“It doesn’t matter where you came from; it matters where you are going”
Profound, isn’t it? Spoken by Condoleezza Rice recently at an event I was fortunate enough to attend, it is a statement of optimism—of future promise, of hope that the future can be even better than the past. It is also liberating as we can’t necessarily control where we came from, but we can control where we are going.
And there are other versions. Like the Smurf version that says, “It doesn’t matter where you came from; it only matters who you choose to be.” Or even Ralph Waldo Emerson’s version which is “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”
In each of these statements the past is behind you and in front of you lies opportunity and choice. What do you choose to make it? Where are you going? I suspect great things lie in your future, especially if you are deliberate about pursuing them.