Listen to Future You / by Alexander Lyadov

Arnold Schwarzenegger taking ballet classes with Marianne Claire, 1976

If you truly want to help someone, you need to understand their context. It’s not about simple transactions, like buying a massage, ibuprofen, or an ice cream.

Sometimes the stakes are high, and the problems — and therefore the solutions — aren’t universal:

  • Launching a new product with a tight ad budget.

  • Resolving a corporate conflict that could drag everyone down.

  • Exiting a business when the co-founder’s burned out and buyers are scarce.

  • Raising funds for a startup with only six months of runway.

  • Breaking a barrier that’s kept a company from the big leagues for years.

  • Growing a major business when the owner’s half in, half out.

What a person complains about matters, but it’s just the paw caught in a trap. Pain, pressure, and fear don’t explain why he’s stuck here. More importantly, they hide what he was chasing and what he refused to see.

Listen up: only a guest from the future—you —can save you now.

The future you is your hidden potential, itching to break free. Like water condensed in the mountains, it pushes downward to join the sea. This flow happens, even when you don’t notice. But when you’re blind to it, it gets stuck.

That’s why you must let the future you speak—in words or images, like in Jungian dream analysis or symbol-drama. In business therapy, my client and I first meet his or her desired future.

It’s not easy. Most people’s first urge is to doubt, dismiss, shrink, or feel shame, hiding the truth even from themselves.

Not every child grew up in a home that blessed him for being himself. Many buried their desires to scrape by on crumbs of attention.

But the future you is patient. Call it to the mic, and it speaks. It’ll show you where to turn, how to free the paw, and how to heal the wound.

Start by building trust. If you lack it inside, find someone who doesn’t rush to fix the symptom but lifts you to a meta-level. It’s not so much about the profession or method, but about the worldview. You need someone who will see in you what you’ve always felt — the divine spark.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander


About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.