When we’re powerful in the present, we master the future.
When we’re not, we won’t. 

I’ll use myself as a perfectly pedantic example of failing to be powerful in the present and, therefore, mucking up the future. Earlier this week, as I was getting ready for bed, I thought about putting my walking clothes on the bathroom counter for early the next morning. When my alarm goes off at 5:30 am, and my clothes are already laid out, I’m more likely to roll out of bed for that 3-mile morning walk. When I fail to do the simple exercise of laying my clothes out the night before, the chances of me rolling over and snoozing that alarm increase exponentially. I know this. Yet, I failed to do it and I did exactly what my subconscious mind probably already knew I would do.

What happened to the rest of the morning, you might ask?

I woke up even later, scurried around grumpily, didn’t get my morning laughs from my favorite podcast, and was a bit of a grump until I was able to see my first client of the morning (which generally puts me in a good mood). 

Ugh. What a waste of a morning. 

I failed to be powerful in the present the night before and I failed to master the future of the morning after.

As we enter the month of December, one of the more hectic of the 12, the chances of us failing to be powerful in the present increase exponentially as well. 

Please use this month to exercise intention when you commit to events, parties, family gatherings, deadlines, etc… Be powerful in the present and set boundaries in the moment so you don’t find yourself facing an unpreferred future. 

If you really don’t want to attend an event, be powerful in the present and say, “Thank you for the invitation; I have to pass this time around.” If not, you will kick yourself when you see that event on your future calendar. 

If you’re working on a Q4 deadline, block time on your calendar every single day until the deadline and chip away at it in the presence of each day and you will win the future deadline date every day.

If you want to keep the holiday pounds at bay, put your clothes out the night before when you know you should and you will win the future morning.

This month has the potential to eat all the others for lunch if we’re not powerful in its presence. Good luck to us all!