It was 1996. The clock ticked down on the last high school football game I would ever play. We lost in the second round of the Texas AAAA playoffs. It didn’t matter that the season was over and we’d lost. Win or lose, a tradition remained no matter what the score reflected. Win or lose, to God be the glory.

My high school football coach James Cameron, who stood about 6 ‘4 “, would head to the center of the field and hold his hand up and say, “Everybody up.” Then we’d all gather, take a knee, bow our heads and recite the Lord’s prayer.

As a southern boy growing up in the buckle of the Bible belt I knew the Lord’s prayer before I knew how to do multiplication. It was tattooed to my memory like my ABC’s or ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.”

The Lord’s prayer is from one of Jesus’ sermons in which he taught his disciples how to pray. There is one line in which Jesus says, “Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

What does Jesus mean by this? Well, I want to confess I’m no Biblical scholar nor am I a man of the cloth. I’m just one of those ole good for nothing Christians. My old southern Baptist brethren will get that joke. To the rest of you, my apologies.

I do however know what Jesus is teaching in this passage. He’s saying to live and act here on earth today as though we were already in the kingdom of heaven. Bring the actions and characteristics of Heaven to this earth.

What if we decided to bring our dreams to the present in the same way by taking action today? For example, when I think of my ideal future, I imagine getting up, doing some reading and writing, going for a long walk and then researching human performance so I can later teach it to others and making enough money to support my lifestyle.

I also want to share messages to a broad audience through a podcast that will keep me on my game, help me build an audience for the courses I want to teach and the books I want to write. So how do I make this happen?

Well, currently I get up and do some reading and writing. I go for a long walk then I do some research on human performance. I take that research and create courses for my Vitruvian Lab app. I also have a podcast called the Jason Wright Show where the motto is “improve always in ALL ways.” 

Am I making enough money doing these things to fund my lifestyle? I am not. Is this a reason to not do them? It certainly is not. Will it cause me to be better prepared for that day when it comes? You bet. 

Are we living in Heaven? No we are not. That’s for the future. So is the day I’m able to fully monetize my ideal day. That’s for the future. Just because something currently exists in the future doesn’t mean I can’t start behaving the way I plan to when that future trades places with today’s present.

Many people will tell you to envision your future. Think about it in order to try to manifest it. I think this is only a tiny piece of the puzzle. Action is what leads to reality. When we start acting out our future, that ideal future slowly gets pulled closer and closer into the present. The best part is if we do this long enough, the future will start pulling us toward it. 

There’s some who take an all or nothing approach. They refuse to take even the smallest action toward their future. They think they will write their novel when they retire. John Grisham was an attorney when he was writing his first chapters. 

They think they have to have enough money to buy the special equipment their dream entails. Adam Yout, one of the original Beastie Boys made his first synthesizer with old recording parts before he’d ever sold an album.  

Just because an activity you enjoy is not paying the bills today doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it with the hope and belief it one day might. On days I have a Vitruvian Letter to write and just don’t want to do it the future pulls me to the keyboard. I believe there will be a day when the deadline is real and my income is affected by taking the time to write. Therefore, I treat it like a deadline today. 

What is your ideal future? If you don’t start to live it today then you’re going to be living for a future designed by someone else. Instead today decide “thy Dreamdom come” in the present as it is in your ideal future.