Focus on THIS moment!

[Dario]

Many times lately, I've been thinking about my past, as an AFC. Before I went to sleep, I sat down on my bed and thought:

Haha, one year ago I picked up Girl A... And a week later we broke up. Or a week ago I got an A in school! Too bad no one was happy with me...

Maybe you get the point. If not, I'll tell you. If you think about the PAST, very often you'll think about happy things, but with that come the bad stuff. Only a very powerful mind can think about the past and throw away every bad thought.



Now, another thing. I stopped thinking about my past and started thinking about the future... But I did a little too far.

Okay, we'll have a trip to someplace next week, then I can pick up Girl A. I'll go over to her, ask how she likes this place, etc.

A perfect plan... NOT! With that, comes the fear of rejection.

But what is she'll ignore me? Or I'll just ask how she likes this place and then I won't know what to ask? Or if SHE'LL ask me something? Then she'll reject me, and whole work for nothing. Why I'm even thinking about it?

BINGO! Why I'm thinking about? Nothing good will come, if you'll think about the future.

"I will be a soccer player, I'll have a lovely wife, three kids, and I'll be a Master DJ".

Well let me tell you this my friend, you WON'T be like that!

"And why not? Why do you say so Dario?"

Oh please, you're thinking of impossible! You should be happy if you'll ever have a girlfriend and a place to live!

"What the hell can you know? I'm already good with girls, I know I'm a MDJ, I'm very good at soccer-"

Like I care. Maybe you know you're good with all that ****, but you don't know one thing.

"And what's that?"

The future!


You'll NEVER know what the future has for you. So what should I think about? - you'll ask. Think of the PRESENT!

Now is the end of the weekend, and tommorow I have a test. Now I'm on the boards. I think only of finishing this post, and then I'll learn my brain out. What I'll do then? I don't care yet. I don't think, if some girl will aproach me. I don't think, if I will aproach any girl. I just want to go good on the test, nothing more.


If I think about my past, I remember my AFC day and I'll never be a DJ thanks to that. If I'll jump to the future, I'll only dream what could I do, and never act. By thinking what can I do now, I'm not fearing of rejection. I don't fear anything, because I don't think of anything bad.


And now, my last example:

I got a D- on a test. The teacher says I did bad, I should learn more, etc. In that moment, I think what to answer. I don't think screw her, I'll do better tommorow or damn, they'll kill me at home!. I'll think about it later. After the class, I also don't think about any of that stuff. I think about the next lesson, or about approaching some girl. On the next lesson I focus on the teacher and what he/she is saying, etc.

 

[hardwork]

Don't totally discount the past.

Remember that "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it".

Also, don't totally discount past experiences: history is our greatest teacher. Don't dwell on past failures, people. If anything, dwell on past successes.




"Make today the best you can, and tomorrow will take care of itself."

 

[Quad4IV]

If you never think about the future then you have no guidence or direction. I always think about what i want to do with my life and i think about the things that i want to accomplish then i try to think about what i am doing to achieve those goals.

If you never look to the future, when it comes you won't be ready...

 

[DX_Flyer]

Lots of people are gonna disagree with you. Some will say that the thinking about the future helps them achieve it. They'll ask you how do you go about doing it if you havent planned it?

Others will say that life is full of surprises and that you must think about what goes on NOW!

I myself believe that both are true. You must plan ahead sometimes, and sometimes you just have to see what'll happen. But how well you come out of it, is whichever one you decide to follow.

 

[the lionheart]

Not taking your life into account when doing any task is redundant. If you said something to 10 girls and they all kicked you in the nuts and sent you to the E.R. cuz your boyz were screaming, would you say the samething to the 11th because you don't think about your past at all? It's an extreme example, but really... Not thinking of the past could you set you up for some ****.

Not thinking of the future is a different aspect. Near and Distant future's are fine to think about, as long as it's just a goal to work for. If you see yourself being some great soccer star in the future then that's great, but you have to understand that you need to work for that. You're wasting your own time and only hurting yourself if you sit in bed before sleep, thinking "man I'm gonna have some hot wife and millions of dollars by being a soccer player", but never doing anything to attain it.

 

[...*....]

Look to the furture for certain things, like getting a job studying for a test, the key would be not to dwell to far into the future. same with the past.

 

[Fred Da Head]

To quote the Jedi "Be mindful of the future, but live in the present."

You have to know what you wanna do later, say, as an example, I wanna be in the NFL. Now, if I just sit there and hope I get to play, I most likely won't, right? So I have to, right now, think about what I can do to improve my game and get to play at the next level. With my example, that could be running more, being a regular at the gym, doing position drills, whatever.

I also have to look at the past. What habit do I have that kept me from being better? What mistakes did I make last game/season? That way, I won't repeat the same mistakes. However, I can't think about the past too much, because I wasn't as good then than I am now, so if I concentrate on the past, I'll have to drag it and I'll have a harder time getting better.

It's all about balance. Past-Present-Future. As others said, if you don't think about the future you won't get anywhere, it'd be like driving your car around and letting it drive you somewhere. (That'd be kinda cool tho) And if you don't look in the past, you won't be able to better yourself, because you won't know what you're lacking. If you don't think about the present well... you're messed up.

 

[Dario]

Von Neuen wrote:

Remember that "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it".

Also, don't totally discount past experiences: history is our greatest teacher. Don't dwell on past failures, people. If anything, dwell on past successes.

Most of the AFCs only remember their failures from the past, nothing more. I know, because I had that problem quite some time ago. It was very hard for me to focus on my successes in the past, and I could mostly remember only the things, I failed in.

You're very right in what you said, but how can we focus on our successes (from an AFC POV)?

Quad4IV wrote:

I always think about what i want to do with my life and i think about the things that i want to accomplish then i try to think about what i am doing to achieve those goals.

I didn't made it too clear in my post. You and the others noticed that. I wanted to write, that you should focus on what is now, but keeping in mind WHY are you doing it. Like, "I'm playing soccer now, because I want to be a soccer star in the future".

I wanted to say in my post, that you shouldn't dream about the future and don't think "I'll be a great DJ" just by reading the articles on this site. You also have too focus on doing what they tell you.

the lionheart summed it much up:

Not thinking of the future is a different aspect. Near and Distant future's are fine to think about, as long as it's just a goal to work for. If you see yourself being some great soccer star in the future then that's great, but you have to understand that you need to work for that. You're wasting your own time and only hurting yourself if you sit in bed before sleep, thinking "man I'm gonna have some hot wife and millions of dollars by being a soccer player", but never doing anything to attain it.

And lastly, I'll leave my voice too Fred Da Head who corrected me on the way of thinking about the past:

I also have to look at the past. What habit do I have that kept me from being better? What mistakes did I make last game/season? That way, I won't repeat the same mistakes. However, I can't think about the past too much, because I wasn't as good then than I am now, so if I concentrate on the past, I'll have to drag it and I'll have a harder time getting better.