Tuesday, September 22, 2015

TODAY MATTERS: DON'T LOOK PAST IT

I've been reading "Coach Wooden" by Pat Williams and he had a great story about understanding the importance of today and how today truly matters to the best:

Greg Maddux is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to win at least fifteen games for seventeen consecutive seasons. He recalls some advice he once received from then-Cubs manager Tom Trebelhorn. “You know what the problem is with players these days?” Trebelhorn said. “They are always looking forward to something. They’re never trying to do something today. They’re always looking forward to the next off-day, the All-Star break, the end of the season. They never stop and enjoy the day that’s here.”

Maddux says that he thought about that and saw that Trebelhorn has a point. In fact, Maddux realized that he had that same mind-set of looking only to the future and never enjoying the present moment. From that day forward, Maddux concluded, “I started enjoying each day… and really started loving the games from that day on.”

And as Pat quoted Coach Wooden:

“When I was teaching basketball, I urged my players to try their hardest to improve on that very day, to make that practice a masterpiece… It begins by trying to make each day count and knowing you can never make up for a lost day.”