Dr. Tabatha Barber walks through a visualization exercise: imagine your possible future selves, pick the one you want, then work backward to align your daily choices with that identity. She shares how she left her OB/GYN practice to prioritize time for coffee and listening to patients, and ties the practice to faith and identity.
Because there's multiple versions of you in the future. There's a version that's 30 pounds heavier and even more tired. There's a version of you kind of stuck and you're the same and you're just still in the pit. And there's a version that is like thriving it and loving life and super tone and fit and energized. And you get to decide what, which path you're going for the future. And so you just decide, what does my future self look like? What is she doing every day? I told myself when I was an obgyn, burnt out, I want to have a cup of coffee. When I see my patients, I want to drink my coffee and have enough time to listen to them and not rush to the next person every 15 minutes.
And.
And lo and behold, I created that life, but I first had to envision it to know how to get there. And so you work backward. You figure out, what is she doing every day? What kind of choices does she make if you want to be this woman, which food is she picking at the restaurant when she goes out, all these tiny little choices stack up. They make a huge difference. So I don't care what your New Year's resolution is or your goal or whatever. I care about your identity. And if you center it in Christ, you're gonna succeed. Am I right?
Absolutely. And this is the very first thing that we do with our coaching clients is we have them future gaze and we have them identify before they do any action because they seem to get such better results when you're doing a check in with them and they're like, oh, X, Y and Z this week. And you're like, okay, but remember who you want to be in three months. What was she doing? And they're like, oh, shoot. Yeah, she wouldn't have done those things.
Yes. And, and the Bible is very clear about this. Proverbs says, what you think you are is what you will be. So you have to believe it before you receive it. You have to envision it and be in alignment with who God created you to be and, and how he created you to function. All of these things are a necessary part of being successful.
So walk, talk, and act like it's already done until it's done.
I love that.
