Fix Today

When you hear someone say that they are worried about the future or nervous about what may happen tomorrow, you usually see someone that is not prepared for what is coming. The worry actually makes sense. If you are not ready for tomorrow it will be difficult. The worry is not just about how scary tomorrow is. The worry is more about what they are not doing today to prepare for tomorrow.

Each day stands alone in terms of action. But each day has an impact on future days as well. If you do something today, it will put you in a better position for tomorrow. This is easy to see in the work environment. If you put off a project or a follow-up, it is still there tomorrow and you will have more work to do because of the other tasks that come with the job.

Unfortunately, it is not always as easy to see how one day impacts another when it comes to health. If you don’t work out today, there is technically nothing that will make tomorrow harder to work out or to get as much done as you want to. It just doesn’t work that way, so when we put off exercise on one day, we are in fact building the habit of not doing it and it becomes more difficult to get started when we finally want to do it.

“If only there was some way for you to make yourself do it.” I’ve heard people say this. I’ve heard people ask me if I can make them do it. I’ve yet to make anyone do anything. In fact, I’ve yet to see anyone make anyone else do anything that they didn’t want to do. Health has to be a choice and if it is something you want to do, you will find a way to do it. You may not be able to force yourself, but you can support yourself and find others to help support you. You can also plan and set your schedule so that it supports you. When you do that, health can fit in and become part of your routine.

If you don’t make health part of your regular routine, you will constantly be worried about what tomorrow looks like. You won’t know when you are going to get your workout in. You won’t know what you are going to eat or when you are going to eat it. You likely won’t have any goals. You may have a wish or two like: “Someday, I want to be healthier”, but it will be difficult to get started.

Tomorrow is something that we are trained to think about. We are trained to prepare for tomorrow. We are also taught to use today to make sure tomorrow is as we pictured. This is the concept that we need to apply to health to make sure that we are achieving it. What we do today makes tomorrow what it is…or isn’t. If you do what you set out to do, you will be reaching goals. If you do not do what you set out to do, you will not be reaching goals. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

In order for tomorrow to look like you want it to look you have to do something today. You can look ahead all you want. You can try to think of the reasons that tomorrow will be a challenge. You can worry and you can sweat the details of tomorrow. If you do that, I can assure you that you will be right.

It may sound a bit contradictory to say that not thinking about tomorrow is a good strategy. How can you set goals today that impact tomorrow and say that tomorrow isn’t important? Well, I’m not saying that tomorrow isn’t important. What I’m saying is not as important as today is.

Tomorrow doesn’t matter until you get to it. Tomorrow may not even come. I don’t mean that as a doom and gloom outlook that suggests that we could all die today. It is more about the fact that tomorrow will look completely different in the way it plays out.

If you have a clear plan and can take action based on that plan, you have some control over your future. In fact, you have a great deal of control over your future. If you simply let today happen, tomorrow will keep changing on you and before you know it, you won’t know what to expect. How can you succeed when things are changing and unexpected? Well, it is very difficult.

That is why today is the only day that matters. We’ve talked about the importance of getting started today. Clearly, that is something that rings true. If you don’t start, you can’t move forward. If you don’t take a step today, when tomorrow comes, you won’t be anywhere but the same place you are now.

It all comes back to the day you are in. The only day you can control is today. You can’t control what happened yesterday. You can’t control what will happen tomorrow. Well, there is the gray area that can mean the difference between success and failure. If you don’t take action today, you are determining what tomorrow will look like. Likewise, if you are taking action, you are determining that tomorrow will be different based on the actions you are taking.

So, I guess you can actually control tomorrow. Short of developing super powers, the only way to be in control of tomorrow is to take control of today. By taking action today, you are taking the steps you want to take. That will lead you on your path toward the goals you’ve set. By planning today what you will do tomorrow, you are preventing unforeseen issues from derailing tomorrow’s actions. You can’t take tomorrow’s actions until tomorrow, but you can set yourself up to take them.

In other words, you can take today’s steps today and that gets you on the right track for a successful tomorrow. The only way to insure a successful tomorrow is to fix today.