I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and heard this quote, "Always think about the future because the present was planned years ago by people that thought about their future while you were living in the moment." When I heard this, I had to take a moment to digest what I just heard. I do believe that there are very few new ideas, but once in a while I hear an idea that is a collection of ideas presented so concisely that it takes on its own identity.
Random thought
Once in a while, I ask myself what I want and I find it difficult to answer at times. I gave a talk to a group of 1st - 3rd graders for career day. I very rarely see children, so I was a bit over-prepared. I had a slideshow to teach the kids about the origins of computer programming and I legitimately thought I'd have some intellectual discussions about the progression of the industry. I really ended up answering questions that were tougher. Do you love your job? Does your job make you happy? How do you figure out what you want to do? How much do you make. All very tough questions to answer.
The one thing I repeated to each group I spoke with is this, "You can be anything you want to be, but you can't be everything. It's important that you try to make the world a better place. If there's something that you don't like about the world, you have the ability and the obligation to make it better for those that come after you. As you get older you'll find that many things can make you happy, but a few things will make you fulfilled. I've found that the happiest people are the people who are most fulfilled and the most fulfilled people are the ones that help other people." I'm 100% sure I wasn't as eloquent that day. In fact, I probably said something different, but I'd like to believe this is the sentiment of what I said.
The main thing I'm getting at is the importance of thinking about the future. We can be selfish about the future and think about what we can get for ourselves, but I believe that whatever your walk of life, the most noble thing you can do is leave the world a bit better than you found it. I think every person is obligated to make the world a better place. It doesn't need to be on a massive scale--you can make the world a better place by deliberately helping those around you.
Back to it
I do think it's important to enjoy the now. After all, if you're not enjoying the present, you're just not enjoying. The quote above made me realize that I'm living in someone's future. Someone had an idea of what they wanted for the future, so I shouldn't be shocked that the world isn't what I want it to be.
I remember reading an interview with an Apple employee. They were asked about what made Steve Jobs so special and they said something to this effect, "Steve Jobs had the ability to see right around the corner." I feel the words were chosen very carefully. Steve Jobs was able to anticipate what people wanted before then even knew what they wanted. But, when you apply the quote it seems that Steve Jobs had a vision of the future he wanted to live in and we chose to ride along with him.
There is fear involved in taking a step away and trusting in yourself. Why? Maybe what you want to do is drastically different from the norm and you're afraid of being ridiculed. Maybe you don't know. Maybe you're afraid that you might start and realize you want something else. These are thoughts that constantly nag at me when I'm breaking away a bit. Change is frightening, but it's scarier to think that I might
just live in another person's future when I have the ability to craft a future of my own.