Seize the Day – There Is No Tomorrow

Lying on the beach, music and a good book. I take an afternoon like this any day. January comes and it is a time when many people decide that they are going to change their lives. We have all heard it and we have all done it. You know the kind of resolutions I’m talking about. From next year I’m going to train or starting next month I won’t eat junk food anymore. Or how about from next week I will start saving money. Starting tomorrow, I will drink more water. Blah, blah, blah. Well guess what?

There Is No Tomorrow

Rocky III. Some people think the Rocky movies are corny, but you just need to see the powerful message of this video.

Tomorrow does not exist. All you have is the now. The next day? It won’t be much different than today. One more day of delay on what you want in life is one less day not living your life the way you are supposed to.

Ultra Ambitious Plans Fail

We have this unique ability to deceive ourselves. Have you ever been extremely motivated to do something? Let’s say you watch a movie and there is an actor in it, who is in top shape. I don’t know about you, but I get very motivated when I see someone in top shape. Thoughts start running through my head. I am going to train like a madman. I am going to eat ultra clean and run an hour every day, etc. Guess what happens with this kind of ultra ambitious I’m-gonna-be-the-next ninja-Rambo plans? Most of them fail and there is a reason for this.

Procrastination Is Self Deception

We have this tendency to justify things in our heads. You see, there is this internal dialogue going on inside our mind. More often than not, the side that emerges victorious in this debate is the one that justifies procrastination and laziness. It is easy to tell yourself that starting tomorrow you are going to do all the things you want to do. But when tomorrow comes, the internal dialogue starts all over again. And there goes the self deception again.

You Snooze, You Lose

The big secret is that nothing really different will happen if you sleep a few hours more, watch TV instead of train, eat that piece of cake, instead of some fruit, etc. That’s right, nothing happens.

You will not feel much more rested if you sleep one more hour. On the contrary, you may mess up your ultradian rhythms if you wake up in the middle of an REM cycle and thus sabotage your energy levels. As far as that cake goes, the sugar rush lasts for only a couple of minutes. Is it really worth it, considering how it will affect your energy levels for the next couple of hours? But I digress…

Finally, skipping workouts is clearly the easiest way to make sure that you don’t progress at an optimal rate. Or much at all.

Carpe Diem

Dead Poets’ Society. The ironic thing about the video is that the boys from the movie are no longer here. It’s now 20 years later and I hope they’ve seized the opportunities that life has thrown their way.

Most seniors get this message when they are graduating from high school. It used to be that I didn’t exactly get it. How do you mean seize the day, I was wondering. Here is the deal – once you leave school, you are now in charge of how your life will develop. There is no schedule, no curriculum.

You are responsible for putting to action a plan of long term success. At the same time, you need to try and live each day to the fullest.

Groundhog Day. Bill Murray’s character is trapped in the same day and is cursed to relieve it over and over until he decides to make the best of it and execute every tiny detail of his day perfectly.

The days pass, no matter how you live them. You might as well give it your best. What would your perfect day look like?

Babe by Bengt