It’s only human nature to react to events that affect us, and as such, many of us are responding to the past instead of preparing for the future. Philosophers tell us that it’s not what happens to us, it’s how we react to what happens. Let’s reframe it; it was a lesson, right?

As an experienced copywriter and creative director, my Rolodex (see, told you I’m experienced) is filled with many, many good memories, yet I often recall the lessons that happened to me or others. Attributed to Mark Twain: “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

Here’s the twist: somewhere in the tens of thousands of golf improvement pages I’ve read was a special message that rang (rings) true to me: you are upset with the bad golf shot not because of the penalty stroke, but because, deep down inside, you know you’ll do it again.

There’s no reason the next shot can’t be great.

Ask yourself in your marketing and sales efforts, are you reacting to the past? Or are you acting for the future? Are you trimming value because of last year’s sales, reducing portion sizes because of a bad month? Or are you adding value for good ahead?