What Difference will it Make 100 Years from Now?
What difference will your actions today make 100 years from now?
If I heard Bill Battle, my dad, say that once, I heard him say it a thousand times. It usually accompanied him eating something that wasn’t healthy for him or some other pretty innocent activity. It was his way of enjoying the present without any negative impact on the action in question.
Until long after his passing, I not only didn’t think deeply about the statement but used it myself.
Then a revelation made me see the expression in an entirely new light.
While it is still correct that eating something outside of our diet will not make any difference in the world 100 years from now, other endeavors will shift the future.
The world and time are great distractors. They seduce us to focus on now, with little regard to the future, and on instant gratification without consequence. The world and time seem so significant that they discourage us from believing that we can have any effect on either one of them.
The world whispers the big lies to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Matthew, Mark, and Luke ask us, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose his soul?”
When we’re waiting for something that we want to happen, time seems to stand still. But, blink twice, and twenty or more years will have seemed to have flown by us. The phenomenon of time passing faster as we age is so common that scientists study it. Dr. Haddon Robinson said, “Time is your enemy disguised as your friend.” We each get twenty-four hours a day, but we don’t receive the same number of days. It is paramount to maximize the impact of our time “under the sun,” as the book of Ecclesiastes instructs us.
I have been as guilty as anyone in abusing time and falling for the fake of the present. A lot of my previous efforts served the present and the world, but not the world of 100 years from now.
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In reality, 100 years from now is critical in our decisions for then and our daily lives. And, it is crucial in our ability to influence the future on this earth and beyond.
Our touch 100 years from now will result significantly from our interaction with those we directly relate with and indirectly influence through various activities.
Our impact may come through significant actions or seemingly inconsequential moments. They may be things that we’ll know when they occur and remember, or we have no idea of their occurring until someone acknowledges it to us in the future. Or, we may never see the total of our impact on the future.
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My great-grandmother passed when I was 9. She would be 150 now. Her teaching from my great-great-grandmother to her, my grandmother, mother, me, and my daughter spans almost two centuries. I have my great-great grandmother’s table where she served cookies to my great grandmother’s guests as a teenager and the guest book autographed from 1884. They are tangible reminders of the continuity of our past, present, and future generations.
When we administer life lessons, it is easy to focus on the present or near-term future. In reality, when we instruct our children, we provide our grandchildren and beyond training.
That makes the pro-active teaching of proper values and culture the most essential leadership opportunity given each of us. How we utilize each day is more impactful than we may believe.
It is as important teaching American history, values, and exceptionalism as well. If we don’t, they will be lost in the next generation.
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I always strive to provide value to everyone I have the privilege of interfacing with, whether in a work or personal scenario. As I gained additional insight, I strengthened my efforts and attempt to deliver more essential nuggets that the individual may benefit from and share with others, which will magnify their impact through time and more people.
What 100 years from now looks like depends on what we do today.
I hope that you will discover the opportunity of influencing the future far earlier than I did.
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Excerpted from Conquering Life’s Course: Common Sense in Chaotic Times — © 2019 — Richard V. Battle
