Jon Glatfelter
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You  Can  Never  Get  Back  Yesterday 

10/19/2013

4 Comments

 
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When I was sixteen we were standing in a dense crowd outside the Duomo in Florence, waiting for the flight of the mechanical pigeon which signals the arrival of a Holy Ghost. Suddenly I spied a girl, the most beautiful I had ever seen, and started elbowing my way through the crowd in her direction. "Don’t be a juggins," said my mother, "you will see dozens as pretty as her before you leave Italy." I made the mistake of believing her.
This passage from David Ogilvy’s autobiography, Blood, Brains, & Beer is a gut-punch every time I read it. I really can’t think of anything as tragic as a missed opportunity.

There was young David, standing in Florence, the city that hosts Michelangelo’s own David, a towering marble reservoir of human confidence and ability. Young David’s mind wipes away the surrounding crowd of bodies. Their faces blur into unimportant white ovals – because he wants just one. It belongs to a girl – the most beautiful he’s ever seen – the greatest known to him. At that moment, he “elbows” towards her, the center of the universe that closing space between them – every tragic inch. Then his mother’s words: There’s always another opportunity. And he stops. And the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen is lost to him forever.   

You can never get back yesterday. 


Whether I’m fifteen and at a water park talking myself out of approaching the cutest girl I've ever seen, or twenty-four staring down at my daily To-Do-List thinking “Meh, tomorrow”, it’s absolutely heart-breaking if you think about it. There are definitely times to procrastinate, but people do it way too much. I know I do.

Last spring, with this quote in mind among others, I began to make daily To-Do-Lists before I went to bed each night or as soon as I woke up in the morning. Keeping in mind my semi-fragile self-discipline, I started by purposefully listing lots of easy To-Do’s, things like knock out 25 push-ups, read Book That I Love for 30 minutes, and do a load of laundry.

The momentum I generated from completing these simple tasks helped to fuel me for the not-so-easy and even dreaded ones. When I complete all the listed items for three days in a row, I reward myself with extra free time on the weekends (Usually I work weekends).   

I save all of my To-Do Lists. I rarely reread them, but when I do it serves as a good reminder for how much I've accomplished these past months. (I also recommend Wunderlist, which is a great free app, but I prefer good old-fashion pen and paper)

Lately though I've been cheating. In part, I think it’s because I've 
been focusing on several new projects like this site and a book, which take up a lot of my time and energy. This isn't necessarily a bad thing – I’m realigning my attention to my priorities, but there have been more and more undone To-Do list entries each week – including priority ones. It’s true a few skips here and there are harmless but a pattern is developing. This is a problem.

So, with young David’s tragic missed opportunity in mind, and an awareness of my loss of productive momentum, I’m recommitting to myself. I need to recognize what is actually possible for me to get done in a day and then focus on those tasks wholeheartedly.

Starting today, October 18th, if I can keep 90% of my promises to myself through the rest of 2013, I’ll treat myself. Maybe I’ll take a weekend vacation to somewhere I've always wanted to visit, or buy a new computer. I haven’t decided yet.  


The point is this: I can never get back yesterday, so I need to make better use of today.

4 Comments
BrassCheck
11/10/2013 03:50:17 am

Love Love Love the "treat yoself reference" - Leslie Knope for President.

Reply
Chase Utley
11/26/2013 05:17:26 am

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
- - Mark Twain (as Steve Ohms as Mark Twain)

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Ryan Howard
11/26/2013 05:21:37 am

How can 'You can never get back yesterday' and 'There's always tomorrow' both me advice/cliches/lessons/whatever? It's like 'Just Do It' vs. 'Stop and Think'. They can't both be right, right?

Reply
Jon Glat
11/26/2013 08:33:05 am

Hi Ryan Howard (if you're the real one you need to start hitting more home runs)

There's always tomorrow is a bad cliche. It's true there is always tomorrow, but if you don't invest in today, you'll be one day behind so to speak, which lengthens the time before you can actualize your goal. Good stuff.

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I've been reading a book a week for 15+ years. On here, I share my favorites, fiction and nonfiction alike, as well as interviews with authors, artists, and entrepreneurs I admire. If you'd like to join a family of 5,000+ creatives, subscribe for the Reading List, a monthly email round-up for plenty of leads on your next read.