Sometimes in life, it is amazing that influence can hit you from multiple angles all at the same time, telling you the exact same message.
When I first sat down to write this piece, I intended to be utterly cheesy and complete a fake Spotify playlist for 2020. I kept seeing real ones pop up on Instagram and I had some great songs to add to my faux playlist such as “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger, “A Hard Days Night” by the Beatles, “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba, “Down with Disease” by Phish, and “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift.
If you are afraid, the door remains closed.
Over a very recent conversation with Tampa Bay Business Journal Publisher Ian Anderson, I told him about this concept and with a chuckle he said “don’t look back.” I found this intriguing. Something so simple but so profound. “Don’t look back.”
So much of the news is talking about everything that has gone on throughout 2020 has been wrenching. This has been one of the single worst years any of us will ever face through our entire life; one for the history books. A global pandemic came at us like a freight train, political discord was seemingly louder than ever before, and a bright spotlight shone on long-lived racial inequities. How do we keep the focus? How do I listen to those three words? “Don’t look back.”
As I later got in the car, something magical happened. It was as if Ian was controlling my SiriusXM radio as it was tuned into Classic Rewind. The first song that came on as I pulled out of the parking spot was, and I kid you not, “Don’t Look Back” by Boston.
Right then and there it hit me like a ton of bricks. By looking back, we are using the past as fear, as an excuse, to not look forward to potential future success. If 2020 was rock bottom, that means 2021 has to be on an upswing. I was taken back to a talk that Brian Murphy, ReliaQuest CEO, gave to a small group at Embarc Collective a few weeks ago. He said how he coaches people when they are afraid to make a decision to view the decision as a closed door. If you are afraid, the door remains closed. But if you turn around and see all the open doors behind you, it becomes a lot easier to walk through the one right in your way.
2020 leaves a lot of doors in our wake. Some of the decisions saved jobs or even companies. Some of the decisions progressed careers. Some of the decisions may have not worked out well, but as we know failure can breed success. All of these choices have put each and every one of us on our path to the upward trajectory that is the future. “Don’t look back.”
As the calendar flips to 2021, I encourage everybody to heed the advice of Boston and Ian – “don’t look back”, but to look ahead. What successes lie ahead? What is in our way from reaching the next level? Is it the past? If we have hit rock bottom and do not push forward, we will remain right at the status quo. “Don’t look back.” If we consider the opportunities that may be present, the new problems to solve in front of us, and how connected we can become in a virtually connected world, the possibilities are infinite.
Together we have been working to make Tampa Bay the world’s next great innovation community. Let the past be in the past. Leave 2020 behind us. Keep looking forward as 2021 is Tampa Bay’s year.
“Don’t look back a new day is breakin’. It’s been too long since I felt this way. I don’t mind where I get taken. The road is callin’. Today is the day.” ~ Boston
