Past, Present and Future: Be a Time Traveler
How can you take control of time and make the most of it?
What is time? I can’t tell you what time is exactly. It’s something you have or don’t have. It’s something that you can’t get back, once it has passed. It is a concept to think about what has been, what is now and what will be.
We constantly travel through time in our minds. We think about what we need to do tomorrow, how we got hurt last week, how great it will be to see an old friend in a few months. As we travel through time, most of the time we skip Now. And as many gurus will tell you: Now is all you have. The past and the future are just imaginations. I’m not a guru, so I’ll just try to make this practical.
Focus on each time with a clear Now purpose. Instead of wandering through the past and the future, seek out what you want to do or learn and then start your time journey. Ask yourself how the situation at a specific time affects you now.
Use the past to learn. The past holds many lessons. You have done things that got you specific results. Certain events caused you to feel a certain way. You can tap into that to see what you can change or what you can keep the same to deal with something Now. There’s no point in trying to change the past. It’s done. You can only change the meaning and take lessons from it.
Use the future to prepare. When you travel to the future, use it to find out what you need to do to make it become a reality or to prevent it if that’s what you want. If you worry about a big presentation coming up and you see yourself sweating and stuttering, that’s a signal that you need more preparation. You may need to rehearse more, let your boss comment on your slides, or do whatever it is that gives you more confidence. Your actions Now shape your future. So don’t keep hanging in the future. Come back to now.
Use the present to live with focus. While your mind is in the past or the future, you are always in the present. If you manage to bring your mind back to the present, you will find it easier to be mindful of your current feelings, thoughts and actions. It allows you to focus and you do your best work and your best living with focus. Of course you need to focus on the right things. Focus on things that help you grow and feel better, instead of things that stall you and bring you down.
Get in sync with others. In your communication with others, whether it’s one to one, in a meeting, or any other situation, be in the same time as the others. A lot of communication goes wrong because one party has its mind on the past while another has its mind on the future. Even when you are in different pasts or different futures things can fall apart quickly. Try to get everybody looking at the same past, present or future and always bring it back to Now.
