Do you have it all worked out and written down, with a strategy for how you’re going to achieve it?

Are you excited about your future? Or are you wondering what you’ll be doing this time next week?

Is creating a fantastic future as simple as writing down a few goals? It’s an easy first step and we all know we should do this but there’s actually a whole lot more to creating a fantastic future.

One of my observations as I travel and meet people is how many don’t have a plan for their future. Most simply allow life to happen to them. Then they use their energy to deal with the results. I say Flip It, plan the life you want and use your energy and creativity to make it happen.

Many people set unnecessary personal conditions on the planning of their futures and in doing so they actually never get started. I call them the ‘if . . . then’ thinkers.

The danger of ‘if . . . then’

‘If . . . then’ thinking is undoubtedly one of the most disempowering ways to think. You’ve heard people say it a thousand times: ‘If I made more money, then I would save’; ‘If my boss gave me a promotion, then I’d work harder’; ‘If I had a new car, then I’d keep it clean’.

When you think this way, you place your future in the hands of circumstances over which you have little or no control.

People also use ‘if . . . then’ thinking when it comes to their personal happiness: ‘If I weighed less, then I’d be happy’; ‘If I had the right person in my life, then things would be different’, etc.

Here’s a thought. Do you think if you were to Flip It you might get better results? What if you had an attitude of, ‘I’m happy therefore I find it easier to manage my weight’. Or, ‘By being happy I’m attracting the right person into my life’. Sounds simple, but just wanting to be happy is not enough: you have to make happy happen.

Once you have the realisation that you and you alone are in control of your actions, attitudes and beliefs, then you have the perfect platform on which to build your fantastic future.

There are times when you can use a bit of ‘if . . . then’ thinking in a positive way to motive yourself. How about this?

‘Is it time to write my goals down now?’ you ask. No, not yet (but I love your enthusiasm). We haven’t explored exactly what you want your future to look like yet – but I’m sure you agree that you want it to be fantastic.

With which of these statements do you concur?

1. I deserve a fantastic future.
2. The actions I take today will impact on my future.
3. I have choice over the majority of my actions.
4. In the past I have overcome obstacles to get to where I am today.
5. I know deep down that I’m better than I think.

I’m guessing that on paper you will have agreed with all of them. And why not? – they are all true.

Now let’s take those five simple statements and look at some of the ways people subconsciously (or even consciously) sabotage them.

1. I deserve a fantastic future.
   Only lucky people end up with a fantastic future. I’m very average.
2. The actions I take today will impact on my future.
   Therefore I can put them off until tomorrow or next week, it won’t make that much difference.
3. I have choice over the majority of my actions.
   Other than the big ones, which all seem to be made for me by my boss, the bank, the weather, etc.
4. In the past I have overcome obstacles to get to where I am today.
   Because they are in the past I don’t remember how I felt about the obstacle or the joy of overcoming it. My mind is currently focused on the size of the ones ahead.
5. I know deep down that I’m better than I think.
   But I find it easier to beat myself up over what I’m not very good at and become very modest about my skills.

The trick here is to recognise that you have a choice over the way you choose to perceive these situations.

Sometimes the more positive proactive choice takes a little more effort, self-confidence and belief, but the results make going for it worth it.

The realm of opportunity and the wedge of doubt

Your first challenge is to learn how to focus your mind on the ‘realm of opportunity’ and in doing so eliminate the ‘wedge of doubt’. And yes, I still haven’t asked you to write down what you want for the future – yet.

The realm of opportunity

So what is the realm of opportunity? I believe it’s a deep knowing that, in time, with the right attitude, action and dedication, anyone can achieve great things.

How long do you think it takes to become one of the world’s top five sommeliers? About 20, 30, 40 years? Actually it’s four.

That’s how many years it took Luvo Ntezo of the Twelve Apostles Hotel in South Africa to progress from a pool porter to one of the world’s best sommeliers. This is his story.

‘The first time someone ordered a bottle of wine from me, it was a disaster. I couldn’t even work the opener and a guest had to help me. I decided there and then to learn more about wine.’ That was the moment when Luvo began his journey in the study of wine.

When Luvo was offered an opportunity to visit the wine cellar of his hotel he jumped at the chance. While he was there he met winemaker John Laubscher and cellar master Herman Hanekom.

‘I asked ridiculous questions, and those two wonderful men answered them all,’ he says.

As time went on he developed a great ‘nose’ but a mentor of his explained to Luvo that he ‘lacked the poetic language of wine’.

‘I worked hard on improving my English by reading,’ says Luvo, who would often study for hours a day alongside his job. Soon after, he was offered a job as a barman at the Twelve Apostles’ Leopard Lounge.

Even though he had begun in a junior position, he quickly made his mark at a wine-tasting event. A bottle of wine was opened and tasted; everyone nodded and said ‘it was nice’. However, when Luvo tasted it he thought it was horrible and said so. ‘Oxidised, flat and dull’ was his honest opinion – and he was right.

The management at the Twelve Apostles were intrigued and Luvo was offered the opportunity to perfect his craft.

A couple of years later he went on to win first place in the Young Sommeliers category of the national Chaîne des Rôtisseurs competition, and qualified to compete in the international contest in Vienna where he came fourth. Amazing, when you consider Luvo achieved this at the age of just 25.

Let’s break it down and take a look at how Luvo achieved this remarkable goal in just four years and how he used his version of Flip It to make it happen.

• Step 1: He used a problem as a motivator. He was embarrassed that he didn’t know how to open a bottle of wine and made a decision to Flip It and ‘learn more about wine’.
  I wonder how many people think like that. Maybe most would figure out what they could do to avoid serving wine after such an embarrassing situation.
• Step 2: He asked ‘ridiculous questions’. I love this part of his story for two reasons. One, he asked them. How many ridiculous questions remain unanswered in your head because you are too embarrassed to ask?
  Second, he credits the ‘wonderful men who answered them’. Wonderful people who will answer your ridiculous questions are everywhere. People like Luvo who will ask them aren’t.
• Step 3: He worked hard at his craft. Developing a great ‘nose’ for wine isn’t down to luck, it’s down to effort. Before the final competition, Luvo spent weeks tasting hundreds of wines, learning their history and preparing himself for every eventuality.
• Step 4: He took criticism on the chin and did something about it. How would you have felt if you were doing really well with your skill and someone suggested your use of language wasn’t up to scratch? Once again, Luvo took a negative and chose to Flip It into a positive, spending much of his spare time studying English and developing his use of the language.
• Step 5: He took a risk. At the wine tasting, when everyone acted like sheep saying the wine was ‘nice’, Luvo chose to Flip It and followed his heart. Can you imagine the pressure of being the new boy at your first tasting and suggesting the ‘expert’ had got it wrong?
• Step 6: He had a nurturing, supportive environment. He was surrounded by people who wanted to support him to achieve his goal. I’m sure this accelerated his journey to success.
• Step 7: He was prepared to be tested. By entering a competition and having people you don’t know judge you, you are taking a huge risk. But with risk comes reward.

There are dozens of stories like Luvo’s and I spend much of my time reading and being inspired by them. Luvo’s story is a perfect example of embracing the realm of opportunity. But what about its cousin, the wedge of doubt?

The wedge of doubt

This is what stops people from progressing or even getting started: ‘Why should I bother to set goals for a fantastic future? I’ll never succeed.’ As we weren’t born with that belief, you have to wonder where this thinking starts.

I worked with a teacher at a school in Glasgow, presenting a goal-setting workshop to her class. One of the girls decided she wanted to be an air hostess (or flight cabin attendant, nowadays). She created a fantastic goal sheet which included a strong affirmation and a picture of her wearing the uniform. She was feeling excited and motivated.

Her teacher looked over her work and I was gobsmacked when she said, ‘That goal is very nice, but I think you should have something a little more realistic to fall back on.’

Wham! The wedge of doubt was in place and I was speechless. After the lesson I challenged the teacher on her thinking and was even more aghast when she said, ‘It’s all very good having goals but what if she ends up being disappointed?’

Wouldn’t you just love to show that teacher how wrong she was at 35,000 feet?

Setting goals

Are you starting to feel motivated now? Yes! And I still haven’t suggested you write your goals down.

As well as being concerned by the number of people who don’t have a future plan, I am equally surprised by the number of people who, plan or no plan, haven’t actually decided what it is they want.

Perhaps the following list might help to get your future-planning juices flowing.

So, 39 suggestions to kick-start your imagination. I could write thousands but that would end up being my list. It’s time to write yours – yes now is the time – but you’re going to do it Flip It style.

The cost of ‘not’

Normally when you are encouraged to write an initial list of goals, it’s followed by a session where you describe the benefits of achieving that goal. As you’re going to Flip It, I’d like you to write one line about what will happen if you don’t achieve that goal.

Here are some examples.

Ouch!

Making it happen

Once you have used this method to kick-start yourself into action you can rewrite your list with the positive descriptions of how your future will look when you have achieved these goals. Using the power of pain avoidance is a great way to get started but don’t hold on to it for the long term.

Your future can be as short term as a few weeks or as long term as decades, but it’s important you consider when you want your goals to be achieved. After all, a goal is just a dream unless you put a date on it.

And while I’m stating the obvious, just setting the goal isn’t enough – you have to do something, take action, get busy, make it happen!

So let’s make a few assumptions so you can take Flip It for a fantastic future to the next stage.

So far you have:

• decided what you want;
• written it down (put a date on when each goal will be achieved);
• thought about what will happen if you don’t achieve your goals to get you motivated;
• taken action to move towards your goals;
• rewritten your list with positive descriptions;
• followed the basic rules of goal setting, by reviewing your goals regularly and visualising yourself achieving them.

All done? Good work! What next?

Overcoming obstacles

Wouldn’t life be peachy if we had no obstacles or problems to overcome? Well, actually no, it would be dull, dull, dull.

Your ability to overcome obstacles is the single biggest factor in how quickly and successfully you will achieve your goals for a fantastic future. The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles.

Flip It thinkers love obstacles because, once they have been tackled, your knowledge and experience have grown and you have always moved closer to your goal. In the Flip It for success chapter on page 81 I share a tool called ‘rock to resolution’. This tool offers a simple way to turn problems into solutions. Once you have a basic understanding of this model it makes it easier to understand that problems are a gift.

You may have heard of a chap called Sir Isaac Newton who’s third law said (more or less), ‘For every action there is always an opposite and equal reaction’. Well, here is Heppell’s first Flip It Law:

Your job is to find it.

By coming to terms with this, you free up your thinking, accept challenges and become more aware of the many positive solutions available.

There are countless examples of people who have embraced this thinking to achieve great things. Perhaps the most famous is Nelson Mandela who, after 27 years in prison, used his time, experiences and great thought in a positive way to change a nation.

I wonder what you or I would be thinking after 27 years in a jail. Nelson Mandela has received over 100 awards in recognition of his work, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. That’s a Flip.

Finding a way

To Flip It for a fantastic future you have to embrace challenges and see beyond them. Often these rocks seem so large it’s difficult to imagine how you’ll get past them. But you will. You can choose to break through as quickly or slowly as you like. You’ll choose fast, knowing that those who take massive action get massive results – every time.

I believe you deserve a fantastic future of success, wealth, recognition, vibrant health, opportunity, fun, love and laughter. At times that can seem far away, but if I was to tell you it’s often closer than you think, might that give you the oomph you need to really go for it? And I mean really go for it!

Woohoo! Yes, it’s all very easy when you’re reading this now. You’re excited, things are going well, but will every day be like this? My guess is perhaps not, so that’s why you’ll need to know how to . . .