Footprints of Great Leaders: Facing The Future

It isn't where you came from, it's where you are going that counts. Ella Fitzgerald

For millions of people, their past assumes the role of an irrefutable guide to the future; constantly flagging their past limitations; reminding them of their limited potential; compounding their memories, and sense of failure, to restrict any further development and growth.

Our past can be a cruel taskmaster, firmly closing the lid on our potential.

Like blinkers to a horse, or a boa constrictor's crush to its prey, so our past can restrict our vision and crush our future.

If we allow it.

Memories can draw deep into our past to place a fence around our present; limiting our ability to change and grow, to do things never done before or to discover opportunities never seen before. Like tree roots extending deep in search of water our memories delve deep into our past, recalling all of the evidence they can to place our future in shackles.

For many people caught in its grip, their favorite word is therefore, effectively linking and tying their present to the past.

With this one simple word their thinking is locked into a downward trajectory leaving them unable to see, unable to change and unable to move. Their mind regurgitates over and over again "I have only ever achieved this much, therefore... I failed in the past, therefore..."

For people wanting to change, develop and grow, their favorite word should be however; effectively breaking their present from the past and all of its limitations. These people constantly remind themselves "I may have only ever achieved this much, however... I may have failed in the past, however..."

The late Stephen Covey put it this way: Live out of your imagination, not your history.

When we are looking over our shoulder to the past we, by definition, are not looking forward and can neither see where we are going, nor what opportunities lie before us.

Obviously no-one can change their past, or rewrite history, so we should be realistic about the baggage that we have accumulated during our life to date; we can't always walk away from the repercussions of past mistakes, which may take significant time and effort to resolve.

However, we should never forget that we can change our thinking, our ways and our future.

Successful leaders are mindful of their past, yet not preoccupied with it. They understand that regardless of their past, they can change their future; that their greatest limitations are often within, not without; that it is often not any external constraint that prevents them from achieving, but their internal attitudes to success.

Sometimes this even means changing those with whom they associate, their peer groups, as these may hold them back and limit their future.

While some motivators extol the virtues of 'thinking outside the square', to look outside our natural environment and capabilities for solutions, often our greatest hurdle is within and our first task should be to establish a sound mindset that is willing and capable of breaking with the past.

Indeed many people are limited by external influences: a legacy of prejudice, discrimination or fear; a lack of education or finance; yet what matters most is what we want to achieve or become; not what others think or say we should be.

Regardless of these limiting factors, the biggest and most powerful asset we can have is a clear mental plan, an objective that drives us, keeps us on track, and prepares us for success.

Once our attitudes and mindset are liberated from the limitations and failures of the past, we are free to explore the opportunities of the future in the knowledge that self-confidence is often key to unlocking the potential within us.

Our perspective of the future is infinitely more powerful than our memories of the past.

Great leaders understand that their past should never dictate their future.

The footprints of great leaders, who saw into the future and spanned generations, who have previously travelled our paths will often reveal simply, yet profoundly, the principles of fixing our gaze firmly on the future, and not being distracted by the past.