LTL 006: Uh This Does Not Look Like I Thought It Would

Have you looked at your life recently and said something like “uhh, this does not look like I thought it would!” Welcome to the club! Life often has a way of turning out differently than we expected. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. Too often, we get wrapped up in what we can’t change: the past.

We can (and should) learn from it, but we aren’t supposed to camp out there. Here’s the irony: sometimes we think we are trying to learn from it, but we wind up simply feeling sorry for ourselves. Sometimes, this is the result of a natural human tendency. Most of us don’t look at the past with the intent of finding something good, pleasurable or positive (unless we are talking about the good ‘ol days, and even then it devolves into walking to school every day…one mile…each way…in foot deep snow…uphill). The tendency I’m talking about is our focus on everything that was WRONG with our past and taking no regard of what was RIGHT!

There’s an additional tendency to try to make our own way…without dependency on anyone else. Unfortunately, this results in a primary benefit of doing life in community: getting someone else’s perspective!

Four Ways You Can Lock In Learnings From The Past

* Don’t just look for the difficulty – look for the good
* Take a moment to write down a few things that make you thankful when looking at your past
* Talk to a family member, a friend, or a spouse and get their perspective
* Marvel at your past and experience the wonder of the journey that brought you to this point

How do want the next six months, next year, next five years or 10 years to go? Use your experiences to shape the change you need to set your course for the next destination. That’s what the past is for!

Now, go lead like someone you would want to follow!