Many years ago (almost 30 - eek!) I did a History degree. Not the most obvious first step to a career in marketing, consulting and coaching, but what I really wanted to study.
I loved my teachers at A level and connecting the dots between the past, the present and the future. I loved the stories, the cycles, the learnings, the repeating patterns. I loved finding the thread and making sense of the journey.
I still do.
I’m fascinated by who we are and why we are, how we got here and where we’re going, what we can learn from the past to inform our future.
It can be counter intuitive to look back when we decide we want or need a change. It can feel better to look forward to find our future, to get unstuck and find a different path.
But it’s hard to create without some material to work with.
Looking back at our personal history gives us a way of getting that - something to research and explore, to gather the learning and insight from. We don’t want to get stuck there, but it’s useful to visit.
When we look back at where we’ve been from where we are we can see through a different lens, with the objective to learn from all of that experience:
What did we love, and what didn’t we?
What lights us up, and what drains us?
Where did we naturally shine, and where did we have to work harder to find our feet?
What kind of work makes us feel the most well used?
What were our dreams, and are they still the same, or different now?
So, if you’re wanting to create a different future, take a moment to look back at your past.
How have you got here? What did you learn from the journey? What do you want to take with you, and what do you want to leave behind?
What can you learn from your history?
And how could you use that to shape your future?
Wishing you all a week of learning from the past to create the future,
