Select Page

Today is a whole lot easier to see as yesterday than as tomorrow.

Today is a whole lot easier to see as yesterday than as tomorrow.
This entry is part 2 of 36 in the series Every Single Day

It’s today. It’s up to you what you call it.

Here’s one of those nasty things that is simple but not easy. You have three elements: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Each powerful in its own way.

Quick refresher class on time:

  1. Yesterday: this is what you call what came before today. It’s over, done, finished.
  2. Today: now. Not before, not after. HINT: the only one you can do something with.
  3. Tomorrow: not quite here yet, what comes later than now. You can’t actually do anything with it. Yet.

Simple words. You use them every single day. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Let’s ask some simple questions (careful, some of you might be offended):

  1. What did you do yesterday?
  2. Who are you today?
  3. Are your plans for tomorrow different from today? Different from yesterday?

Which questions make you smile? Which ones make you cringe? Which one made you want to stop reading?

It’s a potentially vicious circle. If you didn’t do yesterday what you then said you would do (back when you called it today) now it’s today and there is no longer an opportunity to do what you wanted to do yesterday. It’s over, it’s done, there is no turning back the clock. No, really.

Aha, but you have tomorrow. In your back pocket. Your secret weapon. It’s always there, isn’t it? Always at the ready as the backup plan. Awesome. I have it in my back pocket too.

Spoiler Alert: this is where it gets nasty. You might want to avert your eyes.

Where does that leave us? Oh yes, not yesterday, been there. Not quite tomorrow, although we’re both anticipating it with boundless energy and possibly even passion. Nope, I’m going to spill the beans: all that’s left is today.

It’s the only one of the three that you can work with. It’s the only one that you have control over.

It doesn’t matter what you’re looking to achieve:

  • lose 10 pounds,
  • get a raise,
  • break through your self-imposed limitations,
  • sell your book,
  • quit your job,
  • tell yourself you’re a painter,
  • write that first post,
  • get over yourself.

Yesterday is too late. Tomorrow will never be here. No, honestly, by definition tomorrow never comes. There is only today. Do you see the choice? Do you see that there actually is no choice? There is today, now, the present moment, this moment that you’re reading this. This is it.

It’s up to you. What are you going to do with it?

Series Navigation<< ESD: Beyond the HabitBecause “Every other day plus weekends is too complicated.” >>

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Every Single Day. You can’t just get rid of a habit, you need to replace it with something new. - […] Today is a whole lot easier to see as yesterday than as tomorrow. […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.