The Destination Finder

Imagine you are sitting in a café near where you live, enjoying your favourite drink. Someone enters the café and sits in the chair next to you. You recognise them. It is you, your Future Self. After a few minutes of conversation, your Future Self opens a laptop and plays you a video. On the screen is your retirement destination of transformation. You watch yourself living the retirement you wanted to create. You see who you have become, what you are doing, the people and places that are part of your life and what an ordinary day now looks like. This isn't somebody else's idea of a successful retirement. It is yours. You turn to your Future Self.

“I got there?”

“Yes, you did.”

Your Future Self then plays a second video. This one is different. Instead of showing you the destination, it shows you the journey that brought you there. You see the decisions you made and the actions you took. You see what you tried that worked and what didn't. You see the difficulties you encountered, the changes of direction, the resources you developed, and the people who helped you. You also see changes in yourself as the person who began the journey gradually becomes the person now sitting beside you. You turn again to your Future Self.

“Is that how you got there? How I get there?”

“Yes. That's the journey I've just completed and the one you're about to take.”

The Destination Finder deliberately starts at the end. Instead of standing in the present and asking What might my retirement become?, you temporarily imagine that your transformation has already happened. This allows you to explore your retirement from the perspective of the person who has successfully created it. You can then work backwards. Rather than trying to predict every step from where you are today, you ask your Future Self:

·        Where did I end up?

·        Who did I become?

·        What changed?

·        What did I have to do to get here?

·        What happened along the way?

·        What did I learn, develop or overcome?

·        Who or what helped me?

·        What were the important stages of my journey?

·        And eventually:

·        What did I do first?

That final question brings you back to the present. Your imagined destination has given you somewhere to go. Your imagined journey has begun identifying how you could get there. Now you can start building your Destination Finder.

Over the following slides, you'll create your own Destination Finder. Give yourself time with this activity. You don't need to have a perfectly formed vision of your retirement before you begin. Your destination and journey can become clearer as you work through the exercise and return to it over time.

Before travelling into your future, establish your starting point. How is your life right now? Consider:

·        Who am I now? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What am I doing? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What life am I currently living? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What am I happy with and want to retain? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What would I like to be different? BOX FOR NOTES

Describe your current reality as accurately as you can. This is the starting point for your journey of transformation.

Now travel forward in your imagination to the retirement you would like to be living. Your destination is the point where you are who you want to be, doing what you want to be doing, and living the retired life you want to live. Ask yourself:

·        Who would I like to be? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What would I like to be doing? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What life would I like to be living? BOX FOR NOTES

Don't concern yourself yet with exactly how you will get there. At this stage, concentrate on the destination itself.

When have you reached this destination? Choose a point in the future that feels appropriate for the transformation you are imagining. It might be a month, six months, a year or considerably longer. The purpose isn't to create an artificial deadline. It is to give your imagined destination a position in time so that you can experience it as somewhere you have reached.

My destination date or timeframe: __________ BOX FOR ENTRY

Now deepen your experience of the destination. Imagine yourself there as fully as you can. Rather than observing your Future Self from a distance, experience this future from their perspective.

·        What is happening?

·        What can I see, hear and feel?

·        Where am I?

·        Who is around me?

·        Who am I now?

·        What am I doing?

·        What has changed in my life?

·        How have I changed?

Speak and write in the present tense, as though this future is happening now:

“This is who I am…”

“This is what I am doing…”

“This is the life I am living…”

Give yourself time here. The clearer your destination becomes, the more useful the next part of the activity can be.

Remain at your destination, but now turn around and look back towards the present. You know that you arrived here. The question is: how did you do it? Retrace the journey that brought you from your current reality to this destination. Work backwards through the important stages.

·        What happened immediately before you arrived?

·        What had you achieved by then?

·        What did you do before that?

·        What decisions did you make?

·        What did you have to learn or develop?

·        What difficulties did you overcome?

·        What resources did you need?

·        Who helped you?

·        What did you change about yourself or your life?

·        Were there any changes of direction along the way?

As you travel backwards through the stages, describe them as though you are there:

“To get to this stage, I…”

“Before that, I…”

“This was the point at which I…”

Continue until your imagined journey brings you all the way back to where you are today.

Bring yourself back to now. You have imagined both your destination of transformation and the journey that could take you there. Consider what the exercise has given you:

·        What have I learned? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What do I understand now that I didn't understand before? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What surprised me? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What parts of my destination felt particularly important? BOX FOR NOTES

·        Which stages of the journey became clearer? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What resources will I need? BOX FOR NOTES

·        What obstacles might I need to address? BOX FOR NOTES

Most importantly:

·        What actions can I take now to begin the journey towards my destination? Identify your first practical steps. BOX FOR NOTES

Your first attempt may be detailed, or it may contain only glimpses of what you want. Both can be useful. Return to the activity as your retirement develops. Your experiences may give you new information. Your priorities may change. Parts of your destination may become clearer, while others may become less important. You may also discover different or better ways of making the journey. Each time you return, consider:

·        Is this still the destination I want?

·        What have I learned since my last visit?

·        Am I making progress towards it?

·        Does any part of my journey need to change?

·        What is my next step?

Transformation is both where you are going and what happens to you as you make the journey. Your Destination Finder helps you keep sight of both.