Hope in the Future

Hope in the Future

Dr. John Maxwell says that if there’s hope in the future there is power in the present.  The reason is simple: If there is hope in the future, that has a dramatic impact on your thinking today.  Your thinking today determines your performance today, and your performance today has a direct bearing on your future.  Dr. Tony Campolo of Eastern College in Pennsylvania says that your past is important because it brought you to where you are, but as important as your past is, it is not nearly as important as the way you see your future.  He is saying, “I understand the problems of your past.  I know that you were abused as a child, raised by alcoholic parents, suffered through bankruptcy, depression and/or alcoholism.  You’ve gone through one or more divorces.  All of these things are traumatic events which affect the way you think and the way you act.”  In no way is Dr. Campolo denying any of the impact of your past, because many of those events are extremely significant. However, he is saying that despite all of these things, the way you see your future is even more important. John Johnson, late publisher and owner of Ebony magazine and one of the four hundred wealthiest men in America, says that “men and women are limited not by the place of their birth, not by the colour of their skin, but by the size of their hope.” One of my major objectives is to help you make friends with your past so you can focus on today, which will make your tomorrows even better.  By now, if you’re familiar with my material, you realize that my nature is that of an optimist – I just can’t see any point in being pessimistic.  I’m not talking about denial of reality; what I am talking about is facing reality, but facing it in an optimistic way. That’s what we’ll do every time in this column.  Bond with the concepts I’ll be sharing and I will SEE YOU AT THE TOP!