define their futures. It's true that academic performance can open, or close, some doors, but the future is so much more than that.

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"What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create." Buddha

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I wonder, as you reflect on your exam result days whether your future turned out the way you expected? Mine certainly didn't. It took twists and turns in directions I had never anticipated, and I simply made choices at each junction. I have no regrets about the paths I didn't take. Working with what you have will always make you more successful.

And so this summer I found myself topping up my learning and improving my skills in hypnotherapy with children and young people. As part of the assessment there was a self-reflective essay to write and I found that the skills I'd developed as a senior leader in the public sector were integral to an ability to work therapeutically with children. Don't ever recall that being part of the careers advice I received at school!

It also prompted me to wonder whether August might not also be the perfect month for deciding to take some steps to create the future you want. We are creatures of habit, and we form many of those habits through our childhood years. And for most of us August was that month of down time before September brought new challenges. It was the month of shopping for new school uniform in readiness for the new term, or even a new school. Throughout our school years, September has been the month when we anticipated new teachers, classrooms, friends, learning and more. September brings change.

So as you anticipate this coming September, what stops you from deciding to make a fresh start? What haven't you achieved yet that you would like to? Some of us move away from consequences, and explains why so many New Year resolutions are about diet and exercise after the excesses of the Christmas break. But New Year resolutions are notoriously short lived. We are designed to move towards goals, like the school year leads towards the end of year exams.

What you think, you become. Thinking you can, will produce a different result to if you think you can't. What you feel, you attract. Feeling happy and grateful attracts different people to connect with you to feeling angry or selfish. What you imagine, you create. Children have wonderful imaginations, full of possibilities. What if this August you reconnected with your childhood self, and spent some time imagining the possibilities your future might yet hold if you take the opportunity this September to make some small changes.

Let me know how you get on.