(Quotes are capsules of information, reinforcement or enlightenment.)


“I wish I don’t know now what I didn’t know then.”

Bob Seger – the song ‘Against the Wind’


Coaching Point: Have you ever had that? Where you thought you wanted to learn about some part of the past, learned it, then regretted knowing it? Sure, show me someone who hasn’t.

Regret is expensive and low-grade energy. Takes a lot, gives little. Regret is only one of the potential costs of looking back. Others are anger, guilt, shame, fear, a whole panoply of low-grade energies.

In balance, consider some of these as benefits of looking backward – clarity, feedback, real data, confirmation, revisited joy, expanded awareness, and learning. Plus you have that huge piece which wasn’t available then – you have Outcome, you see how it turned out!

So Seger’s lament is understandable. Learning about the past can be painful. But it can also be delightful and expanding.

How do you look back so it benefits you most?


Copyright 2021 Steve Straus. All rights reserved.