第1章
The Daily Decision That Transforms Your Life
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to effortlessly achieve success while others struggle despite similar talents and opportunities? The answer might be simpler than you think. According to leadership expert John C. Maxwell, the secret lies not in some grand strategy or stroke of luck, but in how you approach today. In his transformative book "Today Matters," Maxwell presents a compelling case that your daily decisions and disciplines create the foundation for tomorrow's achievements. This philosophy has made the book a favorite among CEOs, professional athletes, and self-development enthusiasts like Oprah Winfrey, who featured Maxwell's principles in her magazine. With over a million copies sold and translations in dozens of languages, this book continues to reshape how people approach their daily lives, offering a refreshingly practical alternative to the "someday" mindset that keeps so many people stuck in patterns of unfulfilled potential.
第2章
The Missing Piece: Why Today Is Your Most Valuable Asset
Most of us misunderstand what creates success. We believe it comes from luck, connections, or some future opportunity. We criticize success when we can't achieve it, search for a mystical formula, hope for lucky breaks, or wait for the perfect opportunity. Some believe success comes from working harder, leveraging power, or gaining recognition. But these approaches miss the fundamental truth: success is determined by your daily agenda.
The real problem is that we consistently undervalue today. We either overexaggerate yesterday-defining ourselves by past glories or failures-or overestimate tomorrow, expecting things to improve without a strategy for making it happen. As William Allen White observed, many people fail to live for today because they're always reaching for tomorrow, only to find that tomorrow becomes yesterday without ever being grasped.
Today is the only time we actually have to work with. Yesterday ended last night, and tomorrow may never come. Yet most people let today slip through their fingers, failing to recognize its immense potential. Dale Witherington's "Lifebuilder's Creed" captures this perfectly: "Today is the most important day of my life. Yesterday with its successes and victories, struggles and failures, is gone forever. The past is past. Done. Today is a new day."
The secret to success isn't complicated-it's making the right decisions in key areas of life and managing those decisions daily. There are only a handful of important decisions people need to make in their entire lifetime. By making these decisions early and managing them consistently, you create the foundation for extraordinary achievement. The earlier you make these decisions and the longer you manage them, the more successful you can become.
Those who neglect this approach often end up like Oscar Wilde, who despite his brilliance and early success, died bankrupt and broken at forty-six. From prison, he wrote that he had ruined himself-that "every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character." By the time he realized where his inattention to daily choices was leading, it was too late.
As Benjamin Franklin wisely observed, "One today is worth two tomorrows; what I am to be, I am now becoming."
第3章
Creating Your Daily Masterpiece: Decisions Plus Discipline
Success is determined by your daily agenda. By observing just one day of your life, I could predict where you're headed because success isn't a sudden occurrence but a process built day by day. Each day prepares you for something-the question is whether you're preparing for success or failure.
Like the ant who works diligently while the grasshopper plays, those who "pay now" with disciplined effort can "play later" with rewards, while those who play now will eventually pay with consequences. When you invest in today, it's like putting money in the bank or studying thoroughly for an exam-you walk into tomorrow with absolute confidence.
As legendary quarterback Joe Namath explained, "What I do is prepare myself until I know I can do what I have to do." This preparation focuses on today, increases efficiency and confidence, saves money, and elevates you. Repairing, by contrast, focuses on yesterday, wastes time, breeds discouragement, increases costs, and hinders growth.
Creating a daily masterpiece requires two essential ingredients: decisions and discipline-goal setting and goal getting. Good decisions without daily discipline yield plans without payoffs; discipline without good decisions creates regimentation without reward. But good decisions plus daily discipline produce a masterpiece of potential.
Starting is often the hardest part of making positive life changes. To begin effectively, start with yourself-be the change you want to see, as Gandhi advised. This approach gives you experience, confidence, integrity, and influence while making you content with yourself. Start early to increase your odds for success and create more options-like Pat Summit who began coaching at 26 and achieved extraordinary success. Start small, taking manageable steps that build confidence and momentum. And most importantly, start now-as Dick Biggs says, "The greatest gap in life is the one between knowing and doing."
The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, who had only one losing season in forty years and won ten NCAA championships, embodied this philosophy perfectly. At 92, he attributed his success to analyzing players, helping them fulfill team roles, focusing on fundamentals, and working well with others. What he missed most about coaching was practice. "What you do in practice determines your level of success," he told me. "You have to give 100 percent every day. Whatever you don't give, you can't make up for tomorrow."
His personal philosophy, which he carried on a card, reads: "Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." And among his favorite maxims: "Make each day your masterpiece."
第4章
Attitude: The Foundation of Possibilities
While success without a good attitude is possible, as seen with Clarence Darrow and Sigmund Freud who achieved greatly despite their pessimism, your attitude determines how much you enjoy success. Freud, despite his influence and accomplishments, lived with chronic "pessimism, gloom, and general state of unhappiness," believing suffering was inevitable from three directions: our bodies, the external world, and relationships with others. He chose his discontent, making himself and others miserable despite his achievements.
Though talented people can occasionally achieve with bad attitudes, it requires tremendous effort and rarely brings happiness. Meanwhile, even average people can accomplish remarkable things with great attitudes. Denis Waitley observed, "The winner's edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner's edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude."
Your attitude affects outcomes in several crucial ways: it influences the beginning of tasks more than anything else ("All's well that begins well"), determines how others respond to you, gives you a winner's perspective (like Joe Louis who refused to stay down when knocked down), provides happiness beyond achievements, and is contagious to those around you. As Fred Smith taught me, people are either "polluters" who spread negativity or "purifiers" who filter toxicity and spread positivity.
Many mistakenly believe their attitude is fixed like height or genetics, but it's actually a choice. To change your attitude, first take responsibility for it, and then decide to change your bad attitude areas. While you can't choose circumstances like your parents or birthplace, you can always choose your attitude. To become the person you want to be, think, act, talk and conduct yourself like that person.
To maintain a positive attitude, make daily adjustments, find something positive in everything, seek positive people, say something positive in every conversation, remove negative words from your vocabulary, and express gratitude daily.
Lance Armstrong's battle with cancer illustrates the power of attitude. When diagnosed, the disease had spread to his lungs and brain, requiring surgery and grueling chemotherapy. Though doctors told him he had a 50% chance of survival, one later admitted they'd privately given him only a 3% chance. Throughout treatment, Armstrong maintained his positive attitude, believing "hope is the only antidote to fear." He even described his cancer treatment as "a very positive time in my life."
After surviving cancer, Armstrong faced setbacks in his comeback to cycling, once quitting mid-race when his attitude deteriorated. Yet he persevered to win not one but five consecutive Tour de France races. Armstrong recognized that "dispiritedness and disappointment were the real perils of life," not illness itself. His advice after winning: "If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you've got to go all the way."
第5章
Priorities: Finding Focus in a Distracted World
Howard Hughes inherited his father's successful tool company at just eighteen. While his father had built the company through focus and innovation (obtaining 73 patents for revolutionary drill bits), young Hughes hired managers to run the business and pursued multiple ventures without sustained focus-first movies, then aviation, then airlines, constantly jumping between industries without maintaining attention on any single pursuit.
Despite becoming the nation's first billionaire, Hughes's lack of priorities led to a broken life of unfulfilled potential. He couldn't maintain relationships, his marriages failed, he had no children, and the only companies that thrived were ones he relinquished control of. He died alienated and alone, having signed away his empire and succumbed to eccentricity and rumored addiction.
Understanding priorities is crucial for three key reasons. First, time is our most precious commodity-how we spend time is more important than how we spend money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time once lost is gone forever. Second, we cannot change time, only our priorities. No one gets more than 1,440 minutes per day. Since we can't change time itself, we must change our approach to it through priorities. Third, we cannot do everything. As Lin Yutang said, "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists of the elimination of nonessentials."
Everything you do after age twenty-one is something you've chosen. To change your life, change your priorities. Your greatest possession is the next twenty-four hours. As Carl Sandburg said, "Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent." You must decide whether to give in to pressure or focus on priorities, whether to let distractions consume your day or take control.
To determine your priorities, ask yourself three critical questions: What is required of me? What gives me the greatest return? What gives me the greatest reward? As philosopher William James said, "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."
People don't pay for average; they reward excellence. To find your strengths, try trial and error (taking risks to discover what works), seek counsel from others (unbiased feedback), take personality tests (like DISC or Myers-Briggs), and evaluate personal experience. Remember that "experience isn't always the best teacher-evaluated experience is!"
Managing priorities requires five specific disciplines: evaluating priorities daily (they don't stay put), planning your time carefully (like Charles Schwab's six important tasks method), following your plan (tackling important tasks first), delegating whenever possible (if someone can do a task 80% as well as you can, hand it off), and investing in the right people daily (spend priority time with potential people, not problem people).
Betsy Rogers, 2003 National Teacher of the Year, exemplifies proper priorities. Coming from a family of educators, Rogers committed herself to making her classroom a safe, joyful environment for students with difficult lives. After taking six years off to raise her sons, she returned to teaching and prioritized community connection by moving her family to Leeds, where she taught. Despite her national recognition, Rogers plans to return to a struggling school rather than pursue a higher-paying position, embodying her belief that "we are here on this earth to serve."
第6章
Health: The Energy for Achievement
Most people take their health for granted until they lose it. I certainly did. Despite maintaining a grueling schedule with two demanding jobs, extensive travel, and little exercise, I took my health for granted because I rarely got sick and had abundant energy. This changed dramatically on December 18, 1998, when I suffered a serious heart attack at my company Christmas party. Thanks to a timely intervention by top cardiologists and a recently developed procedure, my life was saved.
Health matters for three critical reasons: First, health impacts you emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually-you can't escape your body, so poor health affects every aspect of life. Second, health determines both quality and quantity of life-just as you wouldn't let valuable animals harm themselves with unhealthy habits, you shouldn't allow yourself to do so either. Third, maintaining good health is easier than regaining it.
After my heart attack, I learned I had sustained no heart damage and could make a full recovery. My doctor told me that men who survive and learn from early heart attacks often live longer than those who never have one-if they change their lifestyle. After years of failed diets that began well but ended in binges, I made a decision at age fifty-one: "I will take good care of myself by exercising and eating right."
Having a purpose worth living for provides powerful motivation to maintain good health. Without hope for the future, it's hard to find motivation in the present. After my heart attack, when asked if I'd lost my craving for desserts, I replied, "No, but my craving for life is greater."
Finding the right pace is crucial for health. Going too slowly can make you lazy, while running faster than you're capable can lead to burnout. Even at 57, I still battle between maintaining a healthy pace and my drive to accomplish everything possible.
After my heart attack, I committed to eating low-fat foods and exercising daily for at least thirty-five minutes. Though I maintained perfect discipline for two and a half years, when my doctor told me I no longer needed to consider myself a heart patient, I relaxed my vigilance. This led to a gradual slide from daily discipline to "most days" to "some days," proving my own teaching that "today matters"-neglect enough todays and you'll experience the "someday" you wanted to avoid.
Fitness expert Jack LaLanne exemplifies the power of health decisions. He accomplished remarkable physical feats throughout his life-swimming from Alcatraz while handcuffed at 41, doing 1,000 push-ups and chin-ups in 82 minutes at 45, and towing seventy boats with passengers while handcuffed at age 70. LaLanne made his health decision at fifteen, opened his first gym at twenty-one, and remained committed to daily exercise well into his eighties. "I never think of age," LaLanne says. "I think about today; I don't think about tomorrow. I think about this moment and what I am going to do."
第7章
Family: Your Foundation of Stability
Family provides crucial stability in life's storms. While we can't change our ancestry, we can influence our descendants and determine how we treat our own families. A healthy, supportive family serves as "a safe haven in a storm" amid life's pressures and "a photo album of memories" that shapes our experiences and perspectives.
Family life forges character more than any other factor in a person's formative years. Perry F. Webb describes home as the lens through which we first view marriage and civic duties, the clinic where impressions about reverence are created, the school teaching honesty or deceit, and the mold determining society's structure.
At age thirty-nine, I noticed many colleagues' marriages failing. Though my own marriage seemed strong, this trend prompted me to redefine success as "having those closest to me love and respect me the most." This placed my wife Margaret and children at the center of my definition of success, making family care and communication a life priority.
I learned prioritizing family the hard way, initially neglecting my marriage while pursuing career success. I warn that "a marriage can't survive forever on leftovers." Building a solid family requires deliberate work and prioritization.
My wife and I developed a family philosophy centered on commitment to God, continual growth, common experiences, confidence (in God, ourselves, and others), and contributions to life. I advise creating a simple, memorable list of non-negotiable values rather than an unwieldy list that would be impossible to implement.
Making family a priority requires giving them your best energy and attention. I block out family vacations first, schedule time with my wife, and prioritize grandchildren. When my children were young, I reserved time for their activities. I endorse the philosophy of being fully present-never feeling you should be at work when with family or with family when at work.
People remember family vacations better than childhood gifts because shared experiences matter more than things. Traditions give families shared history and identity. I recommend creating traditions based on values, incorporating elements from both spouses' childhoods, cultural elements, and children's interests.
For family stability, quantity of time matters as much as quality. As psychiatrist Armand Nicholi says, "Time is like oxygen-there's a minimum amount that's necessary for survival." When my children were teenagers, I gave up golf for six years to have more time available.
The relational foundation of any family is the marriage, which sets the household tone and provides the model relationship children learn from most. As Theodore Hesburgh said, "The most important thing a father can do for his children is love their mother." No marriage is easy-success means going from crisis to crisis with growing commitment.
Karen Hughes, once called "the most powerful woman in America," exemplifies family commitment. As counselor to President George W. Bush, she held unprecedented influence. Bush himself said, "I don't want any important decision made without her in the room." Yet in 2002, Hughes left her powerful position to return to Texas for her family's sake, particularly so her son could complete high school there. For Hughes, today's family truly gives her stability.
第8章
Thinking: Your Competitive Advantage
Good thinking can transform businesses and lives. The story of A&P grocery illustrates this principle. Founded in 1859 when George Hartford convinced his employer to sell tea directly to the public at a third of competitors' prices, the company grew from one shop to six within four years. Hartford's sons George and John proved even better thinkers than their father, revolutionizing the grocery industry with innovative store concepts and manufacturing. By 1950, A&P's sales topped $3.2 billion-making it the largest privately owned company worldwide, second in sales only to General Motors.
However, when consumer preferences shifted in the 1960s-70s, A&P's new leadership failed to adapt. Instead of innovating like the Hartfords, CEO Ralph Burger tried to preserve cash dividends and past glory, constantly asking "what would Mr. Hartford do?" rather than developing his own innovative thinking approach. This backward-looking mentality prevented A&P from evolving with changing consumer demands.
Claude Bristol said, "Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material gain, all great discoveries and inventions, and all achievement." Good thinking isn't just important-it should be a daily discipline. Great thinking doesn't happen accidentally; it's developed through consistent practice and prioritization.
Good thinking precedes good results-people don't stumble into achievement. Whether you're a doctor, businessperson, carpenter, teacher, or parent, your success increases dramatically when you value thinking. The quality of your thinking directly impacts your potential for achievement.
The person with ideas has the greatest value in any organization. Harvey Firestone noted, "What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you can do with your business and your life." Ideas built our country and drive our economy.
People who don't develop good thinking find themselves at the mercy of circumstances, repeatedly facing the same problems and living in reaction mode. As a German proverb says, "Better an empty purse than an empty head." Good thinkers can overcome difficulties, including resource limitations, while poor thinkers often fall victim to good thinkers.
I learned about the power of thinking early in life when my father required daily reading. Two books profoundly impacted me: Norman Vincent Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking" and James Allen's "As a Man Thinketh." Allen's statement that "All that a man achieves or fails to achieve is the direct result of his thoughts" led me to decide: "I will think on things that will add value to myself and others."
Since 1969, I've always designated a specific thinking spot in each place I've lived-from a spring outside my home in Indiana, to a rock in Ohio, an isolated room in San Diego, and now a particular chair in my Atlanta office. Though I can think almost anywhere without interruptions, having a dedicated thinking place helps maintain this important discipline.
I do most of my best thinking early in the morning, except for reflective thinking which I do in the evenings before bed. I recommend discovering when your thinking is sharpest and setting aside a dedicated block of time daily for thinking, which will make you more productive and focused.
Writing down ideas immediately is crucial to avoid losing them. Like author Anne Lamott, who keeps index cards and pens throughout her house, car, and even in her pocket during walks, I always record my ideas-using a legal pad in my thinking spot, carrying a small leather-bound notebook during the day, and keeping a light-up notepad by my bed at night.
Ideas lose their power the longer they sit unused. Many people have had the experience of seeing someone else take an idea to market that they only thought about. As Alfred Montapert observed, "Every time a person puts an idea across, he finds ten people who thought about it before he did-but they only thought about it."
第9章
Commitment: The Backbone of Achievement
Mickey Mantle, possibly baseball's most naturally gifted player, never reached his full potential. Despite incredible achievements-including twelve World Series appearances, three MVP awards, and numerous records-Mantle's career was undermined not just by injuries but by alcoholism. Only at age 62 did Mantle seek sobriety, admitting, "God gave me a great body to play with, and I didn't take care of it." By then, his health was ruined, and he died shortly after.
Commitment provides the tenacity needed to fulfill your potential and purpose. It can fundamentally change your life direction, helps overcome life's obstacles rather than escaping them as Mantle did through alcohol, and will be tested daily through failures, having to stand alone, and facing disappointments. As Lincoln said, "your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing."
In 1976, as a 29-year-old pastor, I faced leading a seemingly impossible $1 million church expansion. I made the life decision: "If something is worth doing, I will commit myself to carrying it through." This commitment was severely tested as I had to terminate popular staff members, watch 15 percent of my congregation leave, and raise $300,000 when I'd never raised more than $25,000 before. The project faced numerous challenges including losing our most generous giver and cost overruns of $125,000. Without my early commitment, I never would have persevered through the friction and challenges.
To embrace commitment, count the cost, determine to pay the price, and always strive for excellence. Winston Churchill's leadership during WWII exemplifies counting the cost. When France surrendered in 1940, many expected Britain to negotiate with Germany, but Churchill understood what was at stake. His famous "finest hour" speech rallied the British people to stand firm despite terrible bombing and isolation. Their unwavering commitment helped win the war because they knew both what was at stake and the price they would pay.
Excellence fuels commitment. As Howard Newton said, "People forget how fast you did a job-but they remember how well you did it." Excellence drove Michelangelo through the Sistine Chapel's completion, Edison through countless lightbulb experiments, and the great companies in Jim Collins' books. Excellence means doing your very best in everything, taking you where halfhearted people never go.
During my church's building program, I carried a laminated card with William H. Murray's quote about how Providence moves when one commits. I read it daily-multiple times on difficult days-to stay focused and encouraged. This experience taught me that accomplishing what once seemed impossible changes how you see yourself and the world.
Too much talent can work against someone if not matched with commitment. People approach commitment in two ways: externally (letting conditions determine commitment) or internally (focusing on choices). Since you can't control circumstances or others, focusing on making choices with integrity is the only way to control your commitment-often the difference between success and failure.
As Ken Blanchard distinguishes: "When you're interested in something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results."
Liz Murray's story exemplifies extraordinary commitment. Born to drug-addicted parents, she became homeless at fifteen after her mother died of AIDS. This tragedy gave her clarity and determination. She found a job, got accepted at Humanities Preparatory Academy, and completed four years of coursework in just two years while homeless. She studied in stairwells and rode subways at night. Her hard work earned her a scholarship to Harvard. Her philosophy exemplifies commitment: "There's always a way through things if you work hard enough and look close. It all depends on your level of determination."
第10章
Today's Choices, Tomorrow's Life
In the end, implementing the Daily Dozen might seem overwhelming. It took me four decades to make all these decisions and develop these disciplines-and I'm still learning. Start by rating yourself from 1 to 12 on each area (Attitude, Priorities, Health, Family, Thinking, Commitment, Finances, Faith, Relationships, Generosity, Values, and Growth). Verify your self-evaluation with a trusted friend.
Then pick two strengths from your top six to work on, making sure you've made the necessary decision for each area before practicing the daily disciplines. Also pick one weakness from your bottom six to improve. After sixty days, reevaluate your progress. If you've improved significantly in an area, move on to something new. If not, keep working on it for another sixty days.
Don't work on more than three areas at once, and never tackle more than one weakness at a time. Keep repeating this process until you have the entire Daily Dozen under your belt. Once these disciplines become habits woven into the fabric of your life, you'll be able to make today your masterpiece.
As John Wooden wisely advised, "Make each day your masterpiece." When you do that, tomorrow will take care of itself.
