Most baseball players have a remarkable ability to put a bad day behind them, and I saw that and tried to draw on that. If you went 0-for-4 one day, that didn’t necessarily have to affect your ability to go 4-for-4 the next day — if you work to turn the page emotionally. I have tried to use that in my own work.
it’s true, it’s true!
learning from your past is good. i just re-read a post (a private post) about my experiences at my last job. it was interesting.
but really, you shouldn’t talk too much about your past. it just gets boring once you’ve learned what you can from it. you should really think about your future, because you aren’t really living your past anymore, are you?
this very old gladwell article (2004) has a quote, in turn from the man in the flannel suit, that sums it up quite nicely:
“I want you to be able to talk to me about the war. It might help us to understand each other. Did you really kill seventeen men?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to talk about it now?”
“No. It’s not that I want to and can’t—it’s just that I’d rather think about the future. About getting a new car and driving up to Vermont with you tomorrow.”
“That will be fun. It’s not an insane world. At least, our part of it doesn’t have to be.”
(ps. and that is why my selection of friends has changed. i also find that those that over-live their past tend to be over-dramatic. even the ones who claim not to be dramatic.)