Back to the Future: Provoking Thoughts

 

     There are so many reasons why I love this movie, but the main ones I want to highlight are the concepts that it had introduced to my life, concepts I probably never would have understood any other way: time travel, “Your Future Self,” “Gray’s Sports Almanac,” and decision-making.

     Time Travel. Who wouldn't want to travel through time? What if you could see yourself thirty years into the future? How would you look like? How would you live? What would you be doing? Almost every successful person I know understands the idea of starting with the end in mind. Architects have the completed building on paper with specific time-frames and a systematized process of bringing it into completion. One of my favorite quotations comes from Henry David Thoreau: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, he will meet a success unexpected in common hours.”

     Your Future Self. "If only I knew then what I know now." I'm sure so many of us have felt this way, especially after living a life filled with mistakes. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your “past self?” How much trust would you give to your “future self” if s/he came to you and told you what to do, and what not to do? In a way, that’s how I look at mentorship. I value the wisdom of people who have been down the road I am on, and I challenge myself to receive their instruction as if it were given directly from my “future self.”

     Gray’s Sports Almanac. What would you do if you knew who was going to win every game of every sport in the next fifty years? Bet on the winner? What if you had at book that revealed to you who you are, where you are, and where you’re going? What if you had a book that described the purpose of life, the pitfalls of life, the secrets of success, and gave you hope for the future? I used to to believe that the bible was just a bunch of outdated stories written so long ago for only a certain group of people. But if that wasn't the case? What if the bible really did show you your future? How differently would that change your life?

     Decision Making. You have the ability to create your own future. Every thought, word, and action you make shapes this. What kind of future will it be? Your past does not equal your future. Your past has brought you this point up to now. Every day is a blank canvas, waiting for you to construct the masterpiece of your life. You can choose to let your self-deprecating habits be your downfall, or you can choose to create new habits that will propel you toward the future limited only toward your imagination. The choice is yours.