Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. Lamens terms, the good ole’ days. We all love it. It feels good. Everything was great and stress-free. In actuality, we’ve striped all negatives from that period of time to make it great but we’ll leave that for another day. Let’s get back to this perfect time we just can’t get enough of. Why do we hold on to this time or occasion so strongly? Why does it come up in conversation after conversation with the person telling the story often forgetting they’ve told it to this crowd multiple times? Is this a bad thing? What is the problem with being stuck in nostalgia? Well, let’s take these two examples and see if one is a problem.

The first, a 9-year-old talking about their trip to Disney when they were 7 for the 400th time with only 730 days separating them from the experience. Funny, appreciative, maybe even cute, right? Second, a 40-year-old who won a state championship in high school along with a homecoming crown telling the story of the last second shot they made in the semi-final to send their team to the big game…..again. Yeah, not so cool? You’d listen to the 7-year-olds story 400 more times before listening to this very grown person discuss the 22-year-old accomplishment one more time. Let’s not forget the fact that they beat out their then nemesis. (who’s now a successful business owner and would take losing that crown 10 more times for half the life they have.) The accomplishment is great and not the problem at all. The problem is the ease of passing through 22 years of life to grab on to something they did as a child. What occurred in those years and why did nothing compare to high school? Now, this can be anyone. The valedictorian in college. The first in their family to own a car, home, or business. Reaching 6 figures or more annually from whatever they do. All great but none should be the highlight of your life. You are cheating yourself by thinking one accomplishment fairly early in life is the apex of your ability. Attempt to catch and stop yourself from being stuck too long on an accomplishment. Without a doubt, be happy, you accomplished it and take a little time to enjoy it but in no way allow yourself to treat it as your life’s work. If you do, you have a good chance of it becoming just that.

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Let’s look at this through a different lens to see how this issue can kill your ability to excel in business. Nostalgia can cause you to be stuck on what worked the last time you or your business did extremely well. This is a danger because things change. You may feel there is a certain way to do things and not only is there nothing wrong with the way you do it, but it’s also the only way to do it in your opinion. Nostalgia has you stuck. It will cripple you in business. You love to call people and have them come in face to face but now people enjoy the ease of a text message/email and having things delivered to them. Yes, you may have a small number of people who love your way of doing business but you lose the people who no longer want that and you have zero chance of gaining new ones who never did. Nostalgia makes you feel nice and comfortable but remember what we humans do when we are extremely comfortable. We go to sleep. Being sleep is being vulnerable. Being vulnerable in business will put you out of it. Malls vs E-commerce | Blockbuster vs Netflix | Barnes and Noble vs Amazon | One side adapted and the others either couldn’t, didn’t, or didn’t adapt fast enough. Don’t allow that to be you or your business.

In closing, as with most things in life, there is a balancing act we must control when allowing ourselves to look back with joy at our accomplishments. Yes, we need and should be able to look back and feel good about our accomplishments but also look at the present and to the future with excitement and determination to add to the list. The past has shown you that you have the ability to accomplish great things. Don’t interpret it as the past telling you this is the great thing you accomplished. Go out there and make new memories. Accomplish new feats. Give the people around you some new stories to listen to….please…and thank you from all of us.

Food for thought…You do the dishes.

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