Just Do Today.

Many twelve-step programs, which are mutual aid initiatives that support recovery from substance and behavioural addictions, have a set of meditation for participants. One such meditation is the “Just for Today,” where addicts are compelled to make progress just for today. There are various versions of the prayer/meditation, but the common theme is the importance of making daily progress toward recovery. As anyone who has battled with addiction can testify, stopping a bad habit can be extremely hard, whether it is social media, pornography, compulsive eating, gossiping or time wasting. The key to changing any behaviour or compulsion is just to do it today, conquer many days and with time, you will slay the compulsion dragon.

Just for today: I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle all my problems at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

We often underestimate what we can do in a day and overestimate what we can do in weeks, months and years. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I agree with Tzu that the key to achieving anything worthwhile is to make daily progress and focus on just today. Do you want to read 100 books a year? Read for 2 hours daily, and you will accomplish that goal. Do you want to run multiple marathons a year? Run and train for at least 2 hours a day. Do you want to run a successful business? Put in the hard work daily for multiple years. Overnight success takes over 10 ten years. There are no shortcuts to achieving sustainable success; you’ve got to put in the work, day in, day out.

Just for today: I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out; if anyone knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do – just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

You conquer your goals, workload, and activities by just doing today, one step at a time. We live in a world where everything seems important, and the need to take things at a time at our own pace is becoming very important. As the saying goes, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Today is the tomorrow that you waited for yesterday. As American poet Mary Oliver asked in her poem, One Summer Day: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Most of us spend the majority of our life in “Someday Isle“, an island where we hope to do everything in the future and we justify our excuses today. In his book No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline, Canadian-American author Brian Tracy describes the “Someday Isle” and advises voting oneself off the island.

Someday – The legendary place where your hopes, dreams, goals, and aspirations all magically come to fruition. Someday is dangerous and paralyzing. It traps you in the land of Nowheresville.

Brian Tracy writes:

Not only do we all want the same things, but we all know what we have to do to achieve them. And we all intend to do those things, sometime. But before we get started, we decide that we need to take a little vacation to a wonderful fantasy place called ‘Someday Isle.’ We say that ‘Someday I’ll read that book. Someday I’ll start that exercise program. Someday I’ll upgrade my skills and earn more money. Someday I’ll get my finances under control and get out of debt. Someday I’ll do all those things that I know I need to do to achieve all my goals. Someday.’

Probably 80 percent of the population lives on Someday Isle most of the time. They think and dream and fantasize about all the things they are going to do “someday.”

What is the chief topic of conversation on Someday Isle? Excuses! They all sit around and swap excuses for being on the island.“Why are you here?” they ask each other. Not surprising, their excuses are largely the same: “I didn’t have a happy childhood,” “I didn’t get a good education,” “I don’t have any money,” “My boss is really critical,” “My marriage is no good,” “No one appreciates me,” or “The economy is terrible.” They have come down with the disease of “excusitis,” which is invariable fatal to success. They all have good intentions, but as everyone knows,

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

The first rule of success is simple: Vote yourself off the island!

No more excuses! Do it or don’t do it—but don’t make excuses. Stop using your incredible brain to think up elaborate rationalizations and justifications for not taking action. Do something. Do anything. Get on with it! Repeat to yourself: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me!”

Meditation

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Disconnect to Connect
Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Tell Me Something Good
Downplaying accomplishments does not serve anyone. It is easy to bond over the negative and connect over complaints, but we might get stuck there. Playing small encourages others to do the same, but positivity can uplift everyone involved. Hearing good news can inspire, boost us and warm our hearts.
As with all communication, you want to be aware and thoughtful, choosing your audience wisely. We need to share our wins and successes while building an environment where others can celebrate theirs. Investigate your good feelings as much as the tough ones. The better we get at sharing our victories and good fortune, the better it will be to connect over the positive not just over struggles.

“We are the good news that we have been looking for, Demonstrating that every dusk holds a dawn disguised within it. Today we don’t burst into a new world. We begin it.” — Amanda Gorman,

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – The Invisible Embrace.
What happens to most of us is that we think that we are seeing the world, but we are only half seeing it. The other half of our mind is lost in thought, and we are not really connecting to what is around us. The more our mind drifts, the less interesting the outside world becomes. The more totally we commit to the visual world, the richer and more rewarding it becomes.

Podcast