Stop Talking About How You Got Here And Focus On Where You’re Going - Grasshopper

How you got here is a history lesson. You can go back over the chapters of your life and chart a course to find how you got to where you are. But continually talking about it, keeps your focus on the past instead of plotting a course towards a different future.

How you got here may be an interesting story to tell, but not one on which it’s productive to dwell. Doing so ensures you will stay in your current version of hell.

 

The phrase you want to imbue your mind with is this: I’m here now!

 

Where you are now is the only place you can move on from. Notice that the phrase “I’m here now” is not followed by the word “because.” “Because” only takes you backwards in time. The jump off point is always now, not then.

 

One reason we continue to tell the story is because we want someone else to be responsible for our current lot in life. You may be totally accurate that it was someone else’s fault that you wound up where you are now, but that’s no different than telling someone you arrived by train, plane, bus, or car. You’re only describing the vehicle that brought you, not building the boat that will sail you away.

 

I keep coming back to one of my favorite quotes from an anonymous, ancient Chinese sage: “Talk doesn’t cook rice.”

 

Formulate your plan now of how you’re going to get from here to there and step in that direction every day, then how you got here will no longer be the limiting topic of the day.

 

All the best,