July 3Measure Mindfully
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson—letter to one of his daughters who was away at school, from James Elliot Cabot's Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1883)
You want to know how to put the past behind you? Experience something new each day.
Wake up expecting the miraculous today. And then, when some blunders and absurdities creep in, as they always do, deal with them and then move on. Why let today ruin a perfectly good tomorrow?
Find a way to put an end to your workday, something that tricks your brain into quitting. Something that draws a line in your to-do list. Perhaps it's to plan and forget tomorrow so that you can begin just as you did today: with a fresh and new experience.
Challenge Question
- What does your workday-is-over routine look like?
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