You will never have more time than you do right now.
Take a deep breath and read that line again…slowly this time…and let it sink in.
You see, there are only two things that are absolutely true: 1) You’re alive right now, and 2) you will never have more time than you do right now.
Wow, man, that’s deep. You’re kinda freakin’ me out with all this life and death mumbo jumbo.
Good, because it’s time for you to wake up.
In case you missed the newsflash in the title, you are not a cat.
You do not have nine lives. Heck, cats don’t really have nine lives either. But, please don’t tell your cat. The last thing we need is a bunch of depressed tabbys running around.
You have one life, THIS life. And tomorrow you will have one less day than you do today. Yet, many of us live like this is a practice life, or worse, a throwaway life — as if we’ll get another shot. And some of us throw away today thinking we’ll get another shot tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that’s why cats lay around 98% of the time.
What does this have to do with work? Hmmm, let me see. The word I’m looking for is EVERYTHING.
You’re either working and contributing like you’ve only got one life, or you’re not. You can’t slack off today and expect a better tomorrow. You can’t float through your current career in hopes of landing a better one down the line. You can’t blow off building a better team and think one will magically appear at your next staff meeting.
It doesn’t matter if you work to live or live to work. Work is where you’ll spend 2000 hours this year alone. Over a 40 year work span, that’s 80,000 hours. That sounds like a lot…until you realize that’s all you get. And tomorrow you will have 8 hours less than you do today.
Today is the day to build something great.
Today is the day to repair a broken relationship with a boss, employee, or colleague.
Today is the day to freely hand out praise and compliments up and down the ladder.
Today is the day to focus.
Today is the day to collaborate.
Today is the day to create.
Today is the day to stop procrastinating.
Today is the day to start something important.
Today is the day to do your best work.
Today is the day to be the best you.
Today is all you get. I can’t wait to see what you do with your today.
P.S. So, what will you do it it? Leave a comment and let us all know.
P.P.S. That cat in the picture? Yeah, he’s a celebrity with his own blog and everything — www.romeothecat.com He’s even raised tens of thousands of dollars for pet charities. He’s livin’ like he’s only got one life. Know what I’m sayin’?