What makes the future so intriguing that I must put forth so much time and effort preparing for it?
I have a hard time being in the moment. All through high-school, I was thinking about college, and now I’m in college thinking about my future job.
Working as a videographer, at the office I am commonly known as “that guy who breaks stuff.” Personally, I would say that name isn’t completely fair; I’ve probably misplaced more pieces of equipment than I’ve broken. It’s not because I don’t value the equipment, it’s because my brain is moving onto the next task before the rest of my body makes it there.
So looking within myself I see two reasons for this.
- I look to the future because I am ambitious
- I look to the future because I fear I will fail if I don’t
That ambition is a curse. I’m 18 years old, and I already feel doomed.
I want to be special, but looking at the world-changers, the people who make a difference, I feel I will never measure up. I walked into my college orientation last week SCARED I’d find I don’t measure up to my peers. Am I smart enough? Am I strong enough? Am I different?
Nope! There are billions of other humans on this Earth just like me. And they all want the same things I do. So where do the world-changers come from? Is it just the right combination of chromosomes? Can I choose to be special?
It’s possible It takes a stroke of luck to be different. You could work your whole life trying to make a difference and simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So what’s the answer?
When I was in 7th grade I moved to a new school. I was the smallest kid on the football team and I remember the first time I ever lifted weights at a practice. Even the smallest weights were a challenge for my wiry frame. The rest of the players threw them around like they were nothing. Sweat mixed with the tears that I hid from the other players and coaches; I hated being small.
When I got in my mom’s car that day I couldn’t hide my frustration. My mom’s advice was this:
“Focus on the things you CAN control. Nothing comes from worrying about the things you can’t.”
We don’t have to know all the answers to the hard questions. So what if it does take a stroke of luck to make an impact? Don’t be so focused on the future that you lose sight of where you are in the here and now.
Here’s the thing. Most people are just living their lives, moving from one place to the next. The key to being special is choosing to be intentional each and every day. Be the hardest worker in the room. Go out of your way to help others. Live your life trying to give back to people and to nature. Innovate in whatever you’re doing, and be ready for your moment to come.
Planning the future isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s important to remember that the real impacts we make will always be in the present.
My mom had a cameo in this article so I’d like to include my dad as well. He is a songwriter and wrote these lyrics to a song titled “Never Grow Old”.
“All I’ve got is here and now, if I could lock that in my mind somehow.
Cause time ain’t borrowed time ain’t sold, and If I live for the moment I’ll never grow old.”
If you’d like to watch him sing the whole song I’ll throw a link to an old video HERE.
Thanks for reading! If you have any thoughts I’d love to talk with you below.
(Quick Spartan Race Update)
I first want to thank everyone who encouraged me in the comment section of my blog “Stop Waiting to Get Motivated”.
If you haven’t read the first blog in this little series, you can click HERE to go back and check it out.
I’m happy to report that my hard work and training DID pay off. I set out to get top 40 and I placed 36th!
I must say I am very proud. Not only was I in the most prestigious category, I was also one of the youngest competitors at the event. Your words and encouragement helped me to get out of bed just a little bit earlier, and run just a little bit farther during my training. I took some of your advice to heart as well!
I put this sign up on my mirror so that I would see it every single morning.
So again, thank you to everyone who read my last blog, and encouraged me to accomplish my goals. You really made a difference!
(^Just after finishing)
Thank you for reading!
thedihedral.com 
Greta watching and reading your journey!!! Congrats on the race.
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Thanks for being there on the journey Kyle…your support is huge inspiration!
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Congrats on the race and I love your Mum’s advice I’ll sure be having that as one of my goals! 🙂
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Not sure what we would do without Mum’s! It’s funny how such a simple idea can have such a profound impact!
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Too true!
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You are a talented blogger. I know your mom and dad through RLRM. That is some great advice your mom gave you! You are right about living each day with intention. It’s the key. Keep up the good work!
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I like your attitude. Keep on pushing for your dreams, and don’t worry about that insecure feeling. I’m in my 40s and in a professional career, and sometimes I wonder why the hell they hired me! Experience helps confidence, as does knowledge. You’ll get both. Thanks!
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Haha, I love this response…experience and knowledge sound like the right ingredients, here’s to getting the life we want, without knowing why!
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Being a “world-changer” is easy if you set out to destroy things. Otherwise (as a world-changer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) said (I paraphrase because I’m lazy) it depends on luck; being born at a particular time and then doing the thing at the very moment the world is ready for it. In his case, it was a novel, the Sorrows of Young Werther. Nothing like it had been written before (or, if it had the world wasn’t ready for it so just ignored it). People dressed like the characters in the novel. It started a fad — a rash — of love-related suicides (yes). Goethe was hounded by that novel his whole entire life even though he outgrew it (he wrote it in his early 20s). But it changed fiction forever. For the modern reader it’s just more “live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse” but for the 18th century it was explosive.
I think there are thousands of examples of this in history but, as I said, I’m lazy.
The conundrum is whether you want the world to notice you or whether you want to do what makes you happy, what you believe in, what is real for you and if the moment — the Zeitgeist — is ready for it, lucky you. If not, you’ve had a happy life. ❤ 🙂
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Martha, we need to have you write a guest post for us some day…we all love your comments, and support, and positive vibe…speaking of Goethe I was just reading that in the second edition of Werther, he made a few changes to express that everybody should find their own way to “live” rather than follow someone else. I’m not sure if it helped the suicide rate drop, but at least he tried? As always, thanks for the wisdom!
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I’d be honored to write a guest post for you. I love your blog and sometimes when I think (because you know I’m 66 and have been contending with running-down-too-many-hills arthritis) that you are all in your various selves with your own individual struggles, finding the magic that’s out there, I feel so happy. Truly.
As for Goethe, he had to travel incognito to Italy in his mid-thirties so he would have half-a chance experiencing the country. BUT, when he was in his old age, he wrote a heart-rending beautiful poem to Werther. (I’m not sure but a combination maybe of Werther the character and the real friend, Jerusalem, who shot himself)
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/trilogy-of-passion-01-to-werther/
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In line with your dad’s song, also remember “the wealthiest person is a pauper at times/compared with the one with a satisfied mind.” Also know that you may have a tremendous influence on someone’s life, and never know it. Most of those who are known for changing the world in a big way did not do it for the better.
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That is a great point..you are so right, there are many ways to change the world, not all are known, and not all are good. This comment has my brain running in 20 different directions. Thank you for the endearing insight!
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I should have credited that song to Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes (“Satisfied Mind”).
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Congratulations on your achievement and also for a super post. Wise words and engagingly presented. Thank you for sharing. 😊
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Thank you so much! you’ve made my day! 🙂
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Great perspective on what many cultures around the world value…thinking abut the future. I have always wondered about this: other animal species plan for the future, such as Blue Jays and Chipmunks. Are these animas considering the moment at the same time, paying attention to their surroundings for survival? Can we as humans do the same?
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That is an amazing thought… I like to think that they are doing both but I guess we will never know!
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Great blog Casen. Check out a book by John Maxwell called Intentional Living….it will help you keep your focus on the mindset you are striving for. You’re on the right track…keep living in the moment and stay intentional. Always take action!
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Thank you for the comment! I really appreciate your encouragment and I’ll give the book a look!
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this life race we are on 🙂
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thank you for commenting! 🙂
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First of all, great article! Made me think for a while. It’s important to live in the moment and appreciate the present, but it’s equally important not to forget about the future. How can you live with purpose in the present if you don’t have a goal set in the future? You could be the hardest worker in the room and give every day your all, but if you’re not building towards something, most of that effort is wasted. In my relatively short 18 years of life, I’ve found that one of the most important and relevant things in life is balance, and this is no different. Placing all your focus on the future leaves you too paralyzed with uncertainty and fear to act in the present; placing all your focus in the present leaves you lost without a clear path to follow towards the future.
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That’s a great way of saying it. Balance is definitely something we should be keeping in mind as we pursue to achieve our goals.
Thanks for your comment Alonso!
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It’s our instincts kicking in. Planning for the worst. Thinking of the future. Then the neuroses follow. Thinking of all the things we did wrong in the past and tormenting ourselves. Our brains are great devices, but they also get distracted like little children. We do EVERYTHING to NOT be in the moment. And we do that subconsciously. That’s why we need to do our best to change that once we notice. And some of us notice it early. Some of us notice it late (think of the cliche mid life crisis). I found it better since I started mindfulness/meditation. I seriously think everyone should try it (there are great apps for that, like Calm or Headspace – which don’t treat meditation with spiritual devotion, but rather as a training for the brain)!
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“Focus on the things you CAN control. Nothing comes from worrying about the things you can’t.”
This is incredibly important. We often seek control to reach a specific outcome, when in reality we have the power to influence those outcomes, but not control them. Realizing this is important to maintain sanity. Uncertainty is a gift of life.
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A great great point. That’s just a truth of living!
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Reblogged this on Wag 'n Bietjie.
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Reblogged this on Menna's passion blog and commented:
“The key to being special is choosing to be intentional each and every day. Be the hardest worker in the room. Go out of your way to help others. Live your life trying to give back to people and to nature. Innovate in whatever you’re doing, and be ready for your moment to come.”
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I found your article really inspirational. You have achieved so much its hard to believe that you are an 18-year-old just like me! I’m sure you make your family very proud and you seem like a great guy. I’m excited to read more of your posts!
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