Tense (noun)* = a distinction of form in a verb to express distinctions of time or duration of the action or state it denotes.
Found on Merriam-Webster
Don’t be scared I’m not all of a sudden going to start teaching English grammar. I have been noticing something in the books I have been reading. I’d list them but you know I’m trying to be friendly with your time. Either way the credit goes to several authors that have inspired me to write this post. What I noticed is the way they speak about their goals. Not just in the words they use, but more specifically the verb tenses they use (learn about the power of words here). It is exactly here where the definition of the word tense becomes important to know.
Quite literally they say to think of your goals as already accomplished. So to see yourself living the dream. This makes all the sense in the world, but it also implies that the way you describe your dream when thinking about it has to change. It has to change because you actually have to believe that it works. It being thinking of your dreams as already accomplished. Believing is a major key (I will go into this at a later time). Here is something to think about, remember when making the wordweb I got stuck? I couldn’t answer the question of what I wanted my life to consist off, but when I reversed the question the answers poured out of me.
I asked myself ‘’At the end of the road, what all do I want to have accomplished?’’. See, what I did there? I also spoke of my dreams as already accomplished. When you know what it is you want to have accomplished at the end of the road it becomes easier to see what it is you effectively need to do. There’s this theory that your mind sees only the things that you focus on. At first glance I, as I imagine you are too, thought ‘’Well, yeah of course! That’s just common sense.’’ However it goes deeper than that. Your mind will see opportunities, find chances and create ideas in order to comply with what you are telling it. So when you are speaking of a dream in verb tenses that imply its completion your mind will be programmed to this believe. Thus the focus of the mind will be on all that complies with your dreams. See, it goes deeper than you’d think.
Definitely a theory to look into further. Personally I feel that going forward by working backwards is a tactic that works. I have my word web and vision boards as proof. The only thing I am left wondering about is whether this is a key to motivation and/or to solving obstacles. The obstacle of not knowing what to do. So going back to seeing yourself living the dreams and finding out what all you did.
It appears that we not only need to mind the words we use but also the verb tenses we use.
Love,
DCPR.
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