Do you believe in destiny?
I don’t. If you asked me this, I would say: “Of course not. It’s me who’s in charge of my life.”
But let’s experiment a little. Let’s imagine that we believe destiny exists. Just for the following couple of minutes.
Now, imagine there is someone who knows what your destiny is – and one day they will tell you.
Destiny Speaking Exercise
I was really curious to find out how different people would react to such situation (we’ll come back to your own destiny later). A few months ago, I tried this with a group of friends at a Toastmaster meeting (we practice public speaking there), during an improvised speech session. It went like this:
Volunteers would come on stage and I would ask them a question, to which they would give a 1-minute response. The question was: “Imagine that destiny exists. How would you start your day tomorrow, if today you found out that in 10 years you will become ___” . The ending for each speaker changed. The actual destinies ranged from becoming the mayor of Prague, an Italian pop star, the Father of the year award winner and a few more.
What I assumed was that once the speakers got assured about their destiny, they would talk about how they would just relax for the coming 10 years and wait for the good thing to happen. Because – if someone told you that you’d become an Italian pop star for sure, why bother with all the work?
The results surprised me.
Closing the Gap
Peter, whose destiny was to become the mayor of Prague, opened his improvised speech with the following words: “I never wanted to become a mayor or to go into politics at all… But since in 10 years I will be the mayor of Prague, I think I should get more active in public initiatives. I need to start thinking about how I can help others to make the life in the city better.”
Juan, whom I told that in 2024 he will be elected Father of the year told the audience that since he didn’t have any kids yet, first he had to focus on becoming a great husband, and only then he would be able to become an amazing father, worthy such a prize.
Finally Marketa, whom I told that in 2024 she will be an Italian pop star, immediately identified a large gap she needed to close: “I have to say one thing – I can’t sing at all. Therefore, from tomorrow on I have to start taking singing classes.”
What happened there? All the speakers agreed to believe (at least for the purpose of this exercise) that they were just told their true destiny. And then they decided to act to eliminate the gaps between What is and What will be. What’s more – they all were pretty enthusiastic and determined about what they would do!
When I’m thinking about it, I shouldn’t have been so surprised. We get this in all kinds of motivational books, don’t we? For example, Adam Khoo puts it in his Master Your Mind: “Your beliefs will drive the actions you take, and how much of your personal potential you will tap. When you believe that something is possible, you will go all out to make it happen.” But I can tell you, it was not until I saw it with my own eyes that I was convinced.
How would YOU start your day?
Coming back to you. Imagine that the person, who knows your destiny – is YOU. Are you up for a little exercise?
1. Take a notebook or a piece of paper
2. Write down the following words: “In 10 years, I will be ___”
3. Fill in the blank, with as many words as you need. Imagine something that would make you feel wildly successful. Something that you really want to achieve, but you’re not sure if it’s even possible.
4. Look again at what you wrote. This is your destiny! Cool, isn’t it? This is what you will be in 10 years!
5. Now think for a little moment – having your destiny decided – how will you start your day tomorrow?
If nothing else – it will be a fun thing to do. Plus, maybe it will actually help you get your wild dreams closer to reality. Either way – let me know how it worked!
Featured image by Seier+Seier, taken from Flickr, under Creative Commons licence. Brightness of the image adjusted.
Lukas Liebich 
Ahoj Lukáši,
děkuji za velmi pěkný článek.
Osobně se mi osvědčila tvá strategie plus jí kombinuji s něčím, čemu říkám “meeting with yourself”. Skládá se z toho, že si každý týden udělám čas, sednu si do kavárny a reviduji proběhnutý týden a jestli se mi podařilo posunout se ve svých cílech správným směrem.
Zároveň také probírám kalendář a ptám se sám sebe, co jsem udělal dobře, co špatně a co udělám příště. Taková týdenní revize podle mého názoru člověka udrží na správném kurzu.
Měj se hezky
Jakub
Díky Jakube,
do něčeho jako “meeting with myself” se chystám už pěkně dlouho, ale ještě se mi to nepodařilo začlenit do “weekly routine”.
Tvůj komentář beru jako to správné “postrčení” ve správnou chvíli a zařazuji do svého diáře na příští sobotní dopoledne! 🙂
Dobrá pointa článku, hezky vyjádřeno na příkladech, well done. Chtěl bych dodat, že většina lidí nemá jasno kým se chtějí stát a kým se stávají v rámci běžných dnů. Přitom už jen to, že má člověk jasno v tom kým se stává – naprosto mění celý jeho přístup k vlastnímu životu. Neustále se někým stáváme, rozdíl je v tom, že někteří lidé si to sami stanovili a jiní ještě stále čekají na… kdovíco 🙂 Nevědět kým se stávám – to považuju za nevyhratelnou hru. Možná to nemusí být nazváno osud, ale spíše převzetí zodpovědnosti za vlastní rozvoj, za vlastní život, za vlastní hru.
Díky Aleši. Líbí se mi ten koncept života jako hry. Nemyslím si, že by člověk nutně musel mít každý moment v životě jasně vytyčené cíle jako “V padesáti budu premiérem” – podle mě je možné posouvat se dál i tím, že člověk prostě dělá, co ho baví (dlouho jsem třeba nevěděl, na co použiju své zkušenosti z Toastmasters – bavila mě ta cesta – a až teď se mi postupně začíná krystalizovat, k čemu by mi to vlastně mohlo být dobré). Ale určitě když máš jasně dané cíle, pomůže Ti to koncentrovat svoje úsilí jedním směrem 🙂