Use Your Skills to Predict the Future and Create a Better Life
- RHONDA SCIORTINO
- Jul 19
- 6 min read
Have you ever felt like you're flipping on a roller coaster—being tossed around by life without a clear sense of direction? It’s easy to view the chaos as random. But what if it's not? What if you can harness your existing skills to steer your future in a more positive direction? Imagine having the power to shape your life instead of merely reacting to it.
Predicting Your Future Isn’t Magic
Your life can improve significantly when you start using the skills you already possess to predict what lies ahead. This ability not only helps you seize opportunities but also allows you to avoid pitfalls before you fall into them.
Think about it: could that costly car accident have been avoided by replacing worn-out brake pads? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, regular vehicle maintenance can prevent up to 40% of accidents.
What if that emergency room visit had been avoided by practicing careful knife skills just a little more closely? The average trip to urgent care costs around $200—that’s a hit to your wallet, along with the pain and stress it can bring.
Or think about your job situation: how many opportunities for raises and promotions have you missed because you showed up late repeatedly? Studies indicate that punctuality significantly improves job performance ratings, with timely employees 50% more likely to receive promotions.
These common scenarios show that many outcomes are often linked to our choices.
Let’s Practice Predicting The Future
Imagine the following:
If you drove with a blindfold on, can you guess the outcome?
If you ate an entire package of cookies in one sitting, how would you feel?
If you cross a busy street without looking both ways, what could happen?
If you walked in the hot sun for hours without food or water, what could happen to you?
It's clear: you already know the answers. Your ability to predict outcomes is innate.
Now, let's consider the flipside:
If you apply for job listings daily, what are you chances of landing a job?
If you arrive to work on time consistently and do your best, what kind of reputation would you create?
If you pursue personal development, learn new skills, and persevere through tough times, what opportunities might present themsevles to you?
Recognizing the potential outcomes in these scenarios can help shape your journey.
Creating a better life using your predictive skills
To tap into your skills for predicting your future, start with self-awareness. Understanding your patterns, habits, and choices is vital. Reflect on your life: what decisions led to achievements or setbacks?
Consider keeping a journal. Document the choices you make and the results that follow. Over time, this practice of looking at cause and effect can reveal patterns in your behavior—allowing you to assemble a “predictive toolbox.” For instance, you might find out that spending a few minutes reading google alerts on companies you want to work for, gives you a better chance of acing interviews. Or spending 10 minutes a day reading about a subject you're interested in can lead to you becoming an expert in that area.
Visualizing Consequences
Thinking about the long-term result of your decisions can significantly enhance your ability to predict your future. Assess your daily choices, like how you consume social media. Are those hours spent scrolling leading to dissatisfaction or anxiety or is that time spent learning from subject matter experts that help you better prepare for and create the life?
Try picturing your day if you redirected that time toward learning a new skill or enjoying a refreshing walk. A study by the American Psychological Association shows that regular physical activity can reduce anxiety levels by up to 20%.
Setting Concrete Goals
Once you’ve identified patterns and visualized your choices, it’s time to set specific goals. Clear objectives provide a roadmap through uncertainty. Break larger goals into smaller, manageable steps to track progress.
This strategy enhances your ability to predict your future by allowing you to see how your actions yield immediate results. Creating such a framework helps you evaluate what works and what doesn't, guiding your future decisions. For example, if you want to lose weight, creating a meal plan and investing time in buying and preparing nutritious food each week offers a clear actionable plan for you to successfully reach your goal.
Accepting Life's Changes
Change is the only constant in life. It’s essential to understand that despite your best predictions and plans, surprises will still occur. However, having a strong foundation allows you to adapt more swiftly.
Adopting a mindset that welcomes change can make it easier to anticipate different outcomes and adjust your approach if needed. Resilience is a key factor in achieving success, particularly when facing the unpredictable aspects of life.
Creating a Support Network
You don’t need to navigate life by yourself. Sharing your goals and your journey with at least one trusted person. Think about friends, family, neighbors, or co-workers who might be interested in finding or forming a purpose circle group. Sometimes others can point out patterns that you haven't noticed or point out blind spots--and vice versa--which can enhance your ability to predict future events. Collaboration not only fosters individual growth but can also lead to shared success.
Predicting The Future Will Create a Better Life
The journey to predict and shape your future isn't mystical—it's about applying the skills you already possess. Whenever you feel as though life is randomly tossing you around, remember that you have the ability to steer your life onto the path of your choice.
With improved self-awareness, clear goal-setting, your new perspective on your influence over causes and effects in your life, and a strong support network, you can approach your future with confidence. Learning to thrive in the face of uncertainty will lead you toward a happier, more fulfilled life.
The choice is yours: Will you let life happen to you, or will you take control and create a future you can be proud of? Start today. Your results may astonish you.
I was so incredibly blessed to have people throughout my life whose words, actions and attitudes pointed me toward Jesus. The result of their influences in my life was taking the bold step to quit my job, start my business, and make a positive difference. Often the difference between kids who choose well and those who don't is that kids who make good choices have at least one person who is a good influencer in their lives. So while you're being a force for good, please remember to do so with the young people within your influence.
You matter and your story matters
In this course, you will learn how to write your book in days instead of it taking weeks, months or even years. This course will guide you through writing your book from start to publishing, marketing and selling your book.
This podcast will help you find and live your purpose and enjoy the peace and joy that accompanies it. Subscribe now and share this with a friend. Find Your Purpose Now is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Iheartradio, Amazon music, Overcast, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, and right here at www.rhonda.org/podcast.
Rhonda Sciortino, author of Succeed Because of What You’ve Been Through and many other books, was abandoned by her parents and abused by others for the first 16 years of her life. She credits a brief stay with a wonderful foster family for teaching her that she was not “an accident of biology,” but that God had a specific plan for her life.
At 27 years old, Rhonda left what she thought would be her “job for life” to open her own risk management organization that protected and defended the good people and organizations that care for children who have been abused. She used the survival skills developed throughout her childhood to grow her business into a nationwide organization that analyzed the ways that children in foster care and caregivers get injured or killed. That information was built into risk avoidance strategies, which helped prevent tragedies.
Rhonda sold her business and now helps others find and live their purpose. Through her speaking, writing, videos, FIND YOUR PURPOSE NOW podcast, and FIND YOUR PURPOSE NOW program, she helps others use the obstacles in their lives as stepping stones to living God’s good purpose. Rhonda believes that using our hard times to glorify God is the fulfillment of Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”
Rhonda is the founder of Successful Survivors Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps survivors of trauma to create purposeful lives. She is co-founder of Prevent Child Trafficking Nevada, where she is working to create a prevention model that can be replicated in communities throughout the US. She is the national champion of the Love Is Action Community Initiative, which is a public/private, faith-based community initiative that gives everyone safe and effective ways to help prevent child abuse and trafficking, suicide, homelessness, and other societal ills that harm us all.
For more information on Rhonda, go to www.rhonda.org. For information on Successful Survivors Foundation, go to www.successfulsurvivors.org. To join the fight against the trafficking of children, go to www.preventchildtraffickingnevada.org. To learn about the Love Is Action Community Initiative, go to www.loveisaction.com.
Rhonda calls herself a “fully yielded follower of Christ,” which she defines as someone who says, “YOUR WILL BE DONE,” and really means it.
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