“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. And if things don’t work out, just take another shot.”

This quote, by Ziad K. Abdelnour, presents a great analogy for life. Some versions (Anonymous) of the quote read “Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. Develop from the negatives. And if things don’t work out, just take another shot.”

In life, our camera might be out of focus–focused on things that aren’t important. We may forget fond happy memories–to capture the good times. And after things don’t work out, we may not give them another shot.

But as any photographer can attest, it takes the right focus, a timely capture, and several shots to get the “perfect” picture. And when it comes to several shots, that can sometimes be in the hundreds. Photographers rarely take only one shot and call it good.

How can we apply this same concept to our day to day life? Well, let’s begin by evaluating our focus. Is it on what’s important? Next, what are the things we’re capturing in our minds? Are we remembering the good times? And are we developing form the negatives? Finally, let’s remember that when things don’t work out the first time, we might just need to take another shot.