by Og Mandino
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And what then shall I do? Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow. Why should I throw now after maybe? Can tomorrow’s sand flow through the glass before today’s? Will the sun rise twice this morning? Can I perform tomorrow’s deeds while standing in today’s path? Can I place tomorrow’s gold in today’s purse? Can tomorrow’s child be born today? Can tomorrow’s death cast its shadow backward and darken today’s joy? Should I concern myself over events which I may never witness? Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass? No I Tomorrow lies buried with yesterday, and I will think of it no more.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity. I greet this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death. I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day. So too, I will beat upon my heart with gratitude as I consider all who greeted yesterday’s sunrise who are no longer with the living today. I am indeed a fortunate man and today’s hours are but a bonus, undeserved. Why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others, far better than I, have departed? Is it that they have accomplished their purpose while mine is yet to be achieved? Is this another opportunity for me to become the man I know I can be? Is there a purpose in nature? Is this my day to excel?
I will live this day as if it is my last.
I have but one life and life is naught but a measurement of time. When I waste one I destroy the other. If I waste today I destroy the last page of my life. Therefore, each hour of this day will I cherish for it can never return. It cannot be banked today to be withdrawn on the morrow, for who can trap the wind? Each minute of this day will I grasp with both hands and fondle with love for its value is beyond price. What dying man can purchase another breath though he willingly give all his gold? What price dare I place on the hours ahead? I will make them priceless!
I will live this day as if it is my last.
I will avoid with fury the killers of time. Procrastination I will destroy with action; doubt I will bury under faith; fear I will dismember with confidence. Where there are idle mouths I will listen not; where there are idle hands I will linger not; where there are idle bodies I will visit not. Henceforth I know that to court idleness is to steal food, clothing, and warmth from those I love. I am not a thief. I am a man of love and today is my last chance to prove my love and my greatness.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
The duties of today I shall fulfill today. Today I shall fondle my children while they are young; tomorrow they will be gone, and so will I. Today I shall embrace my woman with sweet kisses; tomorrow she will be gone, and so will I. Today I shall lift up a friend in need; tomorrow he will no longer cry for help, nor will I hear his cries. Today I shall give myself in sacrifice and work; tomorrow I will have nothing to give, and there will be none to receive.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And if it is my last, it will be my greatest monument. This day I will make the best day of my life. This day I will drink every minute to its full. I will savor its taste and give thanks. I will maketh every hour count and each minute I will trade only for something of value. I will labor harder than ever before and push my muscles until they cry for relief, and then I will continue. I will make more calls than ever before. I will sell more goods than ever before. I will earn more gold than ever before. Each minute of today will be more fruitful than hours of yesterday. My last must be my best.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And if it is not, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.
Chapter VIII
Do you get moody?
Of course you do. There are days when you’d, like to crawl into a hole and just hide from the world. Everything you touch turns to sawdust. You just can’t win. You can’t make a sale. What’s the sense to anything? Right?
And then there are other days when you can do nothing wrong. From the time you awake you’re wearing rose colored glasses and enjoying every minute of it. Sales? Completed projects? You can’t miss. Everything is going your way.
What causes these fluctuations in our emotional level? We don’t know, but some time ago I was fortunate enough to work closely with Professor Edward R. Dewey, head of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles at the University of Pittsburgh. We co-authored a book entitled “Cycles, The Mysterious Forces that Trigger Events” (Hawthorn Books).
One of the many cycles we dealt with was the emotional cycle in human beings. Several years ago a scientific study was conducted by Professor Rex Hersey of the University of Pennsylvania. His conclusion was that the emotional cycle in man has an average length of about five weeks. This is the typical length of time it takes for a normal individual to move from one period of elation down the scale to a feeling of worry (the most destructive emotion according to Hersey) and back up again to the next period of elation.
Five weeks! Maybe your emotional cycle is longer or shorter but I’m sure you’ll agree that it would be great to know your “high” and “low” periods. Here’s a simple method to learn this important secret about yourself. Just prepare a chart similar to the one below:
Every evening take a moment to review your general mood of the day. Then place a dot in the box which seems to fit your state of mind for that day. Connect the dots as time goes on.
Soon you will see a pattern forming. This is your natural mood rhythm, and in most cases it will continue. After a few months you will know, with amazing accuracy, when your next “high” is due and when you should prepare for your next “low.” With this knowledge, this ability to predict your future behavior, you will be able to adjust your activities to suit your mood. When you are going through your high period of elation, you will think twice before making rash promises, impossible commitments, or misguided installment purchases. You will also be able to live through your low periods, when nothing is going right, because now you know that this will soon pass.
The Scroll Marked VI wisely reminds you of another fact … that your prospect or customer or supervisor or spouse is also going through a mood cycle. You may be “up”… but if that other person is “down” you’ve got a tough road ahead of you … yet this should not discourage you. In a few days that individual, now “up” in his mood will be completely receptive to you and your ideas.
Okay, now we know we have moods … but we just can’t stay home during those “down” weeks or half a year’s productivity goes out the window. So what do we do to remain productive even when we’re “down?”
For centuries man believed that his thoughts controlled his actions. Then, along came that great psychologist William James who said that “your actions can control your thoughts … and your mood.” In other words if you act happy you will feel happy … if you act enthusiastically you will feel enthusiastic … if you act healthy you will feel healthy. You can call it mind-control or any other name you wish … but I want to assure you that it works. Yet it remains a deep, dark secret to most salesmen or individuals in every walk of life. Now, you can make every day a great day as you will learn in:
The Scroll Marked VI
Today I will be master of my emotions.
The tides advance; the tides recede. Winter goes and summer comes. Summer wanes and the cold increases. The sun rises; the sun sets. The moon is full; the moon is black. The birds arrive; the birds depart. Flowers bloom; flowers fade. Seeds are sown; harvests are reaped. All nature is a circle of moods and I am a part of nature and so, like the tides, my moods will rise; my moods will fall.
Today I will be master of my emotions.
It is one of nature’s tricks, little understood, that each day I awaken with moods that have changed from yesterday. Yesterday’s joy will become today’s sadness; yet today’s sadness will grow into tomorrow’s joy. Inside me is a wheel, constantly turning from sadness to joy, from exultation to depression, from hap
piness to melancholy. Like the flowers, today’s full bloom of joy will fade and wither into despondency, yet I will remember that as today’s dead flower carries the seed of tomorrow’s bloom so, too, does today’s sadness carry the seed of tomorrow’s joy.
Today I will be master of my emotions.
And how will I master these emotions so that each day will be productive? For unless my mood is right the day will be a failure. Trees and plants depend on the weather to flourish but I make my own weather, yea I transport it with me. If I bring rain and gloom and darkness and pessimism to my customers then they will react with rain and gloom and darkness and pessimism and they will purchase naught. If I bring my joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter to my customers they will react with joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter and my weather will produce a harvest of sales and a granary of gold for me.
Today I will be master of my emotions.
And how will I master my emotions so that every day is a happy day, and a productive one? I will learn this secret of the ages: Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts. Each day, when I awake, I will follow this plan of battle before I am captured by the forces of sadness, self-pity and failure—
If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labor.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will remember past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be master of my emotions.
Henceforth, I will know that only those with inferior ability can always be at their best, and I am not inferior. There will be days when I must constantly struggle against forces which would tear me down. Those such as despair and sadness are simple to recognize but there are others which approach with a smile and the hand of friendship and they can also destroy me. Against them, too, I must never relinquish control—
If I become overconfident I will recall my failures.
If I overindulge I will think of past hungers.
If I feel complacency I will remember my competition.
If I enjoy moments of greatness I will remember moments of shame.
If I feel all-powerful I will try to stop the wind.
If I attain great wealth I will remember one unfed mouth.
If I become overly proud I will remember a moment of weakness.
If I feel my skill is unmatched I will look at the stars.
Today I will be master of my emotions.
And with this new knowledge I will also understand and recognize the moods of he on whom I call. I will make allowances for his anger and irritation of today for he knows not the secret of controlling his mind. I can withstand his arrows and insults for now I know that tomorrow he will change and be a joy to approach.
No longer will I judge a man on one meeting; no longer will I fail to call again tomorrow on he who meets me with hate today. This day he will not buy gold chariots for a penny, yet tomorrow he would exchange his home for a tree. My knowledge of this secret will be my key to great wealth.
Today I will be master of my emotions.
Henceforth I will recognize and identify the mystery of moods in all mankind, and in me. From this moment I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny.
Today I control my destiny, and my destiny is to become the greatest salesman in the world!
I will become master of myself.
I will become great.
Chapter IX
Stand on any busy corner and look at faces.
How many are smiling? How many even seem pleased, or happy? We are becoming a nation of frowning robots, rushing like blind ants from place to place, worrying about, well, you name it. I wish we had some statistics on smiles and laughter for I wonder what percentage of us, on any particular day, never laugh or even smile, from the time we rise to the time we retire.
Aren’t we foolish … as we stagger around with the weight of the world on our shoulders and that frown adding wrinkles where they’re not needed? Our somber mood is even killing us. Dr. James Walsh of Fordham University says, “People who laugh actually live longer than those who don’t laugh. Few people realize that health actually varies according to the amount of their laughter.”
Not only have we forgotten how to laugh, we’ve forgotten how important it is. Our forefathers who could afford it trotted jesters and buffoons past their dinner table to make them laugh so that their digestion was improved.
Apparently there are a tremendous number of non-laughers out there because, since The Greatest Salesman in the World was published I have probably received more mail concerning The Scroll Marked VII, which you are about to begin reading, than any other, with most of the remarks directed at the scroll’s specific injunction to start laughing at yourself.
Sammy Davis was once asked to define success. I’ll never forget his answer: “I don’t know what success is, but I know what failure is. Failure is trying to please everybody.”
If you’re trying to please everybody, and you’ve forgotten how to laugh at others, and yourself, now is the time to learn how to say “to heck with it.” Stop taking others, and yourself, too seriously. You are a miracle of nature but that doesn’t mean you were put here to be a sourpuss, as you will discover in:
The Scroll Marked VII
I will laugh at the world.
No living creature can laugh except man. Trees may bleed when they are wounded, and beasts in the field will cry in pain and hunger, yet I have the gift of laughter and it is mine to use whenever I choose. Henceforth I will cultivate the habit of laughter.
I will smile and my digestion will improve; I will chuckle and my burdens will be lightened; I will laugh and my life will be lengthened for this is the secret of long life and now it is mine.
I will laugh at the world.
And most of all, I will laugh at myself for man is most comical when he takes himself too seriously. Never will I fall into this trap of the mind. For though I be nature’s greatest miracle am I not still a mere grain tossed about by the winds of time? Do I truly know whence I came or whither I am bound? Will my concern for this day not seem foolish ten years hence? Why should I permit the petty happenings of today to disturb me? What can take place before the sun sets which will not seem insignificant in the river of centuries?
I will laugh at the world.
And how can I laugh when confronted with man or deed which offends me so as to bring forth my tears or my curses? Four words I will train myself to say until they become a habit so strong that immediately they will appear in my mind whenever good humor threatens to depart from me. These words, passed down from the ancients, will carry me through every adversity and maintain my life in balance. These four words are: This too shall pass.
I will laugh at the world.
For all worldly things shall indeed pass. When I am heavy with heartache I shall console myself that this too shall pass; when I am puffed with success I shall warn myself that this too shall pass. When I am strangled in poverty I shall tell myself that this too shall pass; when I am burdened with wealth I shall tell myself that this too shall pass. Yea, verily, where is he who built the pyramid? Is he not buried within its stone? And will the pyramid, one day, not also be buried under sand? If all things shall pass why should I be of concern for today?
I will laugh at the world.
I will paint this day with laughter; I will frame this night in song. Never will I labor to be happy; rather will I remain too busy to be sad. I will enjoy today’s happiness today. It is not grain to be stored in a box. It is not wine t
o be saved in a jar. It cannot be saved for the morrow. It must be sown and reaped on the same day and this I will do, henceforth.
I will laugh at the world.
And with my laughter all things will be reduced to their proper size. I will laugh at my failures and they will vanish in clouds of new dreams; I will laugh at my successes and they will shrink to their true value. I will laugh at evil and it will die untasted; I will laugh at goodness and it will thrive and abound. Each day will be triumphant only when my smiles bring forth smiles from others and this I do in selfishness, for those on whom I frown are those who purchase not my goods.
I will laugh at the world.
Henceforth will I shed only tears of sweat, for those of sadness or remorse or frustration are of no value in the market place whilst each smile can be exchanged for gold and each kind word, spoken from my heart, can build a castle.
Never will I allow myself to become so impatient, so wise, so dignified, so powerful, that I forget how to laugh at myself and my world. In this matter I will always remain as a child, for only as a child am I given the ability to look up to another. I will never grow too long for my cot.
I will laugh at the world.
And so long as I can laugh never will I be poor. This then, is one of nature’s greatest gifts, and I will waste it no more. Only with laughter and happiness can I truly become a success. Only with laughter and happiness can I enjoy the fruits of my labor. Were it not so, far better would it be to fail, for happiness is the wine that sharpens the taste of the meal. To enjoy success I must have happiness, and laughter will be the maiden who serves me.
I will be happy.
I will be successful.
I will be the greatest salesman the world has ever known.
Chapter X
You’ve hung on so well, and you’re looking so great!
I’m proud of you.
I’m so proud of you that I’m going to let you in on the greatest secret in the world. The president of your company knows it … and so does every other individual who ever made it to the top in his own particular career. It really shouldn’t be classified as a secret because successful people constantly talk about it openly … but nobody is listening!
