It’s Wasted Energy Living in the Past

A few weeks ago, Kim and I left out of Tampa on a five-day cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya.  Our goal was to inspect and photograph Jewel of the Seas – the cruise ship we’ll be on when we do our first annual Captains of the Deal Cruise in 2013 for real estate investors. (See CaptainsOfTheDeal.com)

When we were underway, Kim and I did what lots of folks do – we went to the bow (front) of the ship to see what we could see.  We met a young couple there.  The guy, of course, stood on the rail with his arms outstretched and screamed, “I’m king of the world!”

Because they were standing right next to us, we couldn’t help overhearing the young couple’s conversation.  They were newlyweds.  This was their first cruise.  The girl was worried about icebergs, running into other ships, storms, etc.  She quickly worked herself into a frantic mess worrying about things that had about a 0% chance of happening…especially the whole iceberg thing – in the Gulf of Mexico!

The next morning, we had breakfast on the stern (back) of the ship with several couples we had met.  The view was absolutely incredible.  Everywhere you looked, it was nothing but crystal blue ocean and sky.   I’ve never had a better breakfast with a more incredible view.  A-MAZ-ING!

When one of the guys at the table learned that Kim and I were real estate investors, he told us that he always wanted to become a real estate investor.  He explained the reason why he hadn’t been – in fact, the reason why most of his life had been a miserable failure – was because his parents hadn’t hugged him enough.  He proudly explained that this was his therapist’s conclusion.  Then he began to recount all the bad things that had happened in his childhood.

Later that afternoon, after Kim and I were able to chew our arms off to get away from this negative guy, we relaxed by one of the two pools.  It was a good time to reflect.

I thought about the young girl who worried herself sick thinking about all the bad things that might happen in the future.  Then, I thought about the guy who spent his time thinking about all the bad things that happened in the past.

I had an epiphany – as you can imagine, Kim just loves it when this happens!  I quickly walked Kim to the front of the ship, looked out on the horizon and remarked, “Honey, there’s no use worrying about what’s coming.  We can’t predict the future.”  Then we hustled to the back of the ship and again looked out on the horizon.  I said, “And there’s no need to worry about what’s behind us.  It’s already done, and there’s nothing we can do to change it.  We can only accept it and move on.”

Folks, it’s wasted energy living in the past.  It’s also wasted energy worrying about all the bad things that might happen in the future.  All you can control is today.  To be successful, when you get up every morning, say out loud, “This is going to be the best day of my life!”  Then spend the rest of the day turning this into a true statement.

Bill & Kim Cook are a husband and wife real estate investing team. They live in Adairsville, Georgia and have been investing in real estate since 1995. They specialize in buying single-family homes, mobile homes and mobile home parks. They also run North Georgia REIA and teach folks how to successfully invest in real estate.