Chapter 77.
Make It Happen Today

What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour?

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The ability to motivate others well flows from the importance that we attach to the concept of today.

What can we do today?

John Wooden was the most successful college basketball coach of all time. His UCLA teams won 10 national championships in a 12-year time span. Wooden created a major portion of his coaching and living philosophy from one thought—a single sentence passed on to him by his father when Wooden was a little boy: “Make each day your masterpiece.”

While other coaches would try to focus their players on important games in the future, Wooden always focused on today. His practice sessions at UCLA were every bit as important as any championship game. In his philosophy, there was no reason not to make today the proudest day of your life. There was no reason not to play as well in practice as you do in a game. He wanted every player to go to bed each night thinking, “Today, I was at my best.”

Most of us, however, don’t want to live this way. The future is where our happiness lies. So we project things into the future. The past is where the problem began, so we also spend lots of time in the past. But every good thing that has ever happened, happened now, right now. Leadership takes place now, too.

Today is your whole life in miniature. You were “born” when you woke up, and you’ll “die” when you go to sleep. It was designed this way so that you could live your whole life in a day. Do you still want to walk around telling your team you’re having a bad day?

When your people see you making each day your masterpiece, they will pick it up as a way to live and work.