LOOK Where You’re Going!
You may have heard the quote by Oliver Wendell “It is not the position where you are standing, but which direction you are going.”
This has often made me think about what success means and how we can define it. If we believe that success is not the position where we stand but the direction in which we look, then how do we measure success?
From this quote it sounds like success is about how we got where we got, what it took and how we worked it out along the way.
Booker T Washington is quoted as saying “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”
I believe this more clearly explains how we measure our success in that it’s what we have achieved despite those challenges that have threatened our progress. Our success is our tenacity and our determination to overcome the odds to realise our aspirations.
If whilst moving forward we are also looking back or seeing a reflection of our past and reliving our past, then how can we moved forward at a pace that will obtain our goals within the timescale we have given ourselves.
If our past is seen as a reflection in the mirror only to be repeated, wouldn’t this hinder us taking chances and walking new and unknown paths?
I’ve often said, our feet face forward, our head faces forward, our eyes face forward. We are built to look forward – not back! We aren’t owls and can’t see 360 degrees. There’s a reason for this.
Shouldn’t we always look where we’re going! Shouldn’t we treat achieving our goals like driving a car, paying full attention to where we’re going, who’s in front, who’s behind, how near the car is in front and who might overtake us! We need to be mindful of our speed and the capability of the car we are driving if we are to obtain success and reach our goals!
Remember it isn’t about where you are now, but the person you’ve become in getting to where you got to!
So, LOOK where you’re going!
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