It is possible to assist your client in clarifying their priorities and focusing their commitments on working on their issues by recommending the following. Inquire with your client about their willingness to participate in a small experiment that will not take too long.

You can ask them to imagine that it’s a year (or any other interval of your choosing) in the future, and that you’d like to have your session on that particular day, only now.

The client pretends to be coming to see you for assistance with a problem that could arise a year in the future.

This is something you can improvise to emphasize themes that your client will find useful. One likely benefit is that the client’s perception of what the true priorities are will change dramatically as a result of the process. Some things will become annoyances that will fade into obscurity without causing much concern, while others that were overlooked will be elevated to a position of supreme importance in time.

Whether or not the client is collaborating with you on a positive future, you can highlight their effective use of resources over the course of an imaginary year.

However, you can also assist them in realizing that they would benefit from setting much more ambitious objectives. If they paint a gloomy picture, you can assist them in identifying priorities and moving forward. Once they realize they have “gained” a year, they can begin working on them a year ago, before your imagined present.