Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today. This is your daily message from Chad number 613 and this message is dedicated to the memory of Coach John Wooden.

Wooden is one of my mindset mentors. I think of him everyday. He was a great man and fellow Hoosier. One of his principles was practicing Masterpiece Days. The idea was simply focusing on doing your best in the present moment. He often quoted a poem by Vivian Laramore titled “Today” that goes:

I’ve shut the door on yesterday –
     Its sorrows and mistakes;
I’ve locked within its gloomy walls
     Past failures and heartaches.
And now I throw the key away
     To seek another room,
And furnish it with hope and smiles,
     And every spring-time bloom.

No thought shall enter this abode
     That has a hint of pain,
And envy, malice, and distrust
     Shall never entrance gain.
I’ve shut the door on yesterday
     And thrown the key away, –
Tomorrow holds no fear for me,
     Since I have found today.

Dale Carnegie in his book “Stop Worrying and Start Living” talks about “Day-tight Compartments”. It’s the idea of not allowing what happened yesterday seep into what’s going on right now or what could happen tomorrow. If I asked you to raise your hand tomorrow, you wouldn’t be able to. “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” “Don’t worry about things you can’t control because they may adversely affect the things you can control.” “Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.” There’s so much to do today. Let’s live here.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4xGquBTyGYFeTaYzBWSUSh?si=3G3qiZX1TKGzNy7VRrQxyA