Inspiration - Improving the Present

Inspiration - Improving the Present

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

Today’s quote comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who says,  “Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.”

So what does this mean to you?

For me, it’s a reminder not to live in the past.  So many times, I find myself looking at instances that occurred in the past, not only from a personal point of view, but also from a business point of view, and getting upset all over again.  What an absolute waste of time and energy!  It doesn’t matter how upset I get, or how righteously angry I may get – nothing will change what has already happened!  We can’t re-live it, we can’t go back and do it again or do it differently. A’’ we can do is make sure that we do not do it again like that.

This, of course, means that we have to live with the consequences of the past and we can surely learn from our mistakes.  But none of those consequences and our subsequent learning means anything if we don’t use them in the present to make our lives easier.

So when you find yourself wallowing in self-pity because of something that happened to you in the past – do yourself a favour.  Kick your own butt, and get down to applying what you learned and apply the lessons from the past to whatever you are doing now.  

Make a difference in your life now – you cannot do anything about the past, but you can certainly improve the present, by utilizing the lessons learned from your experiences in the past.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or www.viljoenconsulting.co.za