#87 | Your Future Is Already Leading You

What if your future isn't something you eventually arrive at?

What if it's something you can use right now to change how you lead, what you choose, and what you believe is possible?

In this episode of Lead With SWAGGER, we're challenging the way we think about time. We're talking about why your past should be a tool not a prison and how a clearly defined future can reshape your decisions in the present.

I'll share the question I've been asking myself lately that is forcing me to think bigger, challenge old assumptions, and stop accepting "realistic" as the only option: What would have to be true?

Because sometimes the biggest thing standing between you and an extraordinary future isn't time.

It's the rules you've assumed you have to follow.

Transcript

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What if I told you your past isn't actually what's driving your behavior today? Your future is. Yep, I know that sounds a little backward, maybe even a little woo-woo, but don't worry. I'm not about to pull out a crystal ball and ask you to manifest a yacht or anything like that. Although, if the yacht shows up, it's up to you as to whether or not you choose to turn it away. But seriously, what if the future you believe you're moving toward is already influencing what you notice, what you prioritize, what you're willing to tolerate, and what you do today. And here's the bigger question: what if you could use that intentionally? Because whether we're talking about changing your life, leading a team, building a business, shifting a culture, or creating something that doesn't exist yet, the future we choose changes the decisions we make in the present. And that's what we're getting into today. Welcome back to Lead with Swagger, the podcast where we explore the human infrastructure behind how we lead, live, work, and create impact. Because leadership isn't just strategy, systems, processes, and performance. It's people, it's trust, it's purpose, it's culture, it's the decisions we make when nobody hands us a playbook. And underneath all of that, it's how we lead ourselves. I'm your host, Jennifer Socalo, and around here we're willing to get real raw and ridiculously honest about the human side of leadership. And today we're talking about something we all think we understand: time. Past, present, future. Except I'm starting to wonder if we've been thinking about it all wrong. Picture this 30,000 feet and a Kindle. I was recently sitting on a plane and decided to read. And you know, I've always loved that part of traveling. You're trapped in a metal tube at 30,000 feet, and nobody expects you to unload the dishwasher and you can't reorganize the garage. And unless you're flying the plane, which thankfully I was not, you've got some time. And travel used to give me permission to read, to learn, to think, and sometimes, let's be honest, to read something requiring absolutely no intellectual effort whatsoever. There's room for all of the above. But this particular day I opened my Kindle and started reading The Science of Scaling by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Blake Erickson. And don't you just love it when you pick something up at exactly the right moment? You're reading along, reading, reading, and then suddenly, whack, a sentence hits you right between the eyes. And that happened to me when they started talking about our relationship with time. One of the ideas they explore is something I've believed and taught for years. Your past is meant to be learned from, not blamed, not worshipped, not dragged around behind you like a carry-on bag you refuse to check. Your past is data, it's information, it's a tool. I talk about this extensively in my work and in Claim Your Swagger because so much of self-mastery begins with the stories we've created about what has happened to us. The experiences we've had. Notice what I said there. Not simply what happened, the meaning we gave to what happened. Those are two very different things. Maybe you failed at something. That's the experience. That's the event. I'm not capable. That's the story. Maybe someone rejected your idea. That's the event. Nobody takes me seriously. That's the story. Maybe you made a terrible decision. Welcome to being human, by the way. But then you decided I can't trust myself. That's the story. And here's where things get interesting. When we don't examine those stories, yesterday quietly starts making today's decisions. That's true for individuals, and it's true inside organizations. Think about it. We've tried that before. Leadership will never approve. That's not how things work around here. Our people aren't ready for that. Sound familiar? That's organizational history masquerading as truth. And that is part of human infrastructure. Because organizations have stories too, cultures have memories, teams develop beliefs, and those beliefs start influencing what people believe is possible. But what if the future gets a vote? Because here's the part of the book that really got me thinking. What if instead of allowing the past to determine what we do today? What if we allowed a deliberately chosen future to shape what we do today? Not some fuzzy statement, I'd like things to be better someday. No, a clearly defined future. A future specific enough that it starts eliminating options. Think about this. Imagine you set a goal that feels completely reasonable. You can probably achieve it by working a little harder, doing a little more, being a little more efficient. Same Jennifer, same habits, same systems, same thinking, just more. Now imagine you choose a goal that seems completely unreasonable, something that makes you say, there is absolutely no way I can do that. Interesting. Because now your brain can't simply reach for the old playbook. The math doesn't work. Working 10% harder isn't going to get you there. Adding three more things to your to-do list isn't going to get you there. Skipping lunch and answering me emails at 11:37 at night definitely isn't going to get you there. And yet, how many of us have tried that strategy? I have an enormous new goal. Excellent. I'll just sleep less. Brilliant. Nothing says innovation quite like exhaustion. But there is one of my favorite questions that comes in at this stage. This is the question that changes everything. What would have to be true? I love this question because it doesn't ask why can't I? It asks, what would have to change so that I could? Those questions send your brain in completely different directions. Why can't I do this? Boom. Your brain gives you 47 reasons. Not enough money, not enough people, not enough experience, not enough time, wrong market, bad economy, mercury is in retrograde. Whatever. But ask instead, what would have to be true for this to become possible? Now, now we've got something to work with. Maybe I would need a completely different partner. Maybe we would need to eliminate half of what we're currently doing. Maybe I would have to delegate something. I've been clutching like Gollum holding the ring. My precious. Maybe the organization would need to make decisions differently. Maybe we'd need greater trust. Maybe we'd need absolute clarity around our purpose so people could make decisions without waiting for six layers of approval. Maybe the problem isn't effort at all. Maybe it's the infrastructure underneath the effort. And again, that's the human stuff. Leadership, purpose, trust, culture, mattering, and contribution. Those things determine whether people can actually move. And here's what I find fascinating. When you clearly define where you're going, your future becomes a filter for the present. Suddenly you start asking, does this belong in the future I'm building? Does this meeting, does this behavior, does this habit, does this relationship, does this way of leading, does this organizational process, does this belief? Because if the future requires something different from you, then the present has to change. And that can be uncomfortable. We love the idea of an extraordinary future. We just sometimes want current us to arrive there completely unchanged. That's adorable. And also, not how transformation works. You don't become the person capable of creating that future after you arrive. You become that person by changing how you show up now. And there's something else underneath all of this that matters deeply to me. Agency, your locus of control, who's driving your past, circumstances, other people's expectations, the way you've always done it, the calendar, or you because I hear people say all the time, I don't have enough time. And I'm I'm becoming increasingly curious about that sentence. Because we treat time like it's stealing something from us. Where did the time go? I'm running out of time. There aren't enough hours in the day. Poor time. Time is getting blamed for everything. What if instead we asked, How am I choosing to use the time I have in service of the future I'm creating? Wow. Now we're back in the driver's seat. And I want to be clear agency doesn't mean you control everything. You don't. Life will still throw curveballs. Markets change, people leave, plans fail, horses decide that a plastic bag 200 yards away is clearly a fire-breathing dragon. Things happen. Agency is recognizing that while you don't control every circumstance, you still have tremendous influence over what happens next. So here's your homework, your swagger challenge. I'd like you to choose one future, not your entire life. We're not building a 72-page strategic plan here. Choose one meaningful outcome, personal, professional, team, organization, whatever matters to you, and make it so big that it is incredibly uncomfortable. Something that causes your immediate response to be, yeah, I don't know how I'd do that. That is perfect. That's where we want to be. Now ask what would have to be true for this to happen? And don't stop with your first answer. Keep going. What would have to be true about how you spend your time? What would have to be true about your habits, your relationships, your leadership, your team, your culture, your willingness to ask for help? What would you have to stop doing? What would you have to believe? And here's the kicker. What would the person capable of creating that future do today? Not next year, not when things calm down, not when you're more confident today. Then do one thing. One because we're not interested in creating another beautiful journal journal entry that makes you feel inspired for what 17 minutes? No, we're doing the work. So keep showing up. And please, please hear me on this. You will not do this perfectly. You're going to fall back into old patterns. You're going to make decisions from old stories. You're going to have days when your extraordinary future feels completely ridiculous. Good. Keep going. Self-mastery isn't about reaching some magical point where you finally have yourself completely figured out. I've been doing this work for decades. I'm still doing the work. That's the point. You notice, you learn, you choose again, you show up, you stumble, you recalibrate, and you show up again. That's swagger. And if nobody has told you lately that the future you're imagining might actually be possible, consider this me sliding a little note across the table to you. I believe in you. And I wouldn't bet against you. Not because I think everything you try will work, it won't. But because I've seen what happened, what happens when human beings stop treating their past as a prediction and start treating their future as a choice. There's more in you. So keep showing up, keep asking better questions and keep doing the work. And if somebody came to mind for you, don't just share this podcast. Think of one person who's been letting yesterday make too many of today's decisions. Then send them this episode. Tell them that it made you think of them. And if Lead with Swaggers become one of those voices you want riding shotgun while you're doing this work, then hit follow. Not for the algorithm. Do it because we're building something here. One conversation, one question, one better choice at a time. And until next time, keep challenging the stories, keep designing the future, keep doing the work. And as always, lead with swagger.