Tip of the Day: Don’t Look Back
January 3, 2009 by Jean Murray
The great baseball player Satchel Paige once said, “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
It’s a new year and new possibilities. Don’t torture yourself with regrets about what happened last year.
- OK, so you missed an opportunity to get your home business on a local TV show. Forget about it.
- And a valuable customer stopped ordering from you. Forget about it.
Famous quote from the movie Donnie Brasco: “forget about it.” I firmly believe that there are three phrases that should be eliminated from our language: “should have,” “would have,” and “could have.” As in
“I could have done that, but I didn’t.”
“I should have called him when I had the chance, but I didn’t.”
“I would have entered the contest, but I didn’t.”
Focusing on the past and our regrets over doing things we wish we hadn’t, or not doing things we wish we had are pointless, a waste of time, and most of all, self-destructive. Another quote: “Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.”
What are you going to do to make your home business better, stronger, more profitable, more fun this year? Focus on that and “forget about it.”
Image source: StockExpert
When I’ve worked with customers with ‘issues’ I use the same approach, “I can’t change what happened in the past, all I can do is focus on where we are going from here”.
Thanks for the comment, Jeff. If people are working with a consultant, they often think the consultant is going to “fix” what went wrong. It’s not our jobs.