You're Never Too Old for New Dreams: 20 Quotes to Make Today Count

“The thing is, we think we have time.” – Buddha

My dad thought he had time. His dream was to visit all the National Parks when he retired. He worked six-seven days a week most of his life. He was an honorable man who felt a deep obligation to make an enduring difference for the people he worked with and for.

He achieved that goal. But at a cost.

Dad finally took off on his long-delayed dream a week after he retired. A week after that, he had a stroke in a hotel bathroom. He eventually recovered, but he never got to visit Banff, Zion or the Grand Tetons. He never got to do what he had dreamed of doing his whole life.

I don’t want that to happen to me.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

I don’t want that to happen to anyone.

Please, right now, change the way you think about TIME.

Do you think you never have enough time?

Are you assuming you'll have time to do what you want ... when Covid19 is over?

Please understand, you will never have MORE TIME than you have RIGHT NOW.

A member of a woman's group I'm part of confessed she felt guilty because she "took a whole week off" for a family vacation. She said, “Summer is actually our busiest time of year, and I felt bad for leaving my employees in the middle of all that's going on.”

What’s that about?!

When are we going to learn that vacation - or a weekend doing sometthing we love with someone we love - isn't taking time OFF WORK, it’s taking time ON LIFE?

We’re not being irresponsible, we’re being responsible for our health and happiness.

Doing something that recharges us sets a precedent for the people around us to do the same. 

Fun is not something we do only when our work is done.

Recreating - play - is a way to celebrate the gift of being alive, right here, right now.

Where could you go this weekend to put the light on in your eyes?

Who have you been promising to spend time with ... someday?

What could you do that has been calling you?

 These quotes that can remind us of the all-important role TIME plays in our quality of life. Pick a favorite. Post it where it's in sight, in mind so it reminds you to stop waiting for the right time and to make the most of your time now ... not later. After all, if not later, when?

20  Motivating Quotes to Make Today - and Every Day - Count

1.     “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” - Carl Sandburg

2.     “The bad news? Time flies. The good news? You’re the pilot.” – Michael Altschuler

3.     “One day, you’re going to wake up and there won’t be any time left to do the things you’ve always wanted to do.” – Paulo Coelho

4.     “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” – nurse Bonnie Ware, reporting the #1 regret of people at the end of their life

5.     “We have two lives and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” - Confucius

6.     “The future is already here and we’re already late.” – John Legend

7.     “Either move or get moved." - Erza Pound

8.      “Tomorrow is another day, but so was yesterday.” – Rene Ricard

9.     “The first step to getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan

10. “Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time' is like saying, 'I don't want to.” - Lao Tzu

11.  “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard

12. “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin

13. “Time is the most vauable asset you can't own." - Mark Cuban

14.  “It’s only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day to day basis.” – Margaret Bonnano

15. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol

16. “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” – Henry David Thoreau

17. “How did it get so late so soon?” – Dr. Seuss

18.  “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis

19.  “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” – Nelson Mandela

20. Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck

Pope Paul II said, “The future starts today, not tomorrow.”

Don't delay. You know in your heart what has been calling you. There is a trip you want to take, a place you want to explore, a person you want to re-connect with.

Pick up the phone. Call that person. Jump online and book that trip. Put it on your calendar.

I promise. You will never regret doing more of what you love with whom you love ... you will only regret not doing it sooner.

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Sam Horn, CEO of the Intrigue Agency and 3 time TEDx speaker, is on a mission to help people make the most of their time, now not later. Her books - POP!, Tongue Fu! and Washington Post bestseller Got Your Attention - have been featured in NY Times, Forbes, INC and Fast Company and presented to NASA, Intel, Cisco, Boeing, ASAE. This is excerpted from SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week (St. Martins Press).