Your Future Ain't What It Used to Be

**RCB**/Flickr

The first time a dream filled your heart and imagination, you almost certainly weren't reading career advice on the Web. You might have been infatuated with your first love, or perhaps you resolved to be an astronaut.

As the years passed, I bet you went to college and dreamed what life would be like when you had a real job. Maybe you wanted to be a professional musician, or aspired to start your own company.

Did the future turn out as you expected?

Most likely, today you have "responsibilities". You might have a spouse, kids, or a mortgage... or all of the above. You've been promoted, and you've been passed up for promotions. You might fall prey to the illusion that your future is predictable, and basically unchanging.

Not true.

As long as you are willing to invest effort and imagination in your future, you retain the ability to make it brighter.

Dreaming isn't enough. Praying might help, but it's not a substitute for effort. You have to invest in your future, not just occasionally, but consistently and deliberately. You wouldn't leave your child alone in the middle of a busy street, so don't leave your future there either.

This is my hope for you:

May you move through life with full awareness that your future ain't what it used to be."

Every day, you use a piece of your future. That's one more day that moves from your "Potential" column to the "Results" column. That day is no longer a dream, but is instead an outcome.

Your future isn't many years from now. It is tomorrow, and the next day. It is so close that what you do today will change your future.

If you get too comfortable and complacent, your future dims a bit. If you take today for granted, it dims a bit more.

But if you view each day as a gift, if you aim a little higher, and if you care a bit more about the people and the world around you, then your future brightens significantly.

Every moment - and every day - is a choice. Choose brighter.

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