When the Brazilian football legend Pelé first emerged on the world stage, a reporter asked him, "Which football do you play best?" He replied, "The next one!" Even after becoming the world-renowned "King of Football," when the same question was posed, he still answered, "The next one!"
Pelé's "next one" was a way of telling the world that no matter how well he had played in the past, it was already over; what he sought was the next, even better performance.
No matter how successful we have been in the past, those achievements are behind us. We must not dwell on past glories. If we become complacent because of our previous successes and neglect the effort required in the present, thinking we are invincible, we have already lost.
I once read an essay about two students: a class monitor and a group leader.
During one exam, the class monitor scored higher than the group leader. The monitor proudly approached the leader and boasted, "Look, my score is much higher than yours. See how far behind you are?" Instead of getting angry or feeling inferior, the group leader simply smiled at the arrogant monitor and said nothing.
A few weeks later, when the monthly exam results were released, the monitor was shocked to find his score was lower than the group leader's. He ran to the leader, bewildered, and asked, "How could your score be higher than mine? You were always below me before! How did this happen?" The group leader stood up and replied with a smile, "Every time you score higher than me, you come to boast about your superiority. But even when my scores were lower, I didn't let it discourage me; instead, I worked harder to strive for higher marks. You, however, were too focused on your past success, assuming you would always be ahead. You were wrong—the past does not represent the present."
No matter what we do, whether our past was better or worse than others, it is already gone. We should strive to surpass ourselves and do thousand times better in the future, rather than clinging to the past. After all, the past does not define the present.
