HOW TO LIVE TODAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST
If every man were to know his last day, he would live
it the greatest way possible. He would make the most of it by doing many good
deeds, adding as much value as possible to his business, his clients, his work,
and the society at large. He would perhaps show the greatest love to those around;
he would eliminate much waste by discharging from his mind, all the unwanted
thoughts and feelings he had encumbered himself with, and would endeavour to
complete many things he had hitherto postponed.
One of our most perplexing experiences is to be
tempted to postpone till tomorrow, the things we should do today. This is
detrimental to business, investment, career, professional, and financial
success. And why many people don’t maximize each day and get the best out of it,
is because they think that they would do more tomorrow. This way, they
inadvertently “load tomorrow” with so much work not done and many actions not
taken.
The truth is that tomorrow or the future doesn’t have
as much space, as most men think, to hold a lot of luggage they shift to it to keep.
You know why? The reason is that the future is a mystery which always disguises
itself as tomorrow when in actual fact, it always comes as today, in fact, as now.
Vern McLellan was, therefore, right
when he said that, “Perhaps the best thing about the future is that is
comes just one day at a time.”
So each day comes with enough space to accommodate all
the important things we should use our time judiciously, and our mind smartly,
to do. To postpone today’s actions is to try to “overload” the future with an
imaginary extra space that is not there, in the first place.
How, therefore, do we live today as if it
were our last? First, visualize the
sense of satisfaction, joy, pleasure, you would derive if the day’s task were
completed. Generally, men don’t
procrastinate on sex with their spouse because of the pleasure and satisfaction
they believe they would get. As a matter of fact, people postpone action
because of the perceived pain they think the task would bring.
Second, break
down the important things you have each day into sub-components and smaller
units that you’ll be able to do faster and easier. Life is generally opposed to
our biting off more than we can chew. Besides, when we break down activities,
we seriously reduce mental and emotional pressure. This makes us comfortable,
relaxed, and confident to take the necessary action.
Third, take immediate
action on any important matter and startle the demon of procrastination. Once
we start taking action, the perceived size of the task begins to reduce and
shrink. As we saw in the introduction of this piece, if today were to be your
last, you would take definite important actions to accomplish so much.
Living
each day as if it were our last is the key secret of not leaving till tomorrow
what we should do today, and the soul of accomplishing much per day. In the
Industrial Age, the future came one day at a time, but in this Internet age and
digital era, the future comes to us one second at a time. So, a small, right
decision you make today, and a
little, desirable action you take now
will change for good many of your tomorrows.
So
take that action, whether it is about business, investment, research,
education, etc, right away because the future is already here; it is without
doubt happening now.
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