Where do you think you are?

I read this phrase in a book recently, and it has stuck with me. The context was not about where I was physically, but in time. Do I spend time thinking about the past, the present, the future, or some combination of them?

What kind of questions do you ask? Are they about the future:

What’s for dinner, What’s happening next, What do I want from…

Or about the past:

What was I doing when, Can you remember why, When did we…

There is no right or wrong. But the kind of questions you ask do reveal a lot about the kind of person you are. Are you a reflective person, who analyses the past to make sense of the world? Or the kind of person who is always starting from today, and thinking about the future?

Both types have their place in the world, and although they may have difficulties relating to each other (!), they need to understand the relevance of the other person’s point of view.

In business, everyone knows you must spend time thinking about the future. You have also got to be realistic about the past and present.

Think about the last meeting you were part of. How much time did you spend talking about things that happened in the past, and how much about what you were going to do in the future? Was the balance right?