Have a Sense of Urgency Today

A sense of urgency flows throughout the entries of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. He is constantly reminding himself to act. To stop delaying. To focus. To live.

“Concentrate every minute like a Roman…on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice.” (2.5)

“Human life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain.” (2.17)

“Don’t make room for anything…[that] might lead you astray, tempt you off the road, and leave you unable to devote yourself completely to achieving the goodness that is uniquely yours.” (3.6)

“So we need to hurry. Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding—our grasp of the world—may be gone before we get there.” (3.1)

“Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.”

These are the words not of a man who is faultless and perfect. If perfect presence and action and focus were his natural state, he wouldn’t have to remind himself so often to embody them.

This week, use Marcus’s self-admonitions as your own.

Print them out and keep them near you in your workspace as you create.

Write them out by hand, write them into your soul.

Live, act, and focus today like it’s the last day you will have. Because it very well may be.

And each time you wake, thankful for another day, concentrate on the present, tenderly, willingly, with justice, devoting yourself to achieving the goodness that is uniquely yours.