Humans have been predicting the apocalypse for hundreds of years. We’re intoxicated by the idea that when we hit a certain date, everything will change.
Entrepreneurs, smart though they are, are no less seduced by this thinking. Business owners get sucked into the idea that the calendar will tick over and suddenly… something will happen.
This thinking is pandemic at this time of year. Have you caught yourself dreaming about how 2013 “will be different”? Want to know the only real way to make the future better? Let’s break it down…
Quit Living in the Future
January mostly sucks for entrepreneurs. The collective hangover of a December gone wild takes it’s toll.
Want to know why everyone is so obsessed with an upcoming apocalypse? It’s because the end of the world means that your decisions don’t matter. When fire and brimstone are scheduled, what consequences could possibly be important?
The apocalyptic BS is a metaphor for this psychological plague that happens at the end of every year. The mayan sensationalism is fantastic, because it really allows us to see this powerful trend in human behavior:
We desperately want to forget about the future. We want to forget pragmatism, realism and common sense. We want to indulge ourselves with fantasies about how amazing our 2013 will be.
See, the apocalypse is really a fantasy. Disaster goes full circle and actually becomes a marvelous transformation and revolution.
Go check your Facebook feed. See if I’m right. Your friends who are most convinced the world is about to end? They’re the people who would kinda be happy if it did. They’ve lived fun-filled lives in the present and love the idea that long term decisions are for suckers.
Then look at the people talking about a “consciousness shift” or “global transformation”. They’re the people who’ve been hoping that something would change for them. That some mystery piece of the puzzle would arrive and fix their lives. That’s what they’re hanging out for – for everything to change and suddenly become easy.
This is the microcosm. We ALL think this stuff, every year. The New Year, resolutions, this whole notion of an arbitrary date where we turn over a new leaf… it’s all built on the hope that something bigger than us can change and then everything gets better.
But it won’t.
You are the change you need
The only thing that’ll transform your life, usher in a new age, shift your consciousness or make 2013 your best ever year… is you.
The biggest obstacle is thinking about the future at all. That’s why the apocalypse is so sexy an idea – because it gives us an excuse to quit thinking about the present.
The present is all that matters. The decisions you make now are all that matters. The future is always one day a way. Apocalypses have, since the seventeenth century, always been rescheduled.
These holidays, instead of thinking about how next year will be different, start asking yourself what things you can do differently now.
The calendar rolling over to Dec 21st won’t impact your destiny one bit. What you decide to do this afternoon could change everything. You can tweet that.
At the heart of the apocalypse craze is the desire humans have to be transformed. To passively wait for magic to happen. The flip side of this coin is the fear – we’re terrified that the only magic in our lives is that which we create. The only change that happens is the one we initiate. That it’s all on us.
It’s scary, but it’s true.
Start living in the present
… and send some gifts to future you.
Work out today, as a gift to future you.
Start working on that plan today, instead of putting it off until January 1st. January you will appreciate the consideration.
Get that paperwork done today, because it’s quiet this time of year and what else do you have to do. Busy 2013 you will love you for it.
If you really want to experience a transformation in 2013, get in the habit of living entirely in the present. Make decisions that pay dividends in your future. Teach yourself to understand the power of compound delayed gratification.
Refuse to believe that some huge payoff is around the corner. Quit waiting for things to change.
Tomorrow, I’m announcing something special. I want to rethink the way we start our new year. I’m going to give you the opportunity to make a decision in the present, that’ll pay dividends in the future. So stay tuned – it’s gonna blow your mind. Subscribe, if you haven’t
What else can you do today, that’ll make tomorrow better?
Good stuff and very true. As something of a chronic procrastinator this speaks to me.
Although, I have to admit an apocalypse would be worth it just to see the shock on everyone’s faces while that one guy who believed in it pumps his fist and says, “YES!!!”
Haha it’s true… he’d be pumping his fist right up until that moment when he says “…. oh wait, this means…” then evaporates in a puff of wasted potential.
😉
Straight through the heart, Peter. How do you do it?
I’m tuned in, NOW.
Thing is…I think we all know, deep down, how important change is.
And if we don’t get it, we thirst for it. The more dramatic the better.
Because we thrive on it.
So it helps if someone else is promising a dollop of drama that we’re too weary to invoke. Bring it all on, I say, but how about NOW?
You make a really good point here actually. “Promising a dollop of drama that we’re too weary to invoke” <-- boom
You know what I can do today, that will help me tomorrow, and next week and my future?
Stay away from shopping centres.
Seriously the greed and consumerism I saw yesterday really got to me (and my daughter) yesterday. We will be much better off if we stay away from the shops.
Ainslie
I do all my christmas shopping on Amazon. As far as I’m concerned, a mall in mid-december IS the apocalypse.
Too right, Peter;
I’ve been pondering new products for weeks. I genuinely can help people launch successful baby businesses, one tiny step at a time, but they don’t want that… they want me to promise them they’ll make a million without any work. Instantly.
Forget that “pragmatism, realism and common sense” stuff. The folks that promise instant millions seem to be popular, but since I don’t have the stomach for that, and I do believe in “compound delayed gratification” it’s a tough sell…
Hell, bring on the apocalypse so I don’t have to deal with the work of creating a sensible program and trying to find a few realistic clients.
Sounds like chronic procrastination to me: I’ll do better tomorrow…next month…once summer’s over…after the holidays…next year, etc. As if there’s always more time. I think I’m going to start creating my own little ‘apocalypses’ on my calendar so I can evaluate how well I’m truly accomplishing my goals.
A few inches of snow here in Vancouver, for the first time this year, has made an awful lot of people act like the apocalypse has already arrived. A real emergency would be scary, judging by our inability to cope with perfectly predictable weather.
Good excuse to stay in and take little baby steps towards 2013’s projects.