FUTURE YOU

On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show, I'm diving into the concept of "Future You” - and how the choices you're making right now are setting up your future self for success or struggle. 

I break down this super practical idea of reverse engineering your dreams by asking one key question: Are the decisions you're making today something future you will be grateful for? 

Whether it's fitness, career, relationships, or personal growth, I challenge listeners to visualize their ideal future self and then work backwards to figure out what small steps they need to take right now. 

Think of your choices like writing a love letter to the version of you that's coming down the pike! 😆

We also talk about how easy it is to get caught up in ego-driven, short-term thinking that sabotages our long-term goals. 

I share strategies for quieting that loud inner critic and tuning into your deeper wisdom.

With things like developing a Daily Spiritual Practice (DSP) and being wicked honest about whether your current habits are truly serving you or not doing you any favors. 

The big takeaway? 

Stop writing checks that future you can't or won’t want to cash. 

You have the power right now to make choices that soon-to-be versions of you will thank you for later. 

Start investing in yourself, take those small consistent steps, and remember: you don't have to do this all alone!

There are books, resources, mentors, coaches, and communities who are ready to support you in becoming the truest version of yourself​!

 

KK’S KEY TAKEAWAYS:

•​ Ask yourself: "Will future me be grateful for the choices I'm making right now?"

•​ Reverse engineer your goals by visualizing your ideal future self and working backwards.

•​ Small, consistent steps can be super powerful.

•​ Your current habits and choices are writing the script for future you's life.

•​ The ego's shrieking voice can drown out your inner wisdom - develop practices to quiet it.

•​ Not every "sacrifice" is truly a sacrifice; sometimes it's an investment in yourself.

•​ We only have limited time on this planet, so let’s make choices that truly matter.

•​ You don't have to navigate life's challenges alone - seek mentors, coaches, and support.

•​ Alignment is key: ensure your actions match the goals and dreams you have for yourself.

•​ Even if you've made mistakes in the past, you can always start making better choices right now!

•​ Imagine the future you looking back and being proud of the decisions you're making today.

BIO:

Spiritual mentor and writer Karen Kenney uses humor and dynamic storytelling to bring a down-to-earth, no-BS perspective to self-development.

Bringing together tools that coach the conscious and unconscious mind, Karen helps clients deepen their connections with Self, and discover their unique understandings of spirituality. 

Her practice combines neuroscience, subconscious reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, somatics, spiritual mentoring, and other holistic modalities to help regulate the nervous system, examine internal narratives, remove blocks, and reimagine what’s possible.

A passionate yoga teacher, long-time student of A Course in Miracles, and Gateless Writing instructor, Karen is a frequent speaker and retreat leader. Via her programs The Quest and The Nest, she coaches individuals and groups. 

With The Karen Kenney Podcast, she encourages listeners to shift from a thought system of fear to one of love, compassion, and...

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey, welcome to the Karen Kenneyshow. I'm super duper excited to
be here with you today, andwe're just gonna dive right into
this sucker so I'm calling thisepisode future you. Future you
like your future self. We'regonna this is like a little love
letter. We're like, setting yourfuture self up for something

(00:22):
better, something good,something extra nice, you know
what I mean? Okay, so every oncein a while, right? Every once in
a while, I will jokingly say,Today me, today me would like a
logic complaint with likeyesterday me especially,

(00:43):
especially after I've done likeleg day, like lifting heavy on
legs, or, you know, ran extrafat or did much stuff, and then
my physical body is paying forthe choices of yesterday me. So
sometimes I'll say, Hey, todayme wants to file a complaint
with yesterday me. And thenalso, sometimes I will say

(01:03):
things like, Hey, today me wantsto thank younger me for being so
fucking resilient. Or today mewants to thank younger me for,
like, really sticking it out, ortaking that program or making
that decision, or, like, youknow, getting that training, or

(01:24):
starting yoga or stoppingsmoking, or, like, whatever the
thing is, like, it's really nicesometimes to look back and
appreciate the younger versionsof yourself, and we talk about
that a lot on this show. Buttoday I want to talk about your
future self, this future versionof you, the you that is yet to
happen, right? The you that iscoming on down the pike. And the

(01:48):
thing is, is that, and this isgoing to be a very simple
episode, it's just a couple ofquestions I want us to ponder.
And it's this, here's thequestion, is, what you are doing
and choosing right now, is itgonna be something that future
you is gonna want to thank youfor

(02:15):
the people and the things thatyou are doing right now, that
You are hanging out with,spending time with, in
relationship with, is the jobthat you're doing right now, is
that piece of cake that you'reabout to put in your mouth right
now? Like, whatever the thingis, because, you know, sometimes
today us is writing checks thatfuture us, like, it's like,

(02:37):
like, can't cash. It's like, isyour ass right now writing
checks at future you can't cashthat. They're gonna have to pay
the consequences of you beingyourself right now. And I think
it can be really, really helpfulto, like, reverse engineer this,
because you know how in like, 12step programs or recovery

(03:00):
programs, they'll say, you can'tbuild a better past, right? And
that's just facts. It's like,what happened has happened. And
of course, in miracles, we saysomething kind of same z's. We
say same z is different, right?We say that the past is gone. It
can touch me, not. The past isnot here. It can touch me, not.
So what's happened has happened.There's no going back. I always

(03:21):
say healing doesn't happen inthe past. It happens. It happens
here, right? It can happen here.It can happen with future
versions of ourselves, butthere's no going back in making
that show or whatever happened,that trauma, that drama, that
whatever better it is, what itis, but what we choose to do
right now can benefit us. It canbenefit now us, but it can

(03:45):
certainly benefit future us. Soto kind of reverse engineer it,
what I'll do sometimes,especially when I'm feeling
resistance, especially when I'mgetting a little whiny, or a
little like, man, don't feellike it, I'll ask myself, is
future me going to be gratefulthat I did this thing right now

(04:06):
or today, right is it? Am Igoing to see the choice that I'm
making right now through a lensof gratitude? Is it going to
feel like a gift? Am I going tobe really grateful that I did
this thing and I look at futureme, and I say, okay, future me
is this. I'll just give anexample. I'd be like, okay,

(04:28):
future me this dream that I haveof my future self, that I'm
going to be like a publishedauthor, a successful author,
right? New York Times, bestselling whatever, okay, just a
little dream or whatever. Andthen I'm like, Well, I have to
ask myself if that is my goal,and your goal could be anything
like, hey, I want to put moremuscle on my body, or I want to

(04:52):
be somebody who commits to goingto the gym or learning to play
an instrument, or, like,whatever the thing is, whatever.
Future self that you envision,that you dream of, that you
want, and then you reverseengineer it, and you say, Okay,
well, what, what does right nowme have to do in order for that

(05:12):
version of me, of my futureself, of my future, you, your
future, you, you know, what aresome of the choices and habits
that they need to be committingto, like right now. And is this
thing you know, here's here'sanother question you can ask
yourself, are the choices andthe decisions and the

(05:34):
investments of time, energy,money, whatever attention right
are the commitments and therelationships and the sacrifices
that you're making today, arethey going to benefit future you
now? You probably can't justify,like, oh yeah. Like, me getting
shit faced on I don't drink, butlike, you know what I mean? Like

(05:56):
getting shit faced at oneo'clock every night. I don't
think future you is going tobenefit from that. You know, not
getting enough rest day afterday, night after night after
night after night. I don't thinkfuture you is probably going to
benefit from that, right? Etc,etc. Go down the line and rather
than sitting in it and beatingourselves up and feeling like,

(06:19):
Oh my God, I've already blownit. I'm like, No, you can pump
the brakes right now. You canstop right now and make a
different choice right now, likeyou right now, could be making
some really fantastic newdecisions, habits, whatever,
right that are going to benefitfuture you, and we have to think

(06:40):
about getting in alignment.Remember, the assignment is
alignment. Is there a congruencybetween what I say, that I want,
what I who I say I want to belike, how I want to be showing
up in the world, with thechoices and the decisions that
I'm making right now? Becauseit's really easy to keep putting
things off, to keep saying, Oh,I'll do it tomorrow, or Oh,

(07:02):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,but you want to live not based
on, you know who you were,because that's not going to be
super duper helpful, not justwho you are, right now, if we
can be visual, like, visualizefuture you I mean, don't do this
if you're Driving right? Butlike, if you're at home in a

(07:22):
safe place, can even, like,after you hear the instructions,
it's like, hit pause, right? Butjust close your eyes and see in
your mind's eye, imagine there'sa big movie screen, right? And
if you can't visualize, you canimagine, we all have
imaginations. You can becreative. If you're more
analytical, maybe you do it on apiece of paper or whatever the

(07:43):
thing is, right? But imagine, orvisualize, pretend, in your
mind, there's a movie screen,and on that movie screen, you
see this future you that youhave dreamed about, that you
envision, that you want to belike, right? And whether that's
successful, or you're a mom, oryou're you have a beautiful

(08:04):
partner, or you now have a dog,or like I wanna, like I said I
wanna lose weight, gain weight,get stronger, write a book,
learn an instrument, start abusiness, whatever the thing is,
and try to envision that. Youtry to see them, see where they
are, see what they're wearing,right? Try to put yourself like,

(08:25):
imagine. What are they hearing?What are they thinking? What are
the kind of things that they'redoing? Who are they hanging out
with? Are they reading books?Are they taking classes like,
what? Try to really envisionthis person and then reverse
engineer it and say, what aresome of the things that I would
need to do now. Is there aparticular skill set I would
need to learn? Are there somerelationships and connections I

(08:46):
would need to make? Are theresome habits I would start to
have to, like, build, you know,are there some things that I
would need to do now to benefitfuture me? Right? Because if we
what's the old saying, If youkeep doing what you've always
done right, you're going to keepgetting what you always got. And
if we want to have a differentexperience in the future, then

(09:08):
we've got to cut the shit rightnow. Like now is the time. Like
now is the time. And even ifyou've blown it in the past,
present, you right now, you canstill get it right for future
you. So we don't have to justthrow up our hands and say, Oh
my God, I've blown it, and poorme and I can't do it. It's like
no some future version of youwill benefit from what in who

(09:34):
you are being right now, thechoices that you make, the
commitments that you make, therelationships that you build
right, the trust that you build,whatever the thing is, the
habits and the patterns that newneural network in your brain by
choosing differently, choosingnew, okay, it's very, very

(09:55):
powerful, and so often, youknow, I'm. All for being in the
present moment, right? Becausethe past is what it is. There's
no changing it. The future iswhat it is. But here's the
thing, we can make choices nowthat can affect and inform and
influence and inspire thefuture. We can't go back and

(10:17):
build something different. Butyou right now, you do have
autonomy and agency andauthorship about some of the
things that can go down. Now, Iknow we can't control everything
that happens in the world, butat least we can set our
attention on what we want. Wecan set our intention on what we
want. And so sometimes we got tolook forward and we say, okay, I

(10:40):
envision this now. What are someof the things the small what's
the next smallest right stepthat you can make today that is
going to move you in thedirection of that version of
future you and so often we justget so overwhelmed, but
surviving like right now, andthat's why I said the next

(11:02):
smallest, tiniest, like rightstep that you can move in the
direction of that. What'ssomething that your future self
is going to be grateful for thatyou today did. And if I'm
somebody who wants to have abook, that means I have to sit
down and write, right? I gottasit my ass in the chair, as

(11:22):
Steven Pressfield says, Put yourass where your hat wants to be.
Put your ass where your hatwants to be. Do I have that book
right next to me? Do I have itright here? Do I have it? Oh,
nope, but it's right there. Ican see it over there. All
right, put your ass where yourheart wants to be
so that means you gotta do rightnow, get your butt in the chair,

(11:45):
or get your butt to the gym, orget your butt signed up for like
a mentor, or hire a coach, or dothe things now that are going to
benefit. I mean, right now, youwill also benefit from many of
these things, but it might takea little time, but we don't want
to have future. You, you know,being like, kind of bummed at

(12:07):
today. You know what I'm saying?It's like, uh, and if you've
ever uttered this, oh, my god.Why did I do that? What was I
thinking? What I often say topeople is you weren't thinking.
You weren't thinking at all. Youwere not thinking. You were not
in your right mind. You were nothaving a conversation with the

(12:29):
smarty pants part of yourself,right? And whether you call that
spirit Holy Spirit, internalteacher, your intuition, your
instinct, you were not listeningto that. You were listening to
the fucking chatter of the egomind that wants what it wants
when it wants it, and it justwants it now because it deserves
it, and it's got reasons andit's got excuses, right? No, no,

(12:51):
we gotta listen to that otherpot. And sometimes we can't hear
that voice of the other pot, ofthe pot of the internal teacher,
because in miracles, they callit like the raucous, like the
screams. It is like the theobnoxious screams of the ego,
right? That's my word. It's likethe shrieks. They call it the
shrieks. The shrieking of theego is so loud. So we need some

(13:16):
we need some tools, man, we needsome DSP. We need a daily
spiritual practice. It's goingto help dial down the volume of
that insistent, whiny, criticalpain in the ass, that little
bastard of an ego, so we canhear the voice for love, so we
can hear that voice that isactually, you know, rooting for

(13:37):
us and sees who we really areand wants us to succeed. So
don't have today you be writingchecks that future you you like
the you know can't cash likelet's really take a gander. Take
a little look, see. And then theassignment is alignment. Can I
get in congruence with what Isay I want? Is it matching what

(13:58):
I'm actually choosing to doright now. And sometimes the
things that we want, they dorequire you. I you know, and
sacrifice is a funny word. It'slike so you might be what
sacrificing, going out andhaving a good time and drinking
or doing whatever, because yougot to stay home and focus on,
you know, your business or yourbook or your project, or the

(14:22):
skill set that you're learning,or whatever it is that to me, is
it like a fair trade? Is it asacrifice? I don't know, you're
getting something else insteadof the The Hangover, or you're
getting this instead of spendingall that money or whatever,
right? And this can show up,like, across the board, like,
let's say with credit cards,right? Here's an example. It's

(14:43):
wicked easy to just go make apurchase that you can't really
afford on plastic, on credit,because the pain isn't there,
right? The pain isn't there. Youjust think, like, oh, yeah, I'm
gonna do it. And you get thatdopamine hitter. You get that
rush of excitement, thatmomentary, like, chemical
cocktail releases in your. Body,and you get so excited, but
you're not thinking about thebill that's coming 30 days from

(15:05):
now. You're not thinking aboutall the work that future you,
right and and it's really easy,because with credit cards, it
doesn't feel real, but futureyou is going to have to pay for
the patterns and the habits andthe choices of you right now,
and it's like, oh, is this thingI'm about to do right now? Is it

(15:26):
truly going to benefit me? Am Igoing to be happy that this is
the choice that I made? You knowwhat I mean? So we gotta get
real with ourselves. We gottamake things a little more real.
And we also have to understandwe only have so much time on
this planet. We don't know whenthe last exhale is coming. So
why make it harder for futureyou you know it's like you're

(15:47):
about to like, like, I said,maybe it's like, and bodily
things are just easy if you'renot getting enough rest, if
you're not putting good,nutritious food in your body, if
you're not moving your body, ifyou're not exercising or doing
things that benefit your heart,right? That benefit your brain,
that benefit your organs, yourmuscles, whatever it's like. We

(16:07):
have to ask myself, is the tollthat I'm paying, right? Is that
toll that's coming up, down theline? You know when you're
driving on 93 right? You'redriving on 93 north or south,
that toll booth. You know thattoll booth is coming, and at
some point, if you're trying toget where you gotta go, you're
gonna have to pay a toll. I'drather pay the toll now, so it's

(16:29):
easier later. Do you know whatI'm saying? Like, future I want
to I want to help future me. Iwant to help the future you as
well. And that's what we got tobe thinking about sometimes.
Okay? And look, I can give you1000 other examples, but so
think about who is it that youwant to be? How do you want to
be in the world? What is it thatyou want for yourself and your

(16:50):
family, or whatever? And thensay, is this thing that I'm
about to do right now? Is futureme going to be happy for it,
grateful for it? Is it going tosay, like, oh, yeah, like that.
That was a good choice. And Iknow sometimes we can only make
decisions based on the amount ofinformation that we have right
now. And I also believe that wecan learn from anything, so even

(17:15):
the mistakes that we've made, wecan, we can. We can gather
something from that. We can lookat that and say, like, Ooh, I'll
never fucking knew that again,right? So even that is valuable,
but why not set ourselves up forsuccess by just thinking a
little bit ahead, like, youknow, imagining it, and then
saying, like, Okay, I'm going totake steps today that are going

(17:38):
to better my life movingforward. You know, is it my? Is
my future? Me going to love mefor these decisions that I'm
making right now? And hopefullythat's helpful in some way for
you. Hopefully it gives you, youknow, a chance to just kind of
slow down and ask yourself,like, yeah, is who I'm being in

(17:59):
alignment with this idea, that Ihave this vision, that I have
this, you know, dream, that Ihave these goals that I have,
and if they're not, then we getsome work to do. And sometimes,
you know, we just get reallystuck in behaviors and patterns
because they're familiar andthey feel safe, even if they're
not very helpful. And there'sall kinds of pattern interrupts.

(18:22):
There's all kinds of ways tohelp you to build new new
habits, new ways of thinking,new ways of being right, and to
make different choices. Andsometimes we'll be like, you
know, I sometimes will say topeople, look your best thinking
is what got you here. Look youryour best thinking got you here

(18:42):
so far. So if you're not quitesure what your next steps are
like, Thank God. Thank God forbooks. Thank God for podcasts,
thank God for coaches andmentors and people that you can
hire to help you along the way.Because while nobody can do the
work for you, you absolutely, inthis day and age, do not have to
do it alone. You don't have todo it alone. That's the whole

(19:05):
one of the whole hot beats of mybusiness is, look, this whole
being human thing is not easy,navigating this and trying to,
you know, navigate the worldwith more happiness and joy and
love and clarity and confidence,all those things, right?
Creativity, it's not alwayseasy, but good news is you don't
have to do it alone. So I hopefuture you is being set up

(19:30):
marvelously, fabulously,brilliantly by today you and you
know, just make sure your ass isnot writing checks at future you
get cash, okay, all right,wherever you are in the world,
okay, wherever you go in theworld, may you leave yourself

(19:53):
and others and the animals andthe planet and the environment,
and may you leave fear? Futureyou better than how you found it
right now, wherever you go, mayyou and your energy and your
presence and your intention andattention and your love be a

(20:14):
blessing. Bye, you.