There are so many quotes about history and they all have one thing in common and that is that they were all no more than a reflection of the time when they were first spoken. A snapshot from the mind of one person in one moment in time.
They can all teach us something about the moment in which they were spoken if we dig deeper into "why" they were said. But for me there is one timeless and meaningful quote from a moment in history that stands out from the rest and it is this one attributed to Franklin D Roosevelt:
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
In other words, we have a tendency to hold ourselves back because we made mistakes before. And after a while, we think everything looks and feels the same. That is what kills off our hope and ambition and our willingness to move ahead.
FDR was also the guy that was credited with saying "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Which is pretty much the same statement as the first, just worded differently.
The one that has alway resonated with me, the first quote above, tells you everything you ever need to know about success, realisation and achievement. If all you see ahead of you is your goal, everything else becomes merely an obstacle to go around or to go over or under. But if you are ruled by your doubts then you are in shackles.
Sadly if all we ever do is look back and use what happened before to stop us moving ahead, then we are doomed to a life of mediocrity interspersed with occasional periods of luck.
If you are now thinking "oh dear, this is one of those psychological mumbo jumbo messages coming at me" you'd be wrong. All I want to do here is to attempt to explain why I think that the three word statement below is one of the most misused and potentially damaging statements of all time.
"History repeats itself".
No it does not! There is no day that passes on this planet that is the same as the day preceding it. There is no day on this planet where progress was not made on multiple different (important) things:
Things such as (but not exclusively):
Greater human understanding.
The understanding of nature and all natural things.
And; science and technology in so many different ways.
History cannot ever repeat itself any more than time can be repeated or replaced. The famous saying (Benjamin Franklin) "nothing is certain except death and taxes" is only partially correct. Taxes seem to be inevitable but that is only because no powerful government or institution has come up with a better way. And we all know that not everyone pays taxes, thus they are not certain.
Death seems to be the only constant in the end (but will it always be so?). And every person that ever lived on this planet will have a different perspective and experience of history seen through their own personal lens, therefore, history cannot ever repeat itself.
After all. You can read about one day in history as reported by different people and you could be forgiven for thinking that you were reading about different events. The narrative over the war in the Ukraine, or the war in Gaza will be different depending on whose narrative you read. And yet, each narrative will become history.
The worst thing about the inevitability of the end is that we do not know when that end will be. So to waste even a momentary thought assuming that we will always repeat our previous mistakes and suffer the same consequences as we did before is a tragedy.
Yes, if you cut yourself you will always bleed. If you treat people badly, you will probably get treated badly in return. But just because it's easier to assume that all things that look and feel similar will come out looking and feeling the same does not mean that it is certain or even necessarily so.
In fact, even if you get a similar end result this next time, that still doesn't mean that you were wrong to try and should stop trying. You try and try again and again until you get the outcome you desire. There I go, almost arguing with Albert Einstein who reputedly said:
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Well, actually I'm not arguing with old Albert. I am merely saying that please be sure it is the same thing before you give up and go nowhere.
Why am I sharing this? Simple. Until we stop parroting what we hear over and over (even if it is only inside our own head) and start realising that we carve our own path through life we cannot really grow and move forward.
You may think that the rapid changes in the world of money and finance can be ignored and that you need do nothing to change with it. But you'd be wrong. Everything is changing and you need to change with it even if you do not yet realise it.
I am now literally earning money in my sleep by doing nothing more than wearing a watch on my wrist. If I had made the assumption that this "thing" was exactly the same as those other "things" I've tried before that failed to live up to their promise. And if I had assumed that I was inevitably going to fail with this "thing" then I would not be building a stronger financial future for my family and I.
The watch, of course,does other things as well as tell the time, It requires some effort (removal for an hour or so every two to three days to charge it up) but, otherwise, there's no work involved at all. Every member of my household is wearing one and getting paid for wearing it.
Some people will look at what I've said in the last few paragraphs and, within a nano second, come to a conclusion about what this is and they will be wrong. They will call it "another one of those THINGS" and they will be wrong. They engage the process of history repeating itself and they will miss out on what could be a breakthrough opportunity for their future financial well-being.
They will be living proof of “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today” in action.
Things fail. Accept it. Opportunities go wrong. Move on. Dreams can easily be destroyed if we make dangerous assumptions. Stop making those assumptions.The most dangerous assumption of all is that "nothing will ever work for me".
One day you are going to find yourself knee deep in the best opportunity you will ever have to acquire real financial independence and freedom. But you will only find yourself in that place if you keep looking for it and if you dare to give up those shackles created by history repeating itself.
Spend a little time going deeper here. You can see what I am doing and why I am doing it by taking a good, long look at this page:
All the best
John
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