Do Today What You Want to Postpone Until Tomorrow.

    The devil's favorite strategy to get you to fail is procrastination. Realize now is the best time to be alive and productive. If you want to make an easy job seem difficult, just keep putting off doing it. "We're all fugitives, and the things we didn't do yesterday are the bloodhounds" (Prism). "A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last" (Joseph Newton). Work is the best thing ever invented for killing time.

    What holds us back? "There are those of us who are always about to live. We're waiting until things change, until there is more time, until we are less tired, until we get a promotion, until we settle down—until, until, until. It always seems there is some major event that must occur in our lives before we begin living" (George Sheehan). One of these days is really none of these days. The by and by never comes. The person who desires, but doesn't act, breeds stagnation. And you should always expect poison from standing water.

    About the only thing that comes to him who waits is old age. You can't build your reputation on what you're going to do tomorrow. Do today what you want to postpone until tomorrow. "Do not allow idleness to deceive you; for while you give him today, he steals tomorrow from you" (H. Crowquill). Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging-on of an uncompleted task. When you run in place everyone will pass you by.

    When a person gets into a habit of wasting time, they are sure to waste a great deal that doesn’t belong to them. "One day, today, is worth two tomorrows" (Ben Franklin). What may be done at any time…will be done at no time. "Life is like a taxi, the meter keeps-a-ticking whether you're getting somewhere or standing still" (Lou Erickson). The successful person is one who went ahead and did the thing others never got around to.
A mother repeatedly called upstairs for her son to get up, get dressed and get ready for school. It was a familiar routine, especially at exam time.
"I feel sick," said the voice from the bedroom.
"You are not sick. Get up and get ready," called the mother, walking up the stairs and hovering outside the bedroom door.
"I hate school and I'm not going," said the voice from the bedroom, "I'm always getting talked about behind my back, making mistakes and getting told off. Nobody likes me, and I've got no friends. And we have too many tests. It's all just pointless, and I'm not going to school ever again."
"I'm sorry, but you are going to school," said the mother through the door, continuing encouragingly, "Really, mistakes are how we learn and develop. And please try not to take criticism so personally. And I can't believe that nobody likes you - you have lots of friends at school. And yes, all those tests can be daunting, but we are all tested in many ways throughout our lives, so all this experience at school is useful for life in general. Besides, you have to go, you are the principle."

    What the fool does in the end, the wise man does in the beginning. Prolonged idleness paralyzes initiative. "Don't stand shivering upon the banks; plunge in at once and have it over with" (Sam Slick). Tomorrow is the busiest day of the week. If there's a hill to climb, don't think waiting will make it any smaller.

    A sluggard takes a hundred steps because he wouldn’t take one in due time. If possible, make the decision now, even if the action is in the future. A reviewed decision is usually better than one reached at the last moment. "The fool with all his other thoughts, has this also; he is always getting ready to live" (Epicurus). He who fiddles around seldom gets to lead the orchestra. There is danger in delay.  It’s always better to reap two days too soon than one day too late. Pity the man who waits until the last day.

    "Tomorrow, will I live," the fool does say; tomorrow itself is too late; the wise live yesterday" (Martial). "While the fool is enjoying the little he has, I will hunt for more. The way to hunt for more is to utilize your odd moments...the man who is always killing time is really killing his own chances in life" (Arthur Brisbane).