Dragging Your Past Around?

People live in the present, the future and the past. Living in the present focuses energy on current tasks and enjoyment of the moment. Focusing on the task at hand always proves far more effective. Flitting around from one thing to another seldom accomplishes anything. Use the “one touch” policy. Pick a task and complete it before moving on to another task. Picking things up and putting them down over and over wastes time and energy. The “pick it up and put it down” method consumes all of your time without any accomplishment.

With your bills either pay them as soon as they come in the mail or put them in a folder out of sight and pay at the end of the week or on pay day. Avoid all unnecessary distractions. Bills staring you in the face all the time you are attempting to work only distracts you. Distractions do not make money for you or accomplish tasks. Distractions simply waste time.

Focus on the job at hand and complete it. Stay in the present.

Other folks live in the future. They are members of the “what if” and “when” club. Daydreaming and wistful thinking about the future does not accomplish anything in the present. Plan for the future, absolutely, but live in the present. Write out your goals of exactly what you choose to accomplish by what date. Be very specific. Be SMART about your goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Write them out for one day, one week, one month, three months, six months, a year, five years, and ten years. Post them where they are highly visible. Check your progress to be certain you are staying on track to accomplish each step in your success goal.

Live in the present and plan for the future. Only by working diligently in the present will you reach your future goals. Daydreaming about the future without working in the present to bring those dreams into reality is foolhardy. Visualize your goals as already completed in your meditation time. Once meditation time concludes, get busy bringing those goals and plans into existence. Dreaming alone does not achieve goals. Action achieves goals. The dream and the plan to reach the goal simply direct your present action.

One of the worst things you can do involves living in the past. Living in the past frequently involves regret, blame and feeling sorry for yourself. None of these are productive.

In John C. Maxwell’s book Failing Forward, John speaks about turning mistakes into stepping stones for success. Learning from the past is wise. Living in the past is mentally, emotionally and financially destructive.

Some signs of living in the past:

1. Comparing how much harder it was for you than it is for others.

2. Justifying why you have a right to hold on to past problems.

3. Withdrawing from life as a form of self protection.

4. Regret over past mistakes drains the very life out of you.

5. Living in the pain of the past and becoming bitter against life.

“I booked my reservation of Wish I Had airlines. I didn’t check my bags—everyone carries their baggage on this airline—and had to drag it for what seemed miles in the Regret City airport. And I could see that people from all over the world were there with me, limping along under the weight of bags they had packed themselves.”

I caught a cab to Last Resort Hotel where they held the Annual Pity Party. The guest list included the Done family – Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda; Missed and Lost Opportunities; Shattered Dreams and Broken Promises; Don’t Blame Me and Couldn’t Help It as well as the entire Yesterday group. Hours and hours of entertainment by It’s Their Fault. (Paraphrased from John C, Maxwell.)

Living in the past not only destroys your present but also your future. Even worse, it destroys the present and future of everyone who cares about you.

Plan for the future but live in the present. You will be happier, more productive and much better company for those whose lives you touch.

For more inspiration and insight, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.