A year from now, will you remember this exact moment?

A year from now, will you remember this exact moment?

I read a post from someone who had finished a self-development book and wanted to share their eight takeaways. They didn’t say what book it was that the points came from, and they just wanted to share the key lessons they took from the time they spent reading the book.

At first, I thought, damn man, tell me the book’s name because I might like to read it and then I realised that it was not relevant. I probably wouldn’t take the time to buy the book, and even if I did, would I read it given that I am already so far behind with the books I do have on my shelf waiting to be read?

I am guessing that they shared the take-aways for me, their reader, to read what they shared and further ponder the eight key points. It is likely they wanted to see if what they posted made me change anything with my thinking or to cause a positive impact on my day.

To be honest, that worked. The first of the key points caught my attention, and I took the time to roll over in my head what the sentence meant to me.

A YEAR FROM NOW, YOU WILL HAVE WISHED YOU STARTED TODAY.

I liked this sentence, and I flipped it over. I asked myself if I would remember this exact moment a year from now. I wasn’t sure if I would, but I know that many times in the past, I had wished that I had started something, and the fact was, I didn’t.

I spent a lot of time working through the points, and I played around with each of the sentences. I wrote an excellent journal entry that would remind me of this time and the thought I had put into the moment.

My takeaway from this exercise is that I often would read a post, a quote or a list, but I do not take enough time to work out what the words ask of me. In the future, I will take the time to read beyond the words and make them mean something to me.

The eight key points that were published and that made me reflect more on their meaning and caused me to personalise their construction…

A year from now, you will have wished you started today.
Don’t stress about things you can’t control, accept that the result is out of your hands and move on.
Always deliver more value than is expected of you.
You will never look good trying to make someone else look bad.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Not everyone will like you, so stop trying to please everyone.
Don’t shy away from an opportunity just because it’s something new.
Surround yourself with people that consciously push you to be a better person.

Now it is your turn. Ask yourself what sentence resonates with you the most and why?

Can you find some different meanings, and what does it shape for your future path?

Take it further.

What quote have you read or seen recently, and why did it catch your attention? Go back and read it and ask the same questions as above and explore more to get to the root of why it was that this jumped up at you.

Interesting thing to explore – please do take the time to complete the request. It is worthwhile work

Now don’t forget this moment, and the one way to do that is to remember this exercise and use it frequently.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.