Definition of Hell: “The last day you have on Earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

I think about this quote from time to time. But I don’t think about it as a scenario involving my last day on Earth. Instead, Potential Me appears from a giant vortex of light to Present Me. I had been sitting quietly in the living room, writing, watching a show, or just reading. He’s just traveled 5 years back for a visit.

What kind of advice would the Potential Future Me give? What would he would like? How would he dress? Walk? What does he do now? Who are his friends? Where does he live? Would I even recognize he is just the potential I could be had I taken more chances and tolerated more failure?

Future Memories

In other words, what Future Memories would the Potential You have? We often talk about the power of visualization. While there is great power in visualizing yourself as if you are already in possession of the good that you desire, there’s also a great fault with this technique.

Visualization is great because it helps you to see what’s possible, especially through the use of your imagination. But there is a problem with visualization and it’s this. People who visualize constantly are in danger of feeling like they’ve already taken action. So they end up taking no action towards what they want.

Future Memories, on the other hand, is just another form of beginning with the end in mind. It’s more practical than visualization because you are taking a pragmatic look backwards to the Present You, asking yourself laser-focused questions on what you did to get there.

Ask Outrageously

For example, Potential You may simply tell the Present You, “I learned to ask. I was always afraid of people saying “no” to me. But when I learned that it takes several noes to get to yes, every thing changed for me.”

Potential You may even tell you that she’s made it a weekly habit to ask questions that put you outside of your comfort zone. In order words, learn to ask outrageous questions. But that doesn’t necessary mean asking your boss for a raise every week.

An outrageous question could mean asking for a discount at a place you frequently shop. It could mean asking to be paid for work you’ve been doing for someone else, especially if you have been doing it for free all this time. Asking outrageously could also mean asking an acquaintance more personal questions, especially if conversations seem to be only be about work.

Better yet, ask the Potential You outrageous questions:

• What is the one thing I should do so that I can become you more quickly?
• How did I finally decided what it is I want from life?
• What can I do so that I don’t have to meet you?
• What are the steps I should take to get to where you are?

While the last question about working backwards may sound hard to you, it’s not entirely outside your realm of possibility. Imagination is the key to building the bridge between where you currently are to where you want to go. It brings from the impossible the possible. Whereas before you dare not dream, imagination gives you the power to see what is possible. In essence, you are learning to step out of your own way.

We get in our own way more than we care to admit or realize. We constantly regurgitate the lies told to us by our family and friends. While they may have been told to us with the best of intentions, they are nevertheless someone else’s paradigms of how they think the world really works.

That’s why asking Potential You outrageous questions is such a fun exercise. After all, the quality of the answers you get depend on the quality of your questions. Another way of putting this is to learn how to ask the right questions in order to create the results you desire.