Letting go of the past to move forward

Like a lot of you, I like to set goals. And perhaps like some of you, I set too many goals. It's a byproduct of either not having enough focus or a focus that continues to shift in discrete measure too frequently.

I'll make every effort to not get too existential here, but we've got a finite amount of time in this life and there's not enough time to do everything. It's happened to me on a couple occasions that either life got in the way or I got distracted for too long, and then I didn't make the progress I wanted on one of my goals. What I'm learning is it's not always a good idea to go back. Some goals you get a certain amount of time to achieve and once that time is gone, you have to move on. Other things come into the picture, they take precedent, and going back means sacrificing the present, which is much worse.

I'm being deliberately vague on the goals I've left behind because I don't want specifics to detract from the big picture here. What I want to emphasize is if you're like me and there are things in your past you wish you had done, but didn't, it's OK to let go. If you have the time to go back, by all means do it. But never sacrifice the present or the future for the past.

Just something I'm learning that I wanted to share. Perhaps this is common sense to everyone else. It wasn't to me.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

UnixGuy

Wishing you the best of luck!

Fulcrum45

I understand what you mean. It is hard to let go of personal goals. And a lot of times when you think you have let go something pops up to remind you. In my case I have a personal (non IT related) goal I would like to accomplish but it's a ginormous undertaking but I find myself not wanting to put it on the back burner but also not giving myself the time to actually work on it either. Kind of in limbo. Best of luck to your future endeavors- past or present

Dakinggamer87

I think it happens to all of us at different points but the key is to keep moving forward!!

mzx380

One thing that will help talk to people here about it. You'll find someone here who's had that oh $%!% moment where they realized they had to start doing more.

NuclearBeavis

mzx380 wrote: »

One thing that will help talk to people here about it. You'll find someone here who's had that oh $%!% moment where they realized they had to start doing more.

There are a lot of wise people here. I learn quite a lot reading through these threads, even ones that are several years old.

mzx380

Below is a post I made last year that I share with people who sound like they were in a similar situation. Judging by what you're saying, I'm sure that you could relate.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/123500-my-whirwind-year-things-i-learned-2016-a.html

NuclearBeavis

mzx380 wrote: »

Below is a post I made last year that I share with people who sound like they were in a similar situation. Judging by what you're saying, I'm sure that you could relate.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/123500-my-whirwind-year-things-i-learned-2016-a.html

Excellent post. Yep, I can relate. I switched careers to IT a few years ago, and I mistakenly thought it would be easier to get an entry level IT job than it actually was. I figured if I self-studied, picked up a cert or two, I could certainly find an entry level position somewhere. Turns out it took nearly a year from when I started studying until I got my first in-person interview.

I've been steadily employed since, but the fact that it was so hard to get a foot in the door was a wake-up call to me that I need to constantly develop my skill set. It was this realization that helped me understand that I would just have to leave some goals behind (the goals I speak of were not career related...just personal). I couldn't justify sinking a ton of time into personal goals for which my window had long passed when my time was much more valuable in devoting to study and this career field. I lament because I know I could have accomplished those personal goals when I was younger. I had the time...just not the focus. But now that I'm older, other things have taken precedent and the extra time is no longer there.

It slips away quick.

datacomboss

Gotta be in continuous improvement mode for your entire IT career, constantly updating skills (tech and soft), resume/cover letter/linkedin and your network.

jt2929

There's a reason the windshield is bigger than the rear-view mirror.

kiki162

Good post! I tend to put too much on my plate and not think about the amount of work and time it would take, and not taking into account other things like family, kids, house, myself...etc. Time management is a fine art IMO, and allocating time at the right time is a big part of that. Two years ago I had an "idea" to get a bunch of GIAC and RedHat certs. I didn't get too far as I started my Masters, and eventually moved into the Cloud/DevOps world. Spending too much time trying to pass certs that cost a lot of money wasn't worth my time or energy. If I were still single, and had nothing else better to do maybe things would be different.

NuclearBeavis

kiki162 wrote: »

Good post! I tend to put too much on my plate and not think about the amount of work and time it would take, and not taking into account other things like family, kids, house, myself...etc. Time management is a fine art IMO, and allocating time at the right time is a big part of that. Two years ago I had an "idea" to get a bunch of GIAC and RedHat certs. I didn't get too far as I started my Masters, and eventually moved into the Cloud/DevOps world. Spending too much time trying to pass certs that cost a lot of money wasn't worth my time or energy. If I were still single, and had nothing else better to do maybe things would be different.

I have similar hypothetical thoughts. One day, if I'm rich and no longer have to work, then I can jump back on those personal goals

E Double U

As my circumstances change, so do my goals. My goals are not set in stone so if I need to let go of one to achieve another then so be it. There are plenty of things I wanted to do in life (both personal and professional) that I was not able to complete within a certain window so I just let it go. I wouldn't try to work on a past goal if it will not benefit me in the present or future. I wanted to improve on my Spanish when I lived in LA, but I moved to Holland so I switched to Dutch. I wanted to complete the CCNP R&S when I was on networking teams, but then I moved to security so I focused on different certs. I wanted to live like Hugh Hefner, but I started a family - wait, this might be a bad example because I do want to come back to this goal someday.