How has your history help shape your future? No one can escape their history – the choices and decisions made in the past have shaped your present. A key question to ask is are you letting history repeat or have you learned lessons from history. Your history, no matter how much success and failure, has lessons for you to learn. Your past history is no guarantee, no matter how successful you have been, of future success. Your history can teach you how to be successful in the future if you apply the lessons learned. Trying to replicate what worked yesterday will only leave you vulnerable in the future.
As you prepare to set goals for the new year, consider where you want to go in the future and not what you didn't get done in the past. Goals are normally about what hasn't been done in the past. Apply the lessons learned from the past to set the path for your future. Instead of looking back, look forward to where you want to be at the end of 2013. With goals pointed to the future, you will be able to know what is important and where you will put your effort. Don't ignore the past - learn from it to move forward.