Change the words “if only” to “next time”.
Norman Vincent Peale.
For this week’s optimizing yourself exercise, I am going to change my “if only” thoughts or statements to “next time”.
Instead of saying “if only I had done this”, or “hadn’t done that”, I am going to focus on what I learned from my mistakes, and what I will do better next time.
As Norman Vincent Peale says in You Can if You Think You Can, “if only” is past tense, it wastes time, and hashes over old mistakes with you at the center. “Next time” shifts your direction and lets you learn from your mistakes and push aside regret and move forward. Living in the present, one day at a time, while thinking ahead to how you will keep optimizing yourself is the best you can do.
I will let you know how it goes next week.
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