Driving Your Car Through the Rear View Mirror

When I was much younger I seemed to have a bit of a problem avoiding the other cars. I have scratched, dented, totaled and smashed more cars than a demolition derby driver. My dad would always say that if I was in Patton's Tank Brigade we would have lost the war. It is only through the grace of God that I am still here today. The amazing thing to me is that I wrecked all of those cars while looking forward. OK, maybe once in awhile I wasn't totally focused on looking forward but I can honestly promise you at no time was I ever driving the car through my rear view mirror.

It always bothers me when I talk to people that seem to be living life through their rear view mirror. You know the type. The guy who likes to say: "If only" or "Why not me"? They are living their life through their rear view mirror.

You know some of the best lesson's we will ever learn are from our past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.

Looking back, there are a lot of things that I would have liked to have done different in my life. I would have liked to have bought Microsoft stock in the early ninety's, shorted the Dow in 2008, and put my life savings on a bet that the Giants were going to beat the Patriots in last years Super Bowl. But I didn't. Looking back would I have been any better off? OK the Microsoft stock would have been nice to have, but was it really all that important to me? Probably not.

I think that too often we have a tendency to look in the rear view mirror of our lives. What is done is done. Let go of your past mistakes, your failures, your regrets, and learn from them. The future is a lot brighter if you will just allow yourself to look forward. You have the choice in life to let things happen to you, wonder what happened to you or make something happen for you.