Chapter 2 Pressing toward the goal
Many people regret the
present moment and yearn for the past or future. They either live in the past,
wishing they could turn back the hands of time, or they spend their time hoping
for a better life in the future.
Paulo Coelho describes the
problem beautifully: “We have enormous difficulty in focusing on the present;
we’re always thinking about what we did, about how we could have done it
better, about the consequences of our actions, and about why we didn’t act as
we should have. Or else, we think about the future, what we’re going to do
tomorrow, what precautions we should take, what dangers await us around the
next corner, how to avoid what we don’t want and how to get what we have always
dreamed of.”
Are you living in the
past, or are you waiting in great anticipation for your future? What about now?
Isn’t the present moment important, too? According to Mahatma Gandhi, “The
future depends on what you do today.” Yes! Every thought, decision or action
today impacts your present and your future. Are you focused on the here and now?
You alone have the power
to make good or bad decisions.
Your life decisions are
influenced by the present moment and the people who are with you at the time.
You must decide who or what is guiding you to make your decisions because each decision you make affects your plans and mood. Decisions determine whether you will
be happy or disappointed. If you make bad decisions, you will experience adverse
outcomes, but good decisions will lead to a successful future.
The question is: How do you
make decisions? Do you make them independently or allow others to help you? Do
you make decisions that are best for you, or do you make decisions that please others? Do you fear that every decision you make may be a wrong one? Or
do you prefer not to make decisions and allow them to be made for you?
Every moment of your life
defines you.
You are who you are in
each living moment. The decisions you make may stretch across many moments, but the
minute you make the decision, you create a new direction. Even when the
decision turns out to have been a mistake and the outcome is negative, it
doesn’t have to stay that way. You may have taken the wrong path, but it’s a
learning process, and you can turn it around.
At some point in the
future, you may discover that a choice you made in the past is not what you
planned or wanted. You needn’t regret it, though. Don’t focus on the choice as
a mistake and don’t dwell on the time that’s been lost. Focus on the process of
learning that came from the experience. You have grown because of it. If you
never make mistakes, how will you ever learn or change?
Choices always lead to new
opportunities.
Your decisions can be average and ordinary, or they can be life-changing. Joel Osteen said, “If you think you’re average, then you’ll be average. If you think you’re ordinary, then you’ll live ordinary. The truth is there is nothing ordinary about you. You have something to offer that nobody else can offer.” Do you think that you’re just an average person? Genesis 1:26 (ESV) reads: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Yes! You have been made according to God’s likeness. Do you still think you’re average?
The way you think defines you. You can’t have a successful future if you think you’re average. You can’t have a successful future if you don’t know why you’re here. You can’t have a successful future if you don’t plan. If you want to have freedom and money one day to lead a successful life, you’ll also need to know what success means.
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