Here’s to the dreamers, the doers, the tomorrow is gonna look the way we want it conquerors. We often fantasize about the future, but what needs to happen today to create the tomorrow of your dreams?
We often forget that today is yesterday’s future. These declarations might sound familiar, “tomorrow will be the day I start that workout, find love, and launch that business.”
Today is the day we said, “one day,” we would start.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but “one day” is here and now.
So seize the moment, carpe diem, or my favorite expression, summarized by the late Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society: “Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May.”
It’s never too late to be who you may have been.
Action today can create earth-shattering results tomorrow. The differentiator is to repeat the “right” activities. Remember the phrase, “practice makes perfect?”. Well, not if you were practicing it incorrectly over and over again. Then, practice makes imperfect. We often underestimate the power repeated actions have on future results, known as The Compound Effect. Allow me to share two definitions – the outcomes are vastly different, yet the descriptions remain the same.
What action are you taking today, which by itself may seem inconsequential – but when compounded over days, weeks, or months, you arrive at a precise result?
Let’s talk gardening. I never planted a flower in my life until COVID, and now I’m quite captivated by my elaborate garden. If you ever considered yourself a gardening connoisseur (I just upped the ante to connoisseur), you know the pay-off of seeds planted won’t come for weeks or months. It calls for daily action: watering, Miracle-Gro, little chats with my plants, and I feed them my secret sauce: Alkaline Coffee. Each time I water or coffee my plants may seem paltry, but without it, there is no rose garden, just weeds.
No-Brainer Examples Your Future Self Will Thank You For:
Sure, on its own, 3-minutes will hardly produce a transformational result (although it may feel like the longest 3-minutes of your life!). When you finish and woozily stand victoriously (oh ya – if you’ve attempted the Stealth, you know you earned a victory dance!), you will realize a 3-minute core workout, consistently over time, will undoubtedly re-shape your life (pun intended!) On top of that, one favorable choice dominos into another. I can see it now, after that 3-minute moving plank, you choose a grilled chicken salad in place of that fried chicken, and your good choices continue to compound.
Imagine you read 4 Ways To Choose That Perfect Financial Side Gig, and you landed on walking dogs for Rover. It’s a known fact, the better we “sell” ourselves, the more clients we get. Your goal is one new client a day. It’s 7 pm, and you’re still short one more bacon-loving Fido. You look to the inspirational quote on your iPhone screen, “It’s Never Too Late To Start The Day Over!” You can’t, and you won’t, let the day defeat you! You are annihilating your goals! (OK… maybe annihilating is a bit much – I’m getting excited . . . you definitely, without a doubt, are conquering your goals! – you’re reading this article, aren’t you!?) You get creative and jump on social media letting the world know – there’s no dog walker on the block like you; you call friends and ask for referrals, send links out for $10 off their first dog walk and get your new cuddly client, Chancho, before your head hits the pillow. #Success. #CrushedIt.
Chancho, on his own, seems small-fry (literally, he’s a 8 pound chihuahua), but 90 days later, you have 90 new doggies, more licking and pooping than you know what to do with! That is a quality problem, my friend, and all it took was repetitive action. Every. Single. Day. Its the domino effect, truly how you master the holy grail of goals.
On the flip-side, what habits aim you away from your desired course, sneaking up on you like a thief in the night? Tonight you wind down with your favorite glass of wine or two (guilty as charged!). Now seriously, who can blame you? We’ve been Quarantined! The Kutchers even produced a sold-out-charity-wine called Quarantine. As many can attest, it starts as a glass of wine, and then some late-night cheese and crackers, and before you know it, we are three months into Quarantine and 15 pounds heavier. The added calories compounded day after day – one month down the road, you’ve gained 5 pounds, then 10, then 15. It’s the little actions. Fortunately, I saw this coming and rerouted the GPS before it got out of control. Hence the Stealth purchase people!
In my 20s, I had a goal of being promoted as the youngest female Regional Vice President in an international company. I reached that goal at 26, and every-single-day leading up to it, I spoke out-loud my manifesto from Og Mandino’s book, The Greatest Salesman In The World: I Will Persist Until I Succeed. Here’s a glimpse.
“Henceforth, I will consider each day’s effort as
but one blow of my blade against a mighty oak.
The first blow may cause not a tremor in the wood,
nor the second, nor the third. Each blow, of itself,
may be trifling, and seem of no consequence.
Yet from childish swipes the oak will eventually tumble.
So it will be with my efforts of today.”
We can complete any undertaking by giving the small actions we embrace today the attention and credit they deserve in creating our tomorrow. Applaud every small triumph, for one day you will realize they were monumental. Challenge yourself to look at your daily habits and identify ones you should kiss goodbye and others you can make your new mantra. Always remember, crushing your goals is a process; discouragement is not for you, and grateful is a great place to start.
ARTICLE SPONSORED BY CROWDPOINT TECHNOLOGIES