Forever is composed of nows.
–Emily Dickinson

Today is the most important day of your life. Every past and future moment was- or will be- at one time, a present moment. Too often we can get lost in worrying about the past or focusing on the future.

I wish I would have done that differently…
I should not have said that in that way…
I will start making that change tomorrow…
Tomorrow will be the first day I…

We can be relentlessly brutal on ourselves as we relive yesterdays that are gone and worry about tomorrows that are not yet here. Here is what we must understand — each past moment was once a present moment in our lives; each moment in the future will be a present moment when it occurs. Therefore, every moment that has ever been and that will ever exist was, is, or will be a present moment in our lives where we have the ability to make a choice.

As I have shared ideas about leading with L.E.S.S. and worked on focusing on “Self,” I have been talking in ideals and not always in practicality. So, how do those ideas become reality? Here is the answer, START NOW. The only time and place you can ever make a change is right now. You cannot change the past, and you cannot control what will happen in the future. You have to act in the moment you have, and you have right now. You have to choose to do that thing you want to improve upon- right now. You cannot wait until tomorrow… or Monday, or the beginning of the month, or the start of a new year. Those are only dates on our calendars that help us skirt our responsibility in changing something that we know is going to be hard.

Every day before today has brought you to this one. Decisions you made, and the ones you avoided are behind you in the past you don’t get to relive them. What you do get to do is live today for the first time. Each day you wake up, you are a new you. Connected to the old you. Familiar with the old you. Built on the old you. But now living as the new you. You have to live in that moment (not the moments of the past), and the possibilities of each new day are endless.

Likewise, tomorrow will be here tomorrow. It is not here today. Decisions you make today will impact your tomorrow, but if we only focus on where we want to be and fail to make decisions today that will get us there, the tomorrow that we want will never come. There is no shortage of talk about what people want to (or hope to) accomplish in the future. But, if people really wanted certain things as much as they say they do, then they would do dramatically different things with their time each day.

Today is the most important day of your life because today is the only day that you can control. The best way to take care of yourself as a leader is to live in the moment because each moment is all you really have. Use the past to make better decisions in the future. Let the future worry about itself. Live each moment as if it is the most important moment because – it is.

Keep learning, keep growing, keep sharing!