Most people don’t plan for their own futures. They may think about things they have to do tomorrow. They may worry about the future of the environment or the world. But most of them don’t imagine where or who they want to be in the next five or 10 years. In Eric J. Weigel’s words, they haven’t imagined their future self.

Weigel is the managing partner at Boston-based Global Focus Capital and founder of a retirement coaching service called Retire With Possibilities. Yesterday, he talked about the future problem in a presentation called “Closing the Gap with Your Future Self” at the Retirement Coaches Association’s sixth annual conference.

He said it’s not just the young who don’t want to think about who they will be tomorrow. “Research shows that the older you are, the less you think about your future,” he said.

The Future: Where Retirement Planning Starts
This creates a challenge and an opportunity for retirement planners.

Weigel insisted that the more you think about your future, the better off you will likely be. Better off means you have “improved financial security, better relationships, and improved well-being all around,” he said.

Imagine getting all that good stuff, he added, by simply shifting your mindset and refocusing your attention from the immediate to the long term.

That’s the key to retirement success, he said. But it’s only a first step.

The Past Is Not The Future
Looking at the past won’t help, he said, since assuming that the next 10 years will play out like the last 10 is illogical—and frankly defeatist. The idea leads to passive thinking.

In fact, he said, there were many paths that we could have taken in the past that got us to where we are today. “The same holds for the future.” And he acknowledged that luck plays a part in everyone’s fate—good and bad. Even if the past 10 years were good, you don’t have to follow the same map. There are many paths that you can follow going forward.

“A lot of life is where you choose to be,” he said.

No Guarantees
Of course, making a plan doesn’t guarantee you will end up exactly where you intended either. But if you imagine it and plan for it, he stressed, odds are you will get closer to that goal than if you hadn’t tried at all.

The plan starts with a vision, an idea about desired goals. To reinforce the point, Weigel noted that if you don’t expect much, you won’t do much. If you just live day by day without a thought for the future, you won’t bother to exercise or try to stay healthy. You may not work at fostering good relationships with colleagues, friends or family. And you certainly won’t plan well for your financial needs.

That’s a recipe for disaster.

Three Key Elements
Weigel described the three pillars for reaching one’s desired future self.

The first is knowing what you want your future to look like. “I always start by asking my clients, ‘What kind of life do you want?’” he said. “It’s actually a question that a lot of people have trouble answering.”

As a prompt, he often asks clients how they want people to describe them at their 80th birthday or even at their funeral. This, he said, makes the concept of who they want to be more concrete. “The more detailed the vision [for the future], the easier it is to realize,” he said.

The second pillar for achieving a desired future is being committed to achieving that future. It’s an action plan, a road map.

Retirement doesn’t mean an end to purposeful living, he stressed, or to the end of dreams and goals. You might reap the harvest of your working career, but you should be thinking about the next season in life when you might have to replant and reharvest.

The final pillar is the why.

People say that in retirement they want a comfortable living, with no commuting, few demands, and the freedom to do what they want, he said. But they should also think about what the meaning of their future life will be. Why do they want to achieve these things?

This, he said, gets at the heart of the long-term plan. “The only way people make and stick with any decision is if they have an emotional attachment to it,” he said. “There has to be an emotional connection.”

Closing The Gap Between Now And Then
How do you close the gap between where you are and where you want to be? Weigel dubbed this the “transformation gap.” Without a system for taking action, he noted, you’re never going to get out of the gap and reach your goals.

It’s easy to get stuck in the “messy middle,” he said, and it’s important to realize that change takes time—especially change that has meaning and lasts.

The biggest roadblock to getting out of that rut is a mix of self-doubt and skepticism. For instance, he frequently hears clients insist they are too old to change.

Being A Coach
“This is where coaches can really help,” he said.

A good retirement coach can help with every step of the process. Coaches can clarify clients’ grand vision for the future, remove emotional barriers that are blocking their willingness to change, and fashion an action plan they will stick to.

“But retirement coaching is not a one-and-done thing,” Weigel emphasized, drawing an analogy to fitness coaches. “You don’t hire a fitness coach for one session,” he said, at least not if you want success.

Discipline And Accountability
Weigel wrapped up by saying he’s big on discipline. “The more intentional you are about things, the more you will achieve and the less time you’re going to waste,” he said, adding, “but you have to say that in a nice way to clients.”

He’s also a “huge believer in accountability,” he said, and advisors and coaches should check in with their clients regularly to make sure they’re sticking to their plan.

Retirement coaching, he concluded, “requires constant reminding that you’re working toward a goal.”