We all would like a bright, prosperous, and joyful future; therefore, it is helpful to realise that our present situation is a result of our past activities and decisions. And although we cannot do anything about our past, we can act today to ensure our future. We must also realise it is useless to dream about the future unless we act on decisions today so that our future will be as we would like it to be. The healthiest approach is to plan our future today and to take action today to implement that plan. As we implement that plan, we must take a long-term perspective. In other words, we must “act with the end in mind” and we must be committed to “stay the course.” As we make investments today for the long term, we must not always expect an immediate return. A mistake that some people make is that of working and acting only for the “here and now.” In other words, they make investments only for an immediate return. Therefore, if they do not get an immediate return on their activities, they withdraw the investment. Such an investment strategy is shortsighted and does little to ensure a bright future. Can Impact the Future! You Can’t Change the Past, but You Sure
AMESSAGE FROMCEO FRANK VANDERSLOOT
Unfortunately, it is the nature of some of mankind to focus on the past instead of the future. Many people dwell in the past, thinking about what could have been or should have been. They agonise over opportunities lost or mistakes they’ve made or others have made. They spend their present in the past, regretting. They struggle with the process of forgiving and forgetting. Often they find that the most difficult people to forgive are themselves. And because they spend their present in the past, they not only lose the present, but they lose the future as well. How unfortunate! How tragic! The fallacy of living in the past is so evident and the cost so high you would think people would avoid doing so—but once they get themselves into the rut, it’s hard to get out. There are others who live only in the future, dreaming about what might happen to them someday but never taking action today to make sure that dream comes true. The costs of dreaming about the future but not taking any action to affect that future are also great. Life is so precious that it seems a crime to waste it away either in regretting the past or aimlessly dreaming about the future.
1 MAY 2017 | MELALEUCA.COM
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