Living in today, prepare for tomorrow

Sean Merritt
Aug 23, 2017 · 3 min read

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present”

This world, in so many ways, in unfair. War torn nations, children dying of hunger, inequality in education and in work, the list goes on. There is, however, one thing that is equal to us all. We all have today. What are you going to do today? Will it matter tomorrow? Five years from. We only have one today, because once it is tomorrow, today is now yesterday and tomorrow is today. Kind of hurts my brain thinking of that.

I often talk about choices, and I believe that the most important choices we make are the one we make today. Procrastination has become a form of sweeping disease in our country and ironically it is because of the increased emphasis on being productive. What do I mean by that? To be productive, many people often forgo some of the most important things in their life, like their family or going through life that they forget to slow down, take in what life has to offer and to “stop and smell the roses.”

Just as productivity can go to its extremes, so can living in today. Living for today can also result excessive eating and drinking, forgoing healthy practices, being slothful and lazy and neglecting any kind of planning for the future. I, myself have tended to go on the extreme of productivity. So much, that I break down and have to have extreme lazy days for a day or two and practically fall over to the extreme of living in today. I have also met people who live in today so much that they almost got nothing done at all. Neither is healthy and neither will make you happy.

There is obviously a balance that we need to find. Not a balance of, half your day living today and half being productive, but I believe it is a moment by moment discipline. Within a single day, there are thousands of moments. Not minutes, not seconds, but moments. Moments are not planned, they cannot be measured, they just happen. When we plan our day, let’s not forget to take in the moments. The things that matter today and tomorrow.

For example, right now my five-month-old son is next to me on the floor rolling around and “talking” to me. It surely isn’t the most productive way to write, but to miss this short time I have to be with and interact with him are moments that will matter a longer than a single blog post. “Live in the moment” an old friend taught me. No matter what you are doing, be where you are.

“We all have 24 hours in a day and it is all about what we do with it”, they say. I cannot disagree, but I let us not forget that within that 24 hours there a moments to be lived, people to be loved, sights to see and joy to be felt.


Thanks for reading! This post was part my Jeff Goins 500 words per day for 31 -day challenge. Please comment and share if you liked or absolutely hated this post. Click here, if you would like to be a part of the 31-day challenge.

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Father, Husband, Writer, Student, Productivity and Self-Improvement Nut

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