Don’t Let Your Past Dictate Your Future

I am reading Psycho Cybernetics (well, technically listening to the audio CD).

It’s pretty fascinating and I’d recommend you to give it a good read/listen.

One discussed topic that kept ranging in my head, and one which I want to share with you here, is the concept that too many of us live in our past.  Too many of us beat ourselves up too much when we fail, and we let those past failures affect us too much for far too long.

A prime example has to do with professional athletes.  What makes a great wide receiver on a NFL team, among other things, is his uncanny ability to forget about the perfect pass he just dropped.  What makes a great golfer like Tiger Woods is his willingness to let go of the easy shot he just mucked up. I started this post...»   And on and on and on…

What Makes Them so Special?

See, these top caliber athletes don’t let what happened in the past affect them, no matter whether what happened were a year ago or just mere seconds ago.  They don’t dwell on the mistakes they made in the past, instead, they focus on their strengths and the opportunities in the near future for them to showcase those strengths.

They don’t think about what they do NOT want to be or do… instead, they focus on what they WANT to do and WANT to be.

You see, your mind can’t interpret any “do not wants”, it just interprets everything you envision as a “want”.

It’s sort of like this… you are riding a bike and you see an obstacle in your way that you want to avoid (so you don’t end up doing a face plant).  Well, if you focus on the obstacle thinking “must avoid this, must avoid this”, it’s almost a sure-bet you are going to automatically drift towards the obstacle and run smack into it.

However, if you instead focus on the road ahead, on the path you DO WANT to follow (to naturally avoid the obstacle), you’ll naturally follow that path and avoid that obstacle!

This is your mind taking what you envision (and not able to discern your “do not want” but instead, treat everything you envision as “want”) and making it into a reality.

So if an athlete was to focus on his last dropped shot or missed shot and how he wishes to NOT do it again, you can bet that he will do it again and again.  This is why top athletes have that uncanny ability to let go of the past mistakes and instead, focus on the future he wishes to create for himself (and his team).

What About You?

Are you leaving with some regrets in your life you have a difficult time letting go?  +/-»   Are you living in the past?  Do you think to yourself, “I’ll never do THAT again?”

Stop.

Don’t think about the mistake you wish to never make; instead, focus on the mistake life you want to lead.  Don’t think about the person you wish to never be; instead, focus on being the person you WANT to be.

Raymond Fong

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