| Ten years
ago rock bands Oasis and Blur were fighting it out for the number
one slot in the UK, Microsoft launched Windows95 and Sony revealed
their PlayStation. But what were you doing? How do you feel when
you look back over the past ten years? How has your life changed?
In 1995 I wrote a song called 'Mr
Sloane' which ridiculed a particular type of student that walked
around the university loudly talking on their mobile phones. Phone
rhymed with sloane which was very convenient. It's very interesting
how dated that song has become. Not only do all of us have mobile
phones but we can also take photos with them and txt. What? Imagine
telling that to yourself from 1995 when there was no such thing
as a digital camera. You can email photos (and movies) around the
world. 'What's email?' most of us would have said then. A website
was the back of my shed where the spiders lived. I could fil l this
article with all the other technical achievements that have happened
since then but instead let's have a think about your achievements.
If you could talk to yourself from ten years ago, what would impress
and astound yourself the most? I would have been pleased to hear
that I ran my own business. I would be gobsmacked to hear that I
would be two months from having a baby with a wife I wouldn't even
meet for another seven years. What would you say - and don't bother
listing all the failures and the regrets, that's easy, any fool
can do that. Have a think for a moment about what strange and wonderful
stories could you tell yourself about your decade of glory.
And when you've done that have a
think about this. Ten years isn't really a long time at all is it?
Are we really halfway through the first decade of the 21st century?
(the decade with no name - there won't be another named decade until
2020.) So if 1995 to 2005 happened that quickly we can rest assured
that 200 5 to 2015 will be even quicker. What would you most like
to hear from the you in 2015 about what you've achieved over those
next ten years? What changes would you most love to hear that had
taken place, what achievements would you most like to hear you had
achieved? (I want to 'live in a house, a very big house in the country').
Write them all down! That's so important I 'm going to say it again.
Write them all down! If you have just written them down the chances
of you achieving them just went up by about 30%.
Don't look back in anger. Your past
brought you to where you are today, that's all. Don't look forward
in fear either. How you see your future affects your thinking today.
Your thinking today determines your actions today. Your actions
today literally shape your future. Roll with it, and as Supergrass
said in 1995, 'feel alright'. |
