Uncle Rico and Al Bundy.

The Uncle Rico and Al Bundy effect. For those who don’t know, Uncle Rico is a character in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. He would yearn for his high school days when he was a quarterback and even bought a fake Time Machine to send him back in time so he could win the big game.

Al Bundy waxed about all the touchdowns he ran for at Polk High but ended up having a knee injury that ended his football career. Al Bundy didn’t enjoy selling shoes, and Uncle Rico didn’t enjoy pushing Tupperware and photo packages.

I can understand Uncle Rico and Al Bundy; at times, the past seems more desirable than the present and looking backward, it is tempting to dwell on what could have been if we only had done x, y, or z. To wish for the Time Machine to take us back to undo that error. Sadly we can’t. We can use the lessons we learned from the past to help us build our future. What do you want to accomplish in the future that you can use your past to guide your decision-making?