Today Matters

Today matters!

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. What you become is the result of what you do today, so the only adequate preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today.”?- John C. Maxwell

You’ve heard the saying, “There’s no better time than the present.”??Living my best life is important to me because I want to spend my life on things that create significance.??Early on in my youth, I realized that nothing would change if I don’t do something about it.??That I have the power to change.??What I do today affects who I am tomorrow.

When I started working full time after college, I took a position as a salesperson cold calling businesses selling copier machines.??Most of my work was done in a face-to-face setting.??I remember my sales director saying to me, “What you do today will affect you in 90 days.”??So, I took it to heart and worked hard.??The first three months I made hundreds of face-to-face cold calls and by the start of the fourth month, I started closing deals, and by the end of the fourth month, I made the most money in my life at that point.??The lesson that I learned was, what I do today will help me become who I want to be tomorrow.??John Maxwell says, “to be more, we have to become more.”

Some people don’t realize that today is all we have, and that if we string together enough days of preparation, we can have a lasting effect on our lives.??People hate change because it’s easier to not change.??Most of the time we don’t want to confront it, or we have the fear of the unknown.??So, we worry, or we give up too easily, while filling in the gap in our head with assumptions that are just stories that we create.??Or we play the victim.??The world is against me, so why try?

What’s the big benefit to me??Why should I solve this problem???Because life happens on the other side of change where things can get better.??We can change the trajectory of our life for the better, and this is the intersection of where opportunity meets us.??Some call this luck, but others say that luck is nothing more than where preparation and opportunity intersect.??I tend to agree.

Some still say that change is so hard or question themselves with self-limiting beliefs like, “I already tried everything, or I tried it once and it didn’t work.”??Really???Once? Everything???

When I was in the middle of my career, I got an opportunity to switch industries and do something different.??During my time at the preceding company, I took on every challenge and opportunity that I could.??I learned new skills and figured things out that I didn’t currently know.??It took me years, about a decade, but I stacked skillset upon skillset during that decade and one day opportunity came knocking and it was the best decision of my career.??It led to more opportunities to learn more skills and a promotion and more money, which led to a better quality of life.??Had I not approached every day with the intensity and work ethic of developing myself.??I would not have had those opportunities.

Skill stacking everyday has prepared me for every new opportunity that I have received. Every job I have had, I’ve always learned new skills that have prepared me for the next season, chapter, or phase.??I wanted more, so I became more.

Here’s the framework that I used:

1. Decide:??Decide one way or the other to grow or not to grow.
2. Learn:?Gather more data, learn as much about your interests or skills as you can.??Then learn some more. Research, read, write, watch, and talk to others.
3. Benefits:?Consider how the benefits of preparation every day can affect you. Instead of looking at it negatively, ask yourself, what’s the best that can happen?
4. Mentoring:?Talk to others about what you have decided, learned, and considered.??Find a mentor that you have a connection with and learn together.
5. Get moving:?Face your fear with action.??Consider what is best for you and others, then act.
6. Become resilient:?Become resilient?by being consistent: When it becomes difficult or challenging, review the benefits to you and talk to others about how you feel and what you think. Don’t quit at first fail or rejection.
7. Fail Forward:?Iterate, then iterate some more. Feedback and failure are how you learn.??Try different things.
8. Celebrate:?When you see success, celebrate small wins, tell others about your success.
9. Reflect:?Look back where you were 2 months ago, 6 months ago, one year and two years. Retrace how you arrived at where you are now. See how change and preparation opens new pathways for you.
10. Today matters:?“People create success in their lives by focusing on today. It may sound trite, but today is the only time you have. It’s too late for yesterday. And you can’t depend on tomorrow. That’s why today matters.”?―?John C. Maxwell

If you found this helpful, drop a comment below and tell me about what successes you’ve seen.??As a Maxwell Leadership Certified Member, I teach, speak, and coach on topics like Personal Growth, Communication, and Leadership.??You can find a link in my profile.

Thanks for reading.