{"id":114121,"date":"2023-09-19T15:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T19:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=114121"},"modified":"2023-09-29T10:29:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T14:29:48","slug":"focus-on-the-future-not-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you let your emotional investment in something keep you from moving on when you should? If so, are you missing out on something of even greater value?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinical psychologist and management consultant Susan David says that emotional agility entails getting real about life and your emotional responses to it. Instead of living by false narratives<\/a>, you live by true values. Part of the emotionally agile<\/a> life is having a focus on the future, not the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn how this principle can help you start living by your values<\/a> and avoid falling back into the trap of narrative and emotional control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Focus on the Future, Not the Past<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even after you develop the skill of emotional agility, your past still affects you\u2014a past shaped by narrative-driven and emotion-driven decisions. Changing the life you spent years building according to your narratives won\u2019t be easy, but living by this principle will put you on the right path<\/a>: focus on the future, not the past. Live for what’s ahead of you, not for what’s behind you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David warns against believing the sunk-cost fallacy<\/a> when pursuing your goals<\/a>. The sunk-cost fallacy is a narrative that insists that you should continue pursuing a goal no matter what to avoid wasting the time, money, and other resources you\u2019ve already spent pursuing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you find your career unfulfilling. You might still feel reluctant to leave a position it took years to reach. Even if another career seems more satisfying, your narrative might provoke feelings of loyalty to your company, fear of the unknown, and perhaps even guilt at the idea of \u201cwasting\u201d years of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sunk-cost fallacy can be a difficult narrative and set of emotions to view objectively. Nevertheless, David urges you to consider an alternative perspective: Instead of considering what you\u2019ve invested <\/em>in a goal, consider what you stand to lose <\/em>by continuing to pursue that goal. <\/strong>If you don\u2019t change your situation, what opportunities might you miss? By acknowledging that keeping <\/em>your current goals could mean wasting <\/em>opportunities, you strip the sunk-cost fallacy of its controlling power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: At its foundation, the sunk-cost fallacy is about your emotional investment<\/em> in a decision<\/a>. So, while you might be able to outsmart your logic by considering potential loss, you can also try applying the principles of emotional agility to the emotions surrounding your investment: Label precisely<\/em> why you\u2019re having a hard time shifting your goals, objectively consider the pros and cons of staying the course, and mindfully consider how your current goals are or are not aligned with your personal values<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you let your emotional investment in something keep you from moving on when you should? If so, are you missing out on something of even greater value? Clinical psychologist and management consultant Susan David says that emotional agility entails getting real about life and your emotional responses to it. Instead of living by false narratives, you live by true values. Part of the emotionally agile life is having a focus on the future, not the past. Read on to learn how this principle can help you start living by your values and avoid falling back into the trap of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":18697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,42,43],"tags":[1275],"class_list":["post-114121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-motivation","category-self-improvement","tag-emotional-agility","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nFocus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes we let our emotional investment in something keep us from moving on when we should. Learn how to focus on the future, not the past.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes we let our emotional investment in something keep us from moving on when we should. Learn how to focus on the future, not the past.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-19T19:06:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-29T14:29:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1196\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-19T19:06:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-29T14:29:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Emotional Agility\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Career\",\"Motivation\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\",\"name\":\"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-19T19:06:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-29T14:29:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sometimes we let our emotional investment in something keep us from moving on when we should. Learn how to focus on the future, not the past.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1196},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life - Shortform Books","description":"Sometimes we let our emotional investment in something keep us from moving on when we should. Learn how to focus on the future, not the past.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life","og_description":"Sometimes we let our emotional investment in something keep us from moving on when we should. Learn how to focus on the future, not the past.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-09-19T19:06:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-29T14:29:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1196,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life","datePublished":"2023-09-19T19:06:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-29T14:29:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/"},"wordCount":452,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg","keywords":["Emotional Agility"],"articleSection":["Career","Motivation","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/","name":"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-19T19:06:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-29T14:29:48+00:00","description":"Sometimes we let our emotional investment in something keep us from moving on when we should. Learn how to focus on the future, not the past.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg","width":2560,"height":1196},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-future-not-the-past\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Focus on the Future, Not the Past: Living an Emotionally Agile Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/toward-the-future-search-for-meaning-scaled-e1695927898879.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114121"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114126,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114121\/revisions\/114126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}