(If you have stumbled across this post, you have found me blogging my upcoming book “Getting to Did: How To Lose Your Big But and Live a Life Without Regret.” In the last installment, Sam learned about Passion. If you need to catch up on the whole book, you can start with “Sam’s Crumbling World” which has an index of all the posts or you can follow the successive links.)

Look To the Future

Looking up from the paper, Sam asked, “Okay, have PASSION. What about LOOK TO THE FUTURE? I already talked about planning and goal-setting with the TRAINER. Is that what this is about?”

“Not quite. Planning, or as the TRAINER put it, NEXT STEP THINKING, gets you from COULDA to CAN. We’re talking about motivation here, going from WOULDA to WILL. LOOK TO THE FUTURE is really about refusing to be governed by the present moment.

“Wait a minute,” Sam said shaking his head. “The TRAINER and the PROFESSOR both said all I had was today and that I needed to live in the present moment. How can you say I’m not supposed to be governed by it?”

“We live in the moment, Sam, but we aren’t governed by it. That is, there are some things we do in the present moment that we don’t like because we know where they lead. No matter how PASSIONATE you are, there are always aspects of your work and life you won’t be PASSIONATE about. I hate parent/teacher conferences. I hate grading tests and papers in the Math class I have to teach if I want to coach. What helps me keep going and plugging away through these drudgeries? LOOKING TO THE FUTURE. I constantly remind myself of the rewards of doing the parts that I don’t like about this job. First, if I want to keep looking forward to the parts I do like, I have to do the others as well. Second, even though I don’t like them, I realize they’re part of the process that accomplishes what I am PASSIONATE about. Those conferences help keep the parents involved in their kids’ lives. They help the parents know where I can see their kids going in the future. And they help the parents and me get on the same team. While I prefer coaching football to teaching Math, I can see that most of my guys aren’t going to make a living playing football and even the one or two that ever will are going to need life skills to be successful.

“My job is not well done just because my guys have a fun, winning season. My job is well done when they’re well prepared to go out and PASSIONATELY pursue their life’s course. On those days when I don’t feel like teaching Math or having the parent/teacher conference, I look down the road at the kids’ lives. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE motivates me to Make the PLAYS I don’t like making.

“Further, let’s face it, even with the stuff we are PASSIONATE about, we all have down days. My team doesn’t win State every year. We don’t win every game. And we don’t always have great practices. Some days, weeks and years, things just don’t go right. The players may not be the high caliber we need. We may have made a staffing error. I may be sick. Who knows, maybe it’s just raining too much. Nobody soars on an emotional high all the time; not even in their areas of PASSION. We have to learn not to be governed by that moment. We have to LOOK TO THE FUTURE and remember where all of this is heading. This is big picture thinking. Don’t get bogged down by the bad moments, days, weeks or even years. My father-in-law had a lot of bad moments. I always remember how he faced them. He always said, ‘This too shall pass.’ Don’t get bogged down in it. Just recognize if you’re working to make the PLAY these down times won’t last.

“LOOK TO THE FUTURE and remember what the whole journey is about. That will help you Make the PLAY even when you don’t feel like it.

“Are you with me so far, Sam?”

“Sure, this all makes sense. I have to learn to be motivated to Make the PLAY. That is a lot easier if I love what I’m doing, if I’m PASSIONATE about it. However, no matter how much PASSION I have, there will be down times. To keep motivated during those times I have to LOOK TO THE FUTURE.”

“Good,” the COACH said, “Now I know why Sam, Jr. was always so quick to catch on. Here’s another exercise for you to work through this week.”

(Come back next Thursday as the Coach teaches SAM to ACCEPT NO EXCUSES)