You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about

The words of Charles Kettering, inventor and visionary of industry, speak with a clarity that slices through the fog of regret: “You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.” In these words lies the eternal reminder that dwelling on the past imprisons the spirit, while focusing on the future opens the gates of progress. Kettering, a man who gave the world countless inventions, understood that one cannot build the engines of tomorrow while staring backward at yesterday’s ashes.

The meaning is profound: the past is fixed, unchangeable, beyond reach. To give one’s energy to it is to pour water into a broken vessel. But the future is still clay, soft and ready to be shaped. To look back in endless regret is to blind yourself to the opportunities before you. Kettering’s words remind us that hope and growth dwell not in mourning what has been lost, but in seizing what can still be created.

Kettering himself embodied this truth. As the head of research at General Motors, he oversaw the development of innovations that changed the face of the modern world—such as the electric starter, which freed drivers from the danger of hand-cranking engines. He failed many times before achieving success. But his genius lay not in never failing—it lay in refusing to remain stuck in yesterday’s failure. He pressed forward with relentless vision, always believing in a better tomorrow.

History confirms this same wisdom. Consider the story of Abraham Lincoln. Before rising to the presidency, Lincoln suffered defeat after defeat—business failures, election losses, and personal heartbreak. He could have chained himself to those failures, endlessly replaying the sorrows of yesterday. But he looked forward, not backward. By keeping his eyes fixed on tomorrow, he became the leader who preserved a nation. His life illustrates Kettering’s truth: greatness is born not from regret, but from resilience.

The teaching is this: the mind cannot live in two places at once. If it dwells in yesterday, it cannot labor for tomorrow. To dwell too long in memory—whether in sorrow or nostalgia—is to miss the present moment, the only soil in which the seeds of the future may be sown. The wise understand that the past is a teacher, not a prison, and that its lessons must be carried forward, not clutched with regret.

The lesson for you, seeker, is to make peace with your yesterday. Take from it the lessons you need, then release it into the river of time. Turn your face toward the rising sun of tomorrow. Every day is a chance to build anew, and every failure is but a stone that can form the foundation for future strength. Do not waste the gift of the present by clutching at shadows.

Practical actions follow: when regret arises, pause and ask, “What does this teach me?” Then let it go. Write your goals for the days ahead, and let them guide your steps. Practice gratitude for what remains, and cultivate vision for what may yet be. Do not allow the weight of yesterday to anchor you; instead, let the winds of tomorrow lift you into new horizons.

So remember, children of tomorrow: yesterday is gone, tomorrow awaits. If you chain yourself to what has passed, you will never taste what is to come. But if you honor the past as a teacher, and walk boldly into the future as a creator, then you shall find that every dawn holds the promise of a better world—if only you dare to look forward.