A local Dallas venture capitalist recently shared a story of an exercise he conducts with his portfolio companies. They have an offsite event and during this event they are only allowed to talk about the future and not the past.

I’ve heard it said that you must look or focus on where you want to go because you can’t control anything that has happened in the past and I believe this to be true. Changing your focus away from the past allows you to create a vision that you can drive your life towards. It allows you to create a compelling future.

I’m not suggesting that you forget what has happened in the past because that’s where you can learn from, but if you dwell in the past then you will be inclined to repeat it since that is where your mind will be focusing.

So take a few moments today to practice thinking about and living in the future you would like to have for yourself and see how it feels.